With Intel, using the 45nm process to manufacture its current processors, now talking about switching to the 30nm, and progressing to the 10nm fab, everything is set to get very, very small. The SMD resistors on your Nokia motherboard seem gargantuan in comparison.
Anyway, I absolutely needed to get myself a piece of this deliciously small pie. So in the past few months I've stared working with surface mount devices. Naturally, if I've reached the level where I'm working with SMDs, I would also have reached the level where I would need the services of an oscilloscope. Problem is, an oscilloscope, even a government-office-used, second-hand, two channel, 100MHz scope - the minimum demanded by any respectable hobbyist - costs about 10 grand. 10 grand is something I would like to have, but sadly, I don't. A new plain-jane CRO-oscope is about 25-30K, while (drool) Agilent DSOs start at a prohibitive 70K. Even cheapo entry-level USB oscilloscopes are a minimum of 10K, and to make matters worse, they aren't available in India.
So, like any other respectable hobbyist (all respectable hobbyists have what is called 'electronics-ego' - some may call it a touch of madness, others, an obsession, and yet others, an incurable disease; to hell with you, you vile naysayers! May you all burn!). Umm, yes, where was I? Aah, as I was saying, like any other respectable hobbyist, I decided to go the DIY way, and build my own scope.
The advantages of building your own scope - it's dirt cheap, and you learn a ton of other stuff (analog layout design, ADC nitty-gritties, USB firmware coding, and host data-handling to name just a few).
The scope would follow this kind of layout:
(PIC 18F4550)
-> (External trigger sources)
-> (USB2.0 Full speed @ approx 1.2MBytes/sec bulk transfer)
Host:
Last night (in Sid's words, and CCS-C) I was on cloud [unsigned int8 cloud 0b00001001]. I got USB bulk transfers to work with LabVIEW, albeit, in a crude way. Nevertheless, it worked, pleasing me tremendously. LabVIEW makes development super-easy. Easy, in a way that makes you feel dumb. Amit Sabne, who I've been brain-storming with, puts it very concisely - "Yaar, feel hi nahi aati!" - which is kind of true. The chaps at NI have done a great job of making hardware interfacing a snap. Wait for your USB device to enumerate, enter its VID and PID (device/manufacturer specific 'serial numbers'), throw a few icons and VIs here and there, and voila! You have délicieux transferts de USB bulke, served hot! (yes, translate.google.com is most helpful). The NI engineers have robbed hardware-software hackers from the trials and tribulations of mind-messing driver-writing, back-breakingly long hours of prouring over hardware, and sleepless red-eye-rubbing nights. Damn! Where's the joy and satisfaction if you can do something in 10 minutes, what used to otherwise take hours?
Now that I've got a rough and dirty implementation of PIC to USB transfers to work, what remains is putting it all together. Gimme a few days, and I'll upload the PIC firmware in CCS-C, and the LabVIEW VI here for you to use, enjoy, redistribute!