We know [Happy Little Diodes] frequently works with logic analyzer projects. His recent wireless logic analyzer for the ZX Spectrum is one of the oddest ones we’ve seen in a while. The heart of the system is an RP2040, and there are two boards. One board interfaces with the computer, and another hosts the controller.
The logic analyzer core is powered by a common open-source analyzer from [Eldrgusman]. This is one of the nice things about open source tools. Most people probably don’t need a logic analyzer that plugs directly into a ZX Spectrum. But if you do, it is fairly simple to repurpose a more generic piece of code and rework the hardware, if necessary.
You used to pay top dollar to get logic analyzers that “knew” about common CPUs and could capture their bus cycles, show execution, and disassemble the running code. But using a technique like this, you could easily decode any processor, even one you’ve designed yourself. All you need to do is invest the time to build it, if no one else has done it yet.
[Happy Little Diodes] is a big fan of the [Eldrgusman] design. What we would have given for a logic analyzer like this forty years ago.
I was thinking to use ECG (EKG) as a logic analyzer. I have collected some ECG parts from surplus. It is technically a logic analyzer already, but kinda expensive if you look at original price.
ECG as in “Electro CardioGram” ? More a DSP than a logic analyzer, IMHO….
The biggest issue you might run into is ECG systems are slow, as they are designed for biosystems.
I was thinking about using a bicycle pump as a detonator, since the both look alike, both have a wooden handle connected to some sort of plunger that goes up/down, both have some kind of sqwibbly thing with a clamp of some sort coming out of the side and in many cases, the older ones have a wooden base. Still, I wasn’t quite sure, so I googled and it was confirmed that these are indeed equal/exchangeable as they are both used of blowing things up.
Thanks Al, happy to be tinkering with odd things, that’s where the fun is
You can even use the Spectrum as a coprocessor for code that you want to run at a fraction of the speed with no memory
So a logic analyser with an edge connector rather than probes?
I was hoping this would allow me to run logic analyser software on the spectrum