February 17, 2017

The Rigol DS1054Z Oscilloscope

This oscilloscope is amazing. It is by far the best scope I have ever used, and I have used some nice Tektronix scopes (from a previous era). I bought mine lightly used off of Ebay for $340 (plus $20 shipping) in July of 2016. Once you unlock it, it essentially becomes an 1104Z if I understand it right. The 1052 is the 2 channel predecessor to the 1054.

The 12 tips for the 1052are quite good, here is my summary:

There is some software called "Ultrascope" that allows remote control (via a USB cable) via a virtual oscilloscope.

To access the RS323 (or i2c) decoder, first do a single capture of whatever it is you want to analyze. Then push the Math button and select the appropriate Decode.

Manual

Go fetch the 1000Z manual, which covers this scope (281 page PDF) along with its brothers and sisters.

Ultrascope

One of the online tutorials mention this. It is supposed to come on a floppy with the scope. It allows remote control via USB with a "virtual scope" as a GUI on your screen.

Screen capture (to USB stick)

This saves as NewFile1.png -- and increments the number automatically. You can try to use the painful keyboard, but it is far better to just let it pick filenames, keep track of them, and rename them youself later. The PNG "picture" captures are 800 by 480 images.
Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's Auto repair pages / [email protected]