Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

fmilburn — Sun, 09 May 2021 16:00:02 GMT

Thanks Shabaz,

I have the ADALM1000 on my list of things to get. I like your PCBs. I have a couple I have made up but nothing as complete or versatile as what you have shown.
Frank

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

fmilburn — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 02:34:35 GMT

The software and firmware appears to be actively maintained with numerous updates - the latest on github is September 2020 and there are quite a few videos and educational labs on the internet now. Farnell / Newark / E14 do not appear to list it but other distributors have it in stock. I am tempted to get one.

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

DAB — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 17:48:18 GMT

Nice post, this device looks like it could be very useful for people learning basic electronics or those getting back into electronics.

DAB

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

evandro.cantu — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 18:35:09 GMT

Hello Shabaz,

I am trying to install the PulsePixel software in a computer with Ubuntu 16.04.

I made all the steps describeb in your post and everything was ok.

Unfortunatly, when I try to run the software it return an error:

root@evandro-HP-ProBook:/home/evandro/devlopment/pixelpulse2/build# ./pixelpulse2

QQmlApplicationEngine failed to load component

qrc:/qml/main.qml:213 Type DeviceManagerPane unavailable

qrc:/qml/DeviceManagerPane.qml:3 module "QtQml.Models" is not installe

Please, could you help me?

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

shabaz — Sat, 17 Oct 2015 01:00:35 GMT

I just got round to trying the version v0.85 Pixelpulse2 software on Windows 7 - it worked well!

(I installed the software, and then plugged in the ADALM1000 board, it said "no driver was found" so I then installed "Zadig for Vista or later", ran Zadig

and selected ADALM1000 and WinUSB [and they were the defaults anyway!] and clicked the Install button. Then the Device Manager correctly showed it

as installed)

[View:/resized-image/__size/261x106/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-20001953-2d3b-4707-89a2-dfbc2071d610/7522.contentimage_5F00_183677.png:261:106]

Then I ran Pixelpulse2. And plugged in an LED into Channel A like so:

[View:/resized-image/__size/620x302/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-20001953-2d3b-4707-89a2-dfbc2071d610/1754.contentimage_5F00_183678.jpg:620:302]

Here is the result when the red LED is plugged into the ADALM1000 - the left side shows the applied voltage in green, and the current in yellow.

The right side shows the I-V characteristic! curve of current against voltage, showing that it didn't start conducting until after around 1.6V.

[View:/resized-image/__size/620x260/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-20001953-2d3b-4707-89a2-dfbc2071d610/8611.contentimage_5F00_183679.png:620:260]

Here is the curve for a white LED which didn't conduct until around 2.7V:

[View:/resized-image/__size/327x313/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-20001953-2d3b-4707-89a2-dfbc2071d610/7115.contentimage_5F00_183680.png:327:313]

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

balearicdynamics — Mon, 08 Jun 2015 22:04:07 GMT

Good and very intriguing! I ignored the existence until now. But I think that together the BitScope this can change the way a project is done. Your documentation is very interesting. I think I should buy one as soon as possible. But I think that this is not only for teaching. Great multivariate measuring product.

Thanks for your work. Enrico

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

Former Member — Mon, 08 Jun 2015 20:27:47 GMT

[mention:b0bc65b9ecdc4307bd967592f00e340a:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] I found your instructions for building pixelpulse really helpful, would you mind if I rewrote them in markdown and did a pull request so they show up on the project's github/wiki page? Will credit you and this post.

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

airshipcrew — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 16:15:39 GMT

Does anyone know if any significant changes have been made to this project? I originally bought this board to do transistor curve tracing, something the application will NOT, as of the last version I was able to get to run will do. I tried downloading the github files again but am unable to get qmake to run without errors, and I cannot remember for the life of me how I solved that the last time this happened. At this point I am mystified as to why, after the release of their project why they have not at least updated the build instructions. I had a couple of follow up questions for one of the developers and my email was unanswered. As a customer I find this kind of behavior to be irritating in the extreme. Anyone considering using this tool, buy it at your own risk. It shows a lot of promise but for some reason the software is definitely not ready for "prime time". I wish I had more time to get into the source code and firmware, I would imagine that at least the more glaring bugs may not require a whole lot of effort to fix, although there may be a significant time investment to getting familiar with the code and build process.

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

Former Member — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 10:38:38 GMT

"Have you had a chance to try the board by the way? I'm pretty sure I'm not exaggerating when I say it is amazing, " -Shabaz

The board might be amazing, but, the software is lacking, for example, files can't be saved, is it possible to 'dial in' a frequency rather than just using the cursors?.... However, having spoked to one of the software developers, I believe additions are to come. However, the board has been released a little early. Just read the back of the box for the claims regarding support, lab examples,... they don't exist as far as I know.

The Windows software does work, but it has some bugs which can cause it to crash.

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

frankn — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 23:25:37 GMT

A simple way of getting Pixelpulse2 working in Windows is to use the utility Zadig to install a driver for the M1K. Plug in the M1K and run Zadig - it should list the Analog Devices board. Click on the button to install the Winusb driver. Windows should then pop up its message saying the driver was installed successfully. After that you can use the Pixelpulse2 software for Windows from the Github page - download the dependency package and the latest exe from appveyor following the instructions at the bottom of the page.

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

cstanton — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 15:44:02 GMT

Is this the firmware for it? https://github.com/analogdevicesinc/m1k-fw

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

Former Member — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 17:56:42 GMT

"Our labs, part kits, online lectures and other resources provide structured support to educators for guiding students through difficult material."

This is taken from the back of the M1K box. As far as I can tell, there is no support, no structured support, no online lectures. I e-mailed Analog because of the difficulties with the Windows version, but was politely told to go look on the forums!

The board is not being sold as an engineers bit of kit but as an educational tool. I am familiar with Linux too, but the establishment where I work in the UK uses Windows, almost exclusively. This is true in many schools in the UK and, unfortunately, many schools just would not be able to accommodate Linux for a number of reasons.. As to the possibility that Analog will get a Windows version working fairly quickly, well shouldn't there have been a reasonably mature version available at the same time as product release?

The software is pretty basic. I have run the windows version, but it occasionally hangs. There are numerous other issues including no data logging.

Shabaz: "While it won't suit everyone, I for one am happy that the board is released now, because it gives people the opportunity to examine the source code and make some custom modifications,"

But this is not how the device is being marketed. Sadly, I will be returning my devices.

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

airshipcrew — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 16:15:04 GMT

Hello,

I would like to add my $.02. I am a Linux Mint user. I have managed to get this running. I had a lot of trouble with libusb and here is how I got it resolved. Basically I made a simple shell script to launch the pixelpulse2 program. Here is the contents of my shell script:

#!/bin/bash

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH='/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/:/usr/lib:/usr/local/lib:./pixelpulse2:LD_LIBRARY_PATH'

./pixelpulse2

The usblib lives in the file libusb-1.0.so.0. You can run nm -D to get a listing of the functions contained in that library to confirm that the function needed is in the library in the directory you are pointing LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable. For the example script above you would type nm -D /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libusb-1.0.so.0 | less then scroll down until you see libusb_has_capability to confirm that it is in there. Finally, for some reason this has to be run as root. Hopefully this will be changed quickly.

In response to Richard's comment above, I run Linux pretty much exclusively. I program microcontrollers using Linux as well as design circuit boards. On a windows machine I find that my productivity is seriously impaired. The Linux userbase is increasing rapidly. Personally, I will not buy any test equipment that is PC based that will not support Linux. The team responsible for putting out Pixelpulse is using tools like QT that work across all computing platforms. I am confident that they will work out the issues fairly quickly and get a windows version working.

Hope that this is helpful.

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

shabaz — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 13:13:56 GMT

I'm not a fan of Debian nor Ubuntu to be honest, but it is what it is : (

Just to confirm, it is libusb-1.0 that you have installed, right? In Ubuntu I see the include file in /usr/include/libusb-1.0 and the library is /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libusb-1.0.so.0

If your library is not there (use find command to locate it), then LD_LIBRARY_PATH will need to point to the location of it or (maybe easier) in the libsmu folder, change the Makefile where it says LINKFLAGS= to also have -L/xxx where /xxx is the path to the location of your libusb library.

Make a backup of your Makefile in case it doesn't work and you need to revert.

This is just guesswork, I don't have Debian installed to test.

RE: Getting Started with the Active Learning Module ADALM1000

ralphrmartin — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 12:53:11 GMT

I tried building it on Debian, after installing Qt5, but got qmake not found. After finding that I needed to add the Qt5 tools to my path, I then got an error libusb not found. However, libusb and its development tools are installed. This is just a never ending process of trying to debug someone else's (not Shabaz's - I know he is trying to help - the pixelpulse2 authors') faulty build instructions. What works on one Linux does not work on another, it seems.

I'm not averse to using Linux, but remember that most Linux software comes as prebuilt packages which you can just apt-get install whatever.

Shabaz, I understand your comments for this device, and I too wanted it to be a success. I expected it to be a polished product, coming from a major player like Analog. However, the sad truth is that in relaity it is someone's hobby project, not a commercial porduct. The software is unfinished, the build instructions do not work, and the manuals do not exist. If you bought a phone, say, and had to build android yourself before you could use it, and the build instructions didn't work anyway, you would be rather disappointed. Whatever you buy, there is a reasonable expectation, and indeed legal requirement, that when the product page on Farnell says comes with manuals, examples, and software those will be provided when the product is delivered, and will work.