Hardware and more...

To analyze and/or repair Arcade PCBs, special hardware is needed. Logic analyzers and oscilloscopes are a "must". But to reviews on such hardware is rare, so I'd like to share my experiences here - maybe it is of help...

Here you can find some reviews of hardware I own(ed) or got in my hands for testing.

Pico Technologies PicoScope 5204 digital storage oscilloscope (DSO):

<pico> A great tool from the UK and definitely worth its money!

Review yet to come...

TechTools DV3400 digital logic analyzer (DLA):

<techtools> Another tool from the USA in a metal case for a good price! It's really a pity I didn't find this company earlier...
Click on the photograph to read more...

My own plug-in page is coming soon!

GALEP 5 device programmer:

<conitec> In my opinion the best price-to-value programming tool from Germany, including free service for all Galep owners to add further devices!
I used their service already for some very old bipolar PROMs I required for a repair project. I provided some parts and I got a new software supporting it within a week or so for free. Thanks again!

Review yet to come...

Zeroplus and Meilhaus digital logic analyzers:

I also got an Zeroplus LabC and a Meilhaus Logian-16 (LabA or so) DLA. Both are based on nearly the same hardware - which wouldn't be a problem (especially the Meilhaus has a pretty good metal case) - but they are also based on the same software - and here all bad things start: paired with slow support of this Taiwanese company this software causes quite some troubles (e.g. not working activation keys, wrong serial number label on the device, keys are sometimes not transmitted directly but are sent some days later - and after further mails forth and back - via the local distributor etc.). On top this, the software asks at every corner for further keys. Even if many of them are free, the painful "get a key" horror starts over again - sorry, that looks and feels not really professional... The plugin SDK provided (if you can find and download it) is completely outdated (I just say: it needs Visual Studio 6), with insufficient documentation and really complicated setup. If one asks me I'd say that's also the reason that even "original" plugins crash quite often - even if they have really a lot of these (to make money out of it...) the instability makes them quite useless to work smoothly with the tool.
My conclusion: I would not buy them again. It was wasted time & money. Better take a look at the report above about the nice TechTools DV3400 I bought - and set up the decoders by yourself and in a way you can really use them.


Reviews yet to come: Picoscope Series 2, PIC Kit programmer, AVR Dragon programmer, Digilent eval-boards for Spartan 3 and 6