Tag: project

lzoDSO – Firmware Documentation

Posted by lazlo – June 12, 2013

oscilloscopeMoved form using Doxygen 1.7.1 (comes with Debian 6) to Doxygen 1.8.4 (build from sources) for the lzoDSO firmware documentation. Looks much nicer.

Still, there is a problem with the documentation (unrelated to doxygen). All code that is linked to the project repository using svn:externals properties is somehow not covered (still investigating). I think this is somehow related to the way the Bitten slave (build slave of my CI setup) does the automated build (in which doxygen gets executed).

If you ever had something similar, please let me know (via comment or Twitter).

lzoDSO – Homepage on iPhone

Posted by lazlo – June 12, 2013

oscilloscopeAlso improved the lzoDSO project homepage yesterday. Added pictures of schematics and circuit board layouts and made page look nicer on iPhone devices.

Also added a combined parts list for the hardware that has been built so far.

lzoDSO – todo for today: timer driver

Posted by lazlo – June 11, 2013

Will work on the timer driver code (legacy and fresh one) to allow selection of the actual hardware timer to use (the on-chip ones that are part of the ATmega series micro controllers).

When things are working, I’ll be able to finally enable the test signal output on the front panel controller board of the lzoDSO.

lzoDSO – Status Update

Posted by lazlo – June 3, 2013

oscilloscopeWhat happened in the days past:

  1. moved prototype-a branch to trunk of our repository (finally!)
  2. registered lzoDSO project at Ohloh
  3. started moving legacy code out of the firmware to replace it with code that has been programmed test-driven
  4. created a minimal project homepage

lzoDSO – prototype demo

Posted by lazlo – May 15, 2013

Demonstrates the (currently limited) capabilities of the lazlo labs digital storage oscilloscope (lzoDSO) prototype. The test probe of the scope is connected to a timer circuit in mono-stable astable configuration so that it produces a more or less defined test signal. There is also a test signal source inside the scope that we need integrate into the firmare to get it working.

Uses an ATmega644 at 16 MHz and the internal 10-bit A/D converter (only using 8 bits).

See the lzoDSO project page for more at labs.lazlo.de/trac/lzodso.

lzoDSO – finished prototype board assembly

Posted by lazlo – May 14, 2013

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Yesterday I finished the assembly of the new front panel controller board, which evolved out of the old display carrier board). The circuit signal lines have  already been tested (using continuity testing) and I’m not far away from having the prototype be contained inside its case.

In the new board I basically merged the core board with the display carrier board, since there was enough space available. A slight change I introduced is that I adjusted some pin mappings (namely we moved the LCD control lines from port B to D).

Schematic and Circuit Board

PDF files for schematic and board.

schematic board

Now I’m updating the wiki page of the prototypes to get things in sync again.

lzoDSO – new prototype board

Posted by lazlo – May 13, 2013

Actually I’m right in the middle of assembling a new circuit board I have created for the oscilloscope prototype. This “new” board is nothing more but the core controller board merged with the display carrier board into one.

You can find an image of the schematic and circuit board at the prototype branch directory inside the lzoDSO projects repository.

 

lzoDSO – legacy firmware reanimated

Posted by lazlo – April 12, 2013

After preparing a somewhat more modest presentation of what is already existing from the projects hardware and software (we now call it the prototype), we have finally taken the old “legacy” (no tests) firmware sources and made them work (without having to change anything) on the ATmega644 micro controller board we use with the prototype setup.

Still, there is so much missing but before adding more functionality to the firmware we will try to replace part by part with code that is developed in a “test first” fashion to give us a stable base to work on. But before that can happen will need to refactor some sections of the sources in order to make them testable.

Enough for today…maybe

lzoDSO – hardware prototype

Posted by lazlo – April 11, 2013

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lzoDSO hardware prototype

Recently I have been working on my oscilloscope project. Documenting ideas, digging out requirements and restructuring the whole projects documentation wiki. While doing so I realized that the page was totally confusing to new visitors since it does not say that there is no finished scope yet (even though there is a picture of one). What one can see on the pictures is actually a prototype. Until now we did not explicitly say so. This is NOT the final thing.

To address that issue we added a Status section to the start page of the wiki that clarifies the projects state.

Now the interesting part: We created a new page for the prototype which is linked on the wikis start page and moved existing files related to the components of the prototype from /trunk to /branches/prototype-a.

Next step will be to take the legacy firmware we have and adjusted it to make it run on the prototype hardware. When the firmware is ported (basically adjust pin mappings, enable/disable functionality) we will use is as the starting point to get the code incrementally refactored until we replaced everything with test-driven code.

lzoDSO – a DIY Oscilloscope

Posted by lazlo – March 19, 2013

After quiet a while I have started to put my oscilloscope project online. Work is still in progress but I decided it won’t hurt to have online what has been done so far.