Homebrew On The Rigol DS1052E ‘scope

15 Comments

We love our little Rigol 1052E oscilloscope. It’s seen us through some perplexing problems and loved being upgraded from 50 MHz to 100 MHz. We’ve always been pleased with its role dictating waveforms for us, but we never thought we’d see homebrew apps for our little ‘scope.

We’re not exactly sure who [Krater] is, but he’s been working on some homebrew development for the Rigol DS1052E oscilloscope. Right now the capabilities are somewhat limited; all programming is via PEEKs and POKEs. Still, this is a fairly impressive development.

This wonderful little ‘scope has already had some time in the limelight by being easy to upgrade to 100 MHz. Hopefully with the new capabilities (Tetris, somebody make Tetris), this scope will become a staple in workshops around the world.

A tip ‘o the hat goes to [Rainer Wetzel] for sending this one in. Check out the video after the break to see an almost-working game of Pong playing on the 1052E

EDIT: [krater] dropped into the comments to tell us about his blog entry. Keep up the good work.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vepLEhrALzo&w=470]

15 thoughts on “Homebrew On The Rigol DS1052E ‘scope”

  3. being able to run custom software is a nice feat, but it would be great if the custom software could add features to the existing software, like new trigger modes, filters, math operations, protocol interpretation, etc.

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  4. I didn’t see the 50 ->100 MHz articles, but it’s a really bad idea. While the digital part may allow such things, the analog part won’t. Scope front ends are very delicate and complex. The antialis filter for a 50 MHz scope won’t work well w/ a 100 MHz, though not as bad as going the other way.

    I rather suspect that when the boards come from assembly they are tested and a decision is made as to which ones are 100 MHz. Those that won’t pass as 100 get configured and sold as 50.

    In support of this view I’d note that 50’s are in stock at Rigolna.com for $329, but they say to call about availablity for the 100 MHz.

    Still a really good deal.

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  5. Reg, the 1052 and the 1102 are the exact same thing in hardware, this was confirmed by multiple sources.
    The only problem right now is the new 1052 firmware protection that, AFAIK, isn’t yet hacked. In other words, no 1052 bought recently can be upgraded to 100 MHz.

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    2. What he is saying is that they may be hardware identical but due to differences in the physical properties of the components and the PCB they are rated based on their capabilities… it could be that many of the “50mhz” models were good enough to make it to 100 but due to demand were knocked down.

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  8. The newer DS1052E firmware must be downgraded to introduce the patchable version.
    The manufacturer serial number is generated from the original.
    The scope is placed into diagnostic mode to load the new firmware. Note, the newest 100MHz firmware has some slight differences that make it unstable on the old 1052E.
    Then run the recalibration routine to setup the scope, and enjoy.

    Company seems to have caught on since the price of this unit went up last year…

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