How I got a free Rigol

I havent spent big cash on my own hobbies for years now, but last year I finally decided that I wanted a proper bench oscilloscope instead of the USB scope I had bought earlier.

After doing research, I settled on a Rigol DS1054Z which would cost me about $450, plus a more proper multimeter than the 30 year old chinesium on I had since my teens.

So I placed the order and waited. The multimeter arrived, but not the Rigol. And waited…. And waited….

About 2 weeks later, I called the company and told them the scope had not arrived. They said they would ask the postoffice to do a search and for me to wait 5 more day. So I did, but still no scope arrived.

I called the company back and they said they didnt have any more in stock, so they would refund me. They refunded the whole order, including the multimeter.

Two days later, the oscilloscope arrived….. 🙂

FPGA arrived

Just arrived from China, a small cheap FPGA: Altera Cyclone-II (EP2C5T144).

The device itself is the least capable of all the Cyclone II FPGAs, but its seriously cheap at only $13. And its big enough to hold a basic CPU core. This is what it looks like (9V battery included for scale):

The USB Blaster has to be bought separately but only costs an additional $3. Unfortunatly the DC jack is for 5V, its unregulated unlike Arduinos. Bummer. And I dont have any 5V adapter with a 5.5mm plug so I have to make one myself.

Here are the specs for the board itself (and others of the same family, its the smallest one, EP2C5):

So now Im mostly ready to start designing and testing my own CPU. Ive already started some basic designing since a couple of nights back. Gaining some insights and making early design choices.

I still havent committed to wether the data bus should be 8-bit or 16-bit. Id like to make it 16-bit but that means a whole lot of wires (since its ultimately imagined as a breadboard design). Now that I think of it maybe I should make a first test design with address bus and data bus both being 8-bit.

Sorting integrated circuits

Today I received an order of compartmentalized plastic boxes for sorting things into. And so I sorted what I have so far. Some compartments are empty because the chips are still in my shopping cart at Digikey. And some are in the mail on the way here from China (Aliexpress).

Small compartments but can pack up to 20 chips into one if its just packed well. If thats not enough then the dividers can be removed to expand compartments sideways. The horizontal dividers are fixed. Vertical dividers on the compartment right at the lock mechanism is also fixed. But all in all, a cheap, neat, easy solution for sorting integrated circuits.

Link to the Aliexpress item. Shipping took 19 days from China to Sweden by China post registered air mail.

Chinese chip connection…

“Psst. Hey dude. Over here…”

A chinese man in the shadows beckons me to come over. When I do, he opens his coat to show me the lining covered with little bags full of INTEGRATED LOGIC CIRCUITS.

The mans name is Ali. Ali Express. And while he claims his goods are the best, straight from the factory, it can sometimes be something entirely different. But, most of the time it gets the job done.

Ali has been my supplier for a while now. Sometimes his wares are scruffy but it’s usually not an outright disappointment.

Today he dropped another small bag at our secret drop box. It was filled with… well, see for yourself. Plastic cases or foam was not included ofcourse. Alis wares usually comes wrapped in horrible kitchen plastic foil. Cringeworthy stuff having near static sensitive devices. But hey, it’s cheap.

All of this for 11 dollars, 13 cents. Shipping included. But Ali made a mistake this time, I only ordered and paid for 2x ATTINY85s, but I received 5x.

My uncle also dropped by today and left a few (three) PIC16C84-04/P chips as well. So now I’m all set up with MCUs for a while. No more excuses, it’s time to get around to doing something useful…