[time-nuts] Low cost logic analyzer

[David Forbes]

At 5:49 PM +0200 4/25/08, Ulrich Bangert wrote:
>Gents,
>
>I know some of you are hardware hackers like me too. In the 25 years of
>electronic development I have always refused to work with logic
>analysers and always have claimed "Give me a fast scope and some hours
>and I will do the job". However, these days I had VERY strange problems
>with an I2C bus based device.
>
>Communication on the bus would work flawlessly over hours and then stop
>due to... yes, due to what? That clearly is an situation where the "fast
>scope" mentality not applies. On the search for something affordable I
>came over this:
>
>http://www.pctestinstruments.com/
>
>I still have the device not here and still do not know the reason of my
>problems but the technicians at Intronix said to me "That is exactly
>what we have built it for" when I asked them very specific if their
>device could be helpful in this situation. It it were true this thing
>were worth its price in gold.
>
>Best regards
>
>Ulrich Bangert

Ulrich,

I have used logic analyzers for about 25 years. The first one I used 
was one that I built myself to locate a deadlock problem between two 
processors.

To get over your mistrust of logic analyzers, think of the logic 
analyzer as a trigger gate for your fast scope. It can detect the 
digital failure condition so that you can locate the problem.

The unit you talk about looks like it is designed to solve your 
problem. Since it knows about I2C bus, it should be easy to set up 
the triggering for your case.






-- 

--David Forbes, Tucson, AZ
http://www.cathodecorner.com/