“BitScope is a built and tested (and previously build it yourself DIY), open design, digital storage oscilloscope and logic analyzer (also, digital sampling oscilloscope, mixed signal oscilloscope, DSO) based on the MicroChip PIC … that uses open source software and commercial software for Windows, Linux and Macintosh ”

They give you a library to interface with it, at least.

http://www.bitscope.net/download/?p=1

Go ahead. Try to find the source code to their software – either the software on the PC or the firmware on the board.

It looks like they released a new version of DSO a few days ago. I wonder if it has any improvements to functionality or if it’s just cross-platform.

The software is rather frustrating to me. I’d consider that the weakest point. It’s open source, so theoretically people can write their own software and improve on it, but I don’t know of any.

None of the buttons in the software are labeled, so I forget what each thing does and have to look it up in the manual each time. There’s no tooltip or anything.

It lets you adjust the signal level in two ways: One actually adjusts the analog gain of the input, the other does digital scaling, allowing the signal to clip before it reaches the edge of the screen. I find this very non-intuitive compared to a normal scope, and wish it at least gave some indication that the waveform was clipping due to the BitScope and not due to the circuit being tested, like turning the trace red when it hits the rails or showing red limit lines on the screen. I don’t see why anyone would want to show less resolution than possible, though. The waveform would only clip at the screen edges if I wrote it.

It’s hard to get a good trigger.

An “Auto” button would be nice, too, like digital scopes. If it found multiple waveforms at very different frequencies, it could easily give me the option of which to display.

Also, I wish it were possible to use it in a 1-in/1-out configuration for sending waveforms into a device and measuring what comes out. This model can only run in 1-in, 2-in, or 1-out. So it cannot do http://www.bitscope.com/software/dso/guide/1.2/?p=12#tfa

Here’s another possibility, for only $90:

http://www.justblair.co.uk/seeed-studio-dso-nano-pocket-digital-storage-oscilloscope-review.html
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/micro-digital-storage-oscilloscopedso-nano-p-512.html

-Thanks