Turn your Rigol DS1052E Oscilloscope into a 100MHz DS1102E

The idea of patents is to make it attractive for people to disclose their trade secrets, and that makes the art advance.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal
ElectroOptical Innovations
55 Orchard Rd
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058
hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

Has anybody done a bit by it comparison between firmware in the 50MHz unit and the 100MHz unit to confirm this?

Probably not because it is bleedingly obvious that it was IDENTICAL from the simplicity of the hack that has been explained in detail. If you have actually looked at the eevblog and are still asking this question then you are a bit thick. Also, Rigol have apparently reacted and changed the firmware to stop the simple hack. So all roads lead to Rome, so to speak.

Hacking your own property is both legally and morally fine. Telling the world how to do it is more of a grey area but this is only one case of many. Using that information to buy 50MHz units and sell them on as

100MHz one would probably be a crime.

Just because the US has draconian laws on the subject doesn't mean that those of us who live in saner parts of the world should have to comply

Certainly it may affect the sales of their more expensive unit, but, if they have any sense, they will just drop the 50MHz unit and sell the

100MHz on for the same price or a few dollars more and blitz the market.

But that costs a lot to develop.

"Dyna Soar" " Farkin Larkin "

** His video presentation breaks NO law in either place.

** Precisely.

But FJ is alluding to the possible effect on Rigol's sales of their phoney

100MHz version. ** His video presentation breaks NO law in either place.

FJ's claim to the contrary is entirely RIDICULOUS !!

** What is REALLY demonstrates is that FJ has done something with one of his designs that is close enough to the Rigol case for ** HIM ** to feel very confronted by Dave's video presentation.

IOW - a clear case of guilty conscience induced paranoia.

IOW - the colossal fool protesteth far too bloody much.

.... Phil

I was just using my 1052E with external trigger and a fast-rise step on channel 1. At 5 ns/div, with a very fast, clean input step (30 ps, actually) the reported risetime is 6.1 ns and the step is slightly overdamped (which soft shoulder costs 10-90 risetime), maybe the result of the varicap adding a 1st order rolloff to what should be a Gaussian system. The 20 MHz step is definitely exponential, Tr 17.5.

What's impressive is that jitter is well below 1 ns p-p, which means they are quantizing the trigger time to well below 1 ns and adjusting the effective sample clock to a fraction of one sample. Neat for a $550 scope.

I wonder why they didn't do the bw limiting digitally.

John

I thought the 100MHz scope has another timebase setting, so the firmware would have to know about the BOM change. The component still could have different ratings. It likely is the same, though.

JL > Of course we never bought another Autodesk product, and never will.

Is there an alternative product that can touch it?

Typo ! How many of the HIGH end scopes do they sell for each LOW end one they sell?

Solidworks.

John

It certainly isn't bleedin' obvious unless it has been done. All that has been proved it that the hack appears to give similar results.

then you are a bit thick.

If you take things at face value without proper checking then you are a bit stupid.

Of course they have, it still doesn't prove that the firmwares are identical.

I can see both ends of the road that I live in, but Rome doesn't appear to be at either of them.

For those who thought Rigol may bin the scopes to get 50MHz and 100MHz models, and that they aren't actually identical hardware and firmware, I've been informed that Rigol have finally admitted this to an irate customer who contacted them about the issue.

Partial Quote from Rigol : "The firmware of the instruments is made to enable capability based on the version purchased just like any software licensed product you would buy."

Betcha they would never have admitted that before it was all exposed a few weeks ago.

Dave.

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Check out my Electronics Engineering Video Blog & Podcast:
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I'm surprised they wrote that, at all.

One thing I find interesting is that if the same hardware is used for 100MHz and 50Mhz versions, either the 50MHz system is a bargain because it includes 100MHz capable hardware (implying it performs better than it would otherwise) or else the 100MHz version really isn't up to snuff.

Jon

sorts

or

tried=20

=20

to=20

of=20

If=20

logic=20

=20

the=20

would

different

A mere jumper would do the job. Jumper in 100 MHz, jumper out 50 MHz. = Have the=20 firmware read the jumper at startup. Or a different resistor value like = they do=20 for fancy (HP/Tek) scope probes.

to=20

from=20

it=20

Excuse me, don't both models have a 20 MHz limited bandwidth mode using=20 that same circuit? In that case what extra parts? Just a few lines of=20 code more.

price.

of=20

Your choice, i will hesitate on giving them 2 bits ($0.25).

Indeed, DRM foul ups is a major reason for the relative market failure=20 of MS Vista. It also accounts for a lot of the slow and see that is=20 present in moving to Win 7. After getting burned, businesses are being=20 careful for a while.

difference

restricted=20

Well, there are many 'scopes out there with input bandwidth limiting,=20 quite often at 20 MHz. Look around. The circuit was put there to do=20 that function. Finding an alternate use for it to penetrate another=20 market that does not really have use for a full 100 MHz 'scope seems=20 like smart marketing. Leaving the barn door open was not smart.