New: PicoScope for BeagleBone!

PicoScope now runs on the BeagleBone Black, a powerful credit-card-sized Linux computer from beagleboard.org. Contact us for a special simplified version of PicoScope, which demonstrates smooth waveform updates and supports a wide range of our oscilloscopes with modified Linux drivers. You can also use our free SDKs to write your own software to control Pico oscilloscopes and data loggers.

Further details of PicoScope for BeagleBone

Latest tutorials on PicoScope

Here are some of the latest PicoScope topics that we've discussed on our forum and website:

• Waveform averaging - use math channels to combine successive waveforms and reduce noise. It's so good, we wrote about it twice - here's another account that also shows how rapid trigger mode can be used to speed up averaging
• Keyboard shortcuts - operate PicoScope from the keyboard using built-in shortcuts, or define your own

Keep watching the forum for more technical tips.

New: Beginner's Guide to PicoScope 6

If you're wondering how easy it is to set up and use a PicoScope, our new pictorial guide to the PicoScope 6 software is the answer. In just four pages, the guide covers the main features of PicoScope oscilloscopes and software, including:

• Signal generator
• Auto setup
• Input range
• Triggering
• Timebase
• Starting and stopping
• Waveform buffering
• Zooming

You will also find links to resources for further reading.

Download your free copy from our Technical Library

Where have you taken your PicoScope?

• Last chance to enter •

In July, Pico Technology's Business Development Manager Trevor Smith realised a decades-long ambition to climb the highest mountain in North America, Mount Denali in Alaska. He braved frostbite, a fall into a crevasse, carabiner thieves and a hair-raising plane journey through fog-shrouded mountains to bring us this photo of a PicoScope 2204A ultra-compact oscilloscope within view of the summit. We think he may have exceeded the storage temperature range for his scope, but it still seems to work.

Can you do better than this? We'd like to see you try. If you've taken a PicoScope to an unusual or challenging place, we'd be fascinated to hear about it. Each picture that we publish will win a £50 Amazon voucher!

Email us with your PicoScope travel photo

Terms and conditions: Prizes will be awarded at our discretion and are not negotiable. Closing date: 1st October 2014. The judges' decision is final. Pico reserves the right the publish each winning photo with the sender's name and nationality

Tech Tips

Saving your frequently used PicoScope signal generator settings

You can save your signal generator setups in .pssettings files (File > Save As > Save as type=Settings files), but loading these files will override all your scope settings, not just those for the signal generator. To save only your signal generator settings, you can use the macro recorder. Go to Tools > Macro Recorder and click Record. With the Macro Recorder window still open, set up the signal generator as you wish and then click Stop in the Macro Recorderwindow. Finally, click the Save button in the macro recorder and save the macro. Now you can save and load any number of standard signal generator setups.

Spectrum averaging in PicoScope

Next time you use PicoScope in spectrum analyzer mode, remember that you have a choice of display modes. Click the Spectrum Optionsbutton, and alongside Display modes you will find three options:

Magnitude – shows live data with no processing. Use this for viewing fast-changing signals.
Average – shows a cumulative average of past captures. Use this to reject noise and show the long-term shape of the spectrum.
Peak Hold – shows the maximum value of each frequency bin over past captures. Useful for peak signal-to-noise measurements.

Events

Please visit Pico Exhibitions for the latest list of exhibitions and trade shows that Pico and its representatives will be attending.

We're hiring!

Thanks to our continuing success and growth Pico are always seeking talented people to join our company.

Please visit https://jobs.picotech.com/ to see our current vacancies. We look forward to hearing from you!

Software releases

Our latest software releases are available as free downloads. To check which release you are using, start the software and select Help > About.

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Contact details

UK Headquarters:
Pico Technology, James House, Colmworth Business Park, St. Neots,
Cambridgeshire, PE19 8YP, United Kingdom
Tel.: 01480 396395 (+44 1480 396395)
Fax: 01480 396296 (+44 1480 396296)

North America Office:
Pico Technology, 320 N Glenwood Blvd, Tyler TX 75702, United States
Tel:+1 800 591 2796 (Toll Free)

Asia-Pacific Office:
Pico Technology, Room 2252, 22/F, Centro, 568 Hengfeng Road, Zhabei District,
Shanghai 200070, PR China
Tel: +86 21 2226-5152

Email: sales@picotech.com