I have a BS50 loaned to me for evaluation, but I have no disk. The manual is not clear about whether a special driver is needed or if it uses standard divers from FTDI. I sent an email over 24 hours ago and no response. I know they are in Australia so it can take a while to get a reply, but I would have expected something by now.
They don't say if the "test drive" download is the fully functional software or if it is a crippled version just to give you a taste of using it. I'm not much inclined to spend a bunch of time installing stuff I have no idea of whether it is the right stuff or not.
I spoke with them about 2 weeks ago, however it looks like the site is down:
formatting link
so that may be the problem.
And my understanding is that it uses a standard FTDI chipset. If you are running W7, then just plug it in, and the drivers should auto-install.
Cheers Don...
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Don McKenzie
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Thanks for the reply. I was able to access their web site yesterday, but couldn't figure out if or what to install. The info says some of their products use the FTDI chip, but when I plug in the BS50 Vista asks for drivers. The BS50 seems to be an older product, so I am guessing it doesn't use the FTDI drivers.
Maybe the fact that the site is down is why they haven't returned my email. When my provider craps out on me both the site and the email can be down.
BTW, I can't name anything of yours I have read or worked with, but I know that name! I'm sure I've read some of your stuff, most likely in magazines. Thanks.
Thanks for the info on the web site status, but that is not the problem. I couldn't find the info I needed on their web site and they hadn't replied to my email. I eventually stumbled my way through it and have it working now. I had to first install the DSO software which then provided further instructions. When it got to the part that said to install from the disk, I let Windows search for the drivers on the Internet. Somehow it found it and after waiting for 10 minutes or so (I was ready to give up a couple of times) it finally installed.
Oddly enough I hit another red herring when the unit identified itself, but wouldn't actually operate without the 12 volt power pack. The DSO interface showed it as being "offline" rather than telling that you it doesn't have POWER!!! After connecting that and cycling both the USB connection and the "power" button on the software, it came alive and showed a trace.
I found a review by Ganssle of several DSO and analyzer products. It was informative and so far I agree with his assessment of the bitscope. The docs are hard to understand and the user interface leaves something to be desired in terms of being intuitive. I have yet to check out the operation with an application that pushes the limits, but I am about to. Too bad the BS50 is not dual channel. But I should be able to get the job done with the logic analyzer part.
I've spent some time with this thing and I am not at all impressed. The o'scope seems to work, but the triggering and other controls leave something to be desired in my opinion. However, the logic analyzer just doesn't seem to work really. Maybe I'm not doing something right, but I've read every inch of the manual I'm pretty sure and there are only so many controls.
I've emailed support, but it is so hard to describe the way it operates, I don't know if they will understand what is happening. Maybe the BS50 is just too old a unit to work with the current software.
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