Beware of Rigol DG5252 ARB generator

Dear Colleaques,

I have acquired a Rigol DG5252 signal generator some time ago, and just have used its built-in waveforms so far. Recently I tried to activate its ARB capability, which has turned out to be a nightmare. The instrument apparently eats .RAF waveform files, but the user guide gives no hint about how to generate them. I was thinking it's as simple as processing a datapoint table through some utility, and move the file to the generator on a USB memory stick. Not a chance. The instrument came bundled with a CD-ROM, but the installation instructions were limited to a very terse readme file:

1=A1=A2Download the USB driver from NI website-"NIVISAruntime.msi". 2=A1=A2Execute "NIVISAruntime.msi" to install the driver program. 3=A1=A2Execute and install the application software.

I already hated the idea of installing the NI runtime, as I have encounterd too many mysterious conflict and instability problems before, and would prefer not to install anything which is not absolutely necessary. Still, after NIVISA installation, the Ultra Signal Studio (sounds like the program for creating the .RAF files, although I didn't find it documented anywhere) installer just popped up a window saying 'archive not found'. After surfing here and there in the Rigol web pages I finally found out that one needs to first install the 300-megabyte Ultra Sigma software and run that at least once (the fact was not documented in material found in the CDROM). Well, a whole lot more crap code to install, likely to destabilize my PC. And as it comes from China I don't know how many keyloggers and pieces of spyware I got installed with it, either.

Let me digress a bit, as the european Rigol web pages were really not functioning well at all - I got a feeling that they are hosted in China, and suffer from their web censorship. At least I felt the same as when surfing in a hotel in Beijing last summer: weird omissions and unavailable files, as well as latched-up connections which take forever to load. The north american Rigol web pages were much better, maybe hosted somewhere in the West. Anyway, access to the FAQ and download sections requires a registration, which is OK, but the registration pages don't work well. For instance, the 'forgotten password' service requires typing a CAPTCHA, but the picture does not show up - the browser shows the red 'X' indicating that the picture file is missing. So I was stuck, no help from here either, had to proceed with trial and error.

The final A-HA was that the Ultra Signal Studio installation file must be moved to the directory where the Ultra Sigma software is installed, and launched there (this too is undocumented - there's no instructions beyond the readme file, see above). Now the application window opens, but asks me to type in an 'Attest' code from the Certificate of Ownership, and refuses to work. I do have the instrument (with the S/N in the back panel), I do have the warranty card (with the S/N printed in), I do have the installation CD-ROM, but I don't have the slightest idea about the Certificate of Ownership. Looks like they are paranoid about their waveform-creating software getting pirated.

So I now have megabytes after megabytes of all sorts of crap installed, I have registered and shall no doubt receive piles of spam which I'll have to figure how to block, and I still cannot create my first 'hello world' -style waveform. The Rigol is a nice sine and squarewave generator, but if you're after arbitrary waveforms, stay far away. It's a pity, because the hardware looks quite nice actually.

Maybe I shall still collect my remaining stamina, go back to the Rigol web page, trying to figure out how to get the 'attest code'.

Regards, Mikko

P.S. Has anyone reverse engineered the .RAF file format? It might be easiest to generate them form ones own C code...

Reply to
Mr Stonebeach
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I believe my AB rigol gen came with a CD with the software on it however, I do not have your model. Not sure if the software with mine would work on yours?

I have a 25 Mhz model.. Jamie

Reply to
Jamie

...

Hi Jamie,

Did you install your software, are you now able to create the ARB waveform files? Is their filetype extension .RAF ?

I also have an installation CD, but there were no instructions and the installation procedure turned out to be rather cryptic. Actually, I finally got the Ultra Signal Studio working last night (it allows 15- day evaluation period without validation, but it did not tell me that before I shut down and relaunched the program), but I could not figure out whether it can write the .RAF files before I went to bed. I got an impression that the software can talk to the generator only over the LAN, USB or GPIB connection, and the waveforms dumped to the generator that way cannot be stored.

The Ultra Sigma installer dropped a User Guide as a .chm file into its install folder, unfortunately the guide only handles the Ultra Sigma usage (the part that communicates with the generator over the LAN, USB or GPIB link), not the Ultra Signal Studio (the part which I assume creates the ARB waveforms). The U.S.S. may have a help menu in its application window, but it refuses to launch if it cannot see the instrument, over the LAN in my case. This makes everything quite tedious.

Why all this must be so complicated and tedious is beyond me...

But hey, thanks for your help.

Rgrds, Mikko

Reply to
Mr Stonebeach

I have UltraWave with my CD and I personally did not install my copy however, the guys at work also got the same unit as I when they were on sale. I know they have install theirs and no one that I know of said anything about a trial period. I have the DS10x2 which is a 25 mhz model. I edit my AB's at the panel and I am able to save those to the U disk (USB), just by simply plugging in a USB mass storage in front. I only use a flash stick but I've been told it'll also work with some usb drives.

There are 10 local storage memories for specific instrument set up but those get over written.

Looking at the CD, it appears the supplied driver xxxx.sys is only for

95, 98 and NT. Maybe the driver isn't needed for newer PC's? This leads me into believing that the interface maybe a standard FT232 or something like it. Most newer OS'es know these chips.

Later on maybe I'll install UltraWave here and see what it looks like, I don't have the GPIB/LAN option with mine.

Jamie

Reply to
Jamie

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0Rgrds, Mikko

l
r
,

In the DG5252 it is also possible to create the waveform by entering it from the front panel, point at a time, then store it to a .RAF file. That is the only way of creating them which I'm aware of. But I'd prefer to create the waveforms by software - filling the DG5252's

128Msample memory by hand is really too much. Not to mention getting the amplitude of each point just right by turning the knob.

If pre-XP driver files are involved, I'm suspecting that your colleaques' waveform files may be incompatible with the DG5252.

What I'd like to try is whether I could create a chirp, play it out sync'ed with the data capture of our HP89640 vector spectrum analyzer, and use the combination for measuring vectoral (amp+phase) transfer functions of things. This was orginally motivated by my aim to find a replacement for our retiring HP89410's, but the lowest RBW setting in the HP89640 is 1Hz, so it really does not sound like a good tool for extremely low frequencies.

Regards, Mikko

Reply to
Mr Stonebeach

Have you tried the UltraWave program? I'll have to look but, it's possible the wave form extension is xxx.RDF here..

THe RAF format isn't a standard as for as I know, it is a raw format and not fitted to any one vender. So you need to know where device it was generated for. This means that in the header of the file, there are lots of other information, most likely.

I think if you look around, some camera models also generate files wit h that extension however, they are in no means the same as the ones coming from the ABg.

I do write software myself and maybe it would be an interesting project to reverse engineer a file that gets saved on the USB storage stick.

It would be interesting to know exactly how the USB link between the ABg and PC is actually being used? Serial link or maybe it just looks like a remote storage unit where you simply read and write to it as a file.? I guess If I was to plug in the Gen into my PC, it should respond with something to indicate either or.. I'll have to ask the guys at work how it comes up..Or, I'll just use my XP min 10" acer and plug it in to see what happens :)

Jamie

Reply to
Jamie

Guys, I believe that at least the Rigol DG1000 can also handle CSV and ASCII format. Might be worth trying to find out.

It is. That would be the Royal Air Force :-)

With most such gear it's the plain old FTDI serial port emulation. Which is nice. When I needed to figure out why my check engine light was on without paying $50-$100 at the shop I bought a OBD-II converter for around $10, plug it in, and the netbook immediately connected to it because it was FTDI.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

Come to think about it, I think you are most likely correct because, the Rigol I think has the same connection and that is serial. After all, if you remember, that is how the 50mhz models got upgraded :)

It would be nice to have a document explaining the protocol being used to interact with the devices. I can see some fancy software coming.

Jamie

Reply to
Jamie

OK, with the help from the Rigol support desk I can finally make it play PC-generated ARB waveforms. But phew, what an ordeal it was!

It seems that the proper software for the DG4000 and DG5000 series is called "Ultra Station". One must first install the "Ultra Sigma" software, whose main purpose is communication and remote control of the generator over a physical link (USB, LAN or GPIB). On top of the "Ultra Sigma" one can install the "Ultra Station", which is the waveform generating plug-in. When generating the waveforms, the software must see the generator (it acts as a dongle, it seems), but it is possible to save the created waveform into a .RAF file, which one is then free to use. The .RAF file can be transfered to the generator by a USB memory stick, and the waveform can be used even if the generator is not connected to any communications (USB/LAN/GPIB).

The Ultra Signal Studio was their previous waveform creation software (now replaced by the Ultra Station), and it was for-a-fee so that I should have purchased a license. Hence my the problems with the Cerificate of Ownership.

My problems were primarily caused by the abysmally bad documentation. None of the relevant information was found on the CD-ROM which came bundled with the generator. Some information was available in the Rigol web pages, but behind registration, and registration was impossible because their CAPTCHA figure was faulty. The part of the information which *was* visible, namely the Ultra Station users guide

formatting link
does not open properly in my machine - it was just blank. And still, the trick needed to make the Ultra Station to install (move the installer to the Ultra Sigma directory and launch from there) is not documented - I'm not sure if the help desk people still believe that the trick is necssary, or that the users guide does not open, just because everything works OK in their PC's.

Well, make your conclusions. My DG5252 works now nicely, anyway, and with the above tricks the next guy hopefully can make his unit alive much faster.

Regards, Mikko

Reply to
Mr Stonebeach

Sounds like the OBD-II interface I bought. Ok, only $10 which is a great price. But zero written documentation, you kinda have to know that it has a FTDI USB-serial interface in there. You also have to know that the device will error until it sees 12V on the OBD connector in the car, which only happens if you insert the ignition key and turn it on. Then one has to scour the web to find where to obtain the error code list and all that. But ... it saved me the drive to the shop which would have taken longer than to find all this out, plus they'd have charged me $50 or more.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

We have a FLIR thermal imager. It acts like a network (TCP/IP) device, but the electrical interface is USB. We've had chronic problems getting images out of it, with the usual confusion of which versions of which of their non-intuitive programs actually work. During yet one more software reinstall, guided by a support guy, I was casually informed that, once an install is done, you have to plug the camera into the same USB port or it won't work. That fact alone cost us untold hassle.

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John Larkin                  Highland Technology Inc
www.highlandtechnology.com   jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com   
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Reply to
John Larkin

Yep. I've run into a number of USB accessories that insist on using the same port they were installed on. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

I tried that Rigol link; page was not blank, but got a lot of square boxes with 4-character hex code. like this (faking it):

----- |4 E| |C F| -----

Less understandable than Greek written in Chinese.

Reply to
Robert Baer

Geesh! The codes are in the shop manuals. OBD-II was never intended for the shade tree type, and some are specific to the OEM. A cheap manual from a car parts place would give you the right information you need for those codes. You COULD download the manuals for some of the readers and have a partial set of codes, but none I've seen cover everything. Even the Data CD that came with mine didn't cover the codes I found.

formatting link

That means that your computer can't display the code they used with the selected language & fonts.

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Well, most codes are standardized and I found it on the web in minutes. It would have been nice if it came with the unit but ...

It's Chinese.

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

quare

ith

Actually, what I saw behind that link was a .RAR archive which seemed to contain the chinese and english versions of the manual, in the .chm format (complied HTML help file). My problem with the Ultra_Station_HelpDocument.chm was that it opened all right and showed a sensible directory structure (Contents, Index etc), but none of the pages contained any text. It gave some sort of a navigation error message in every page, which I would have intepreted as no HTTP connection to the source file if it were over the Internet, but that was supposed to be a local self-contained file. That was in two different PCs at the office, provided by my employer. Now at my home PC those .chm files display OK.

It sounds to me that Robert was seeing the raw contents of the compressed archive.

What I find annoying is that the continuously increasing unnecessary complexity of the IT world is taking a larger and larger fraction of my daily dose of problem-solving skills...

Regards, Mikko

Reply to
Mr Stonebeach

That's what I am always lamenting. IT "professionals" even in large corporations do not get it into their heads that there are other corporations where people sit behind strict firewalls and can't see the stuff they want them to see.

Case in point: I recently had to make a design decision where I came upon a site of a large semi mfg that required (!) Flash. I moved on and picked a competitor's part. That decision is now de-facto irrevocable because my clients hardly ever second-guess such decisions. For the mfg with the messed up web page this will now mean over a decade of lower than necessary sales numbers for the part. Which can ultimately have an impact on the number of jobs there, meaning this stuff affects real people.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

people.

Unfortunatly it seems to be impossible to beat this into the web = designers heads. The feedback (if any) never get to them.

?-(

Reply to
josephkk

Not if you write to the CEO. Which is what I did at one large semiconductor company. What followed was a mid-size earthquake in the executive tower, and things were fixed, prontissimo (with some help from myself and others).

It usually makes no sense to write to the web master.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/
Reply to
Joerg

It gets to some of them. My girl friend does this stuff and she is on the side of truth, justice and the American way! She also agrees that two scroll bars on a single page is a bad idea... much less three! I am going to drop a bank at the end of the year because their online banking sucks so badly. In addition to having two scroll bars on the bill pay page, they can't even let me download a CSV file. Rather they only support QIF and Quicken WebConnect.

Rick

Reply to
rickman

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