Hi, Stefan,

       The problem was fixed by setting Reg_addr "1001" instead of "1111" when in idle state, I was confused. 

Hello Mr. Stefan Ritt

          In DSR4 DATASHEET Rev.0.8 Page13, I noticed you metioned the samping should occur after 38 ns after the rising edge of SRCLK when the multiplexer is used. So what is suggested value(delay time between sampling and the rising edge of SRCLK) for the parallel mode,in which the multiplexer is not used?

          Best wishes!

                                                       Jinhong Wang

The clock-to-output delay is the same if one uses the multiplexer or not. I found however that in most cases the delay of 38 ns needs some fine tuning to get optimal performance. So I typically use a shifted clock generated by the FPGA clock manager with a programmable delay (+-5 ns for Xilinx) and optimize this in the running system.

For the users using a Macintosh,

after several hours the Evaluation Board is working  on my Macintosh (intel).

1) install the development package with xcode, its on the OS X installation DVD

2) install the libusb binary from http://www.ellert.se/twain-sane/

3) modify the makefile  for compiling drs_exam (attached) afterwards it's running perfect!

best,

Armin

 I installed Mac OS package on macbook (late 2013). DRSOsc starts to write file but freezes; need to be restarted to restore connection with DRS4 evaluation board (ordered Aug 2011). 

When I ran from the command line, I see these messages:

phone$ /Applications/DRSOsc.app/Contents/MacOS/DRSOsc

2013-11-18 15:11:31.278 DRSOsc[96539:507] CoreText performance note: Client called CTFontCreateWithName() using name "Lucida Grande" and got font with PostScript name "LucidaGrande". For best performance, only use PostScript names when calling this API.

2013-11-18 15:11:31.279 DRSOsc[96539:507] CoreText performance note: Set a breakpoint on CTFontLogSuboptimalRequest to debug.

2013-11-18 15:11:31.281 DRSOsc[96539:507] CoreText performance note: Client called CTFontCreateWithName() using name "Lucida Grande" and got font with PostScript name "LucidaGrande". For best performance, only use PostScript names when calling this API.

2013-11-18 15:11:31.283 DRSOsc[96539:507] CoreText performance note: Client called CTFontCreateWithName() using name "Lucida Grande" and got font with PostScript name "LucidaGrande". For best performance, only use PostScript names when calling this API.

2013-11-18 15:11:31.285 DRSOsc[96539:507] CoreText performance note: Client called CTFontCreateWithName() using name "Lucida Grande" and got font with PostScript name "LucidaGrande". For best performance, only use PostScript names when calling this API.

0 - 0.250

1 - 0.250

2 - 0.250

3 - 0.250

0 - 0.250

1 - 0.250

2 - 0.250

3 - 0.250

2013-11-18 15:11:32.933 DRSOsc[96539:507] CoreText performance note: Client called CTFontCreateWithName() using name "Lucida Grande" and got font with PostScript name "LucidaGrande". For best performance, only use PostScript names when calling this API.

...

...

and these:

musb_write: requested 10, wrote 0, errno -4 (Unknown error: -4)

musb_read error 0

musb_write: requested 10, wrote 0, errno -4 (Unknown error: -4)

musb_read error 0

...

...

I tried to compile Linux package, but got error messages:

drs-4.0.1$ make

cc -g -O2 -Wall -Wuninitialized -fno-strict-aliasing -Iinclude -I/opt/local/include -DOS_DARWIN -DHAVE_USB -DHAVE_LIBUSB10 -DUSE_DRS_MUTEX -c src/musbstd.c

cc -g -O2 -Wall -Wuninitialized -fno-strict-aliasing -Iinclude -I/opt/local/include -DOS_DARWIN -DHAVE_USB -DHAVE_LIBUSB10 -DUSE_DRS_MUTEX -c src/mxml.c

In file included from src/mxml.c:79:

include/strlcpy.h:27:14: error: expected parameter declarator

size_t EXPRT strlcpy(char *dst, const char *src, size_t size);

             ^

/usr/include/secure/_string.h:105:44: note: expanded from macro 'strlcpy'

  __builtin___strlcpy_chk (dest, src, len, __darwin_obsz (dest))

                                           ^

/usr/include/secure/_common.h:39:62: note: expanded from macro '__darwin_obsz'

#define __darwin_obsz(object) __builtin_object_size (object, _USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL > 1 ? 1 : 0)

                                                             ^

/usr/include/secure/_common.h:30:32: note: expanded from macro '_USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL'

#    define _USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL 2

                               ^

In file included from src/mxml.c:79:

include/strlcpy.h:27:14: error: expected ')'

/usr/include/secure/_string.h:105:44: note: expanded from macro 'strlcpy'

  __builtin___strlcpy_chk (dest, src, len, __darwin_obsz (dest))

                                           ^

/usr/include/secure/_common.h:39:62: note: expanded from macro '__darwin_obsz'

#define __darwin_obsz(object) __builtin_object_size (object, _USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL > 1 ? 1 : 0)

                                                             ^

/usr/include/secure/_common.h:30:32: note: expanded from macro '_USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL'

#    define _USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL 2

                               ^

include/strlcpy.h:27:14: note: to match this '('

/usr/include/secure/_string.h:105:44: note: expanded from macro 'strlcpy'

  __builtin___strlcpy_chk (dest, src, len, __darwin_obsz (dest))

                                           ^

/usr/include/secure/_common.h:39:53: note: expanded from macro '__darwin_obsz'

#define __darwin_obsz(object) __builtin_object_size (object, _USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL > 1 ? 1 : 0)

                                                    ^

In file included from src/mxml.c:79:

include/strlcpy.h:27:14: warning: type specifier missing, defaults to 'int' [-Wimplicit-int]

size_t EXPRT strlcpy(char *dst, const char *src, size_t size);

             ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/usr/include/secure/_string.h:105:44: note: expanded from macro 'strlcpy'

  __builtin___strlcpy_chk (dest, src, len, __darwin_obsz (dest))

                                           ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/usr/include/secure/_common.h:39:31: note: expanded from macro '__darwin_obsz'

#define __darwin_obsz(object) __builtin_object_size (object, _USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL > 1 ? 1 : 0)

                              ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In file included from src/mxml.c:79:

include/strlcpy.h:27:14: error: conflicting types for '__builtin___strlcpy_chk'

/usr/include/secure/_string.h:105:3: note: expanded from macro 'strlcpy'

  __builtin___strlcpy_chk (dest, src, len, __darwin_obsz (dest))

  ^

include/strlcpy.h:27:14: note: '__builtin___strlcpy_chk' is a builtin with type 'unsigned long (char *, const char *, unsigned long, unsigned long)'

/usr/include/secure/_string.h:105:3: note: expanded from macro 'strlcpy'

  __builtin___strlcpy_chk (dest, src, len, __darwin_obsz (dest))

  ^

In file included from src/mxml.c:79:

include/strlcpy.h:28:14: error: expected parameter declarator

size_t EXPRT strlcat(char *dst, const char *src, size_t size);

             ^

/usr/include/secure/_string.h:111:44: note: expanded from macro 'strlcat'

  __builtin___strlcat_chk (dest, src, len, __darwin_obsz (dest))

                                           ^

/usr/include/secure/_common.h:39:62: note: expanded from macro '__darwin_obsz'

#define __darwin_obsz(object) __builtin_object_size (object, _USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL > 1 ? 1 : 0)

                                                             ^

/usr/include/secure/_common.h:30:32: note: expanded from macro '_USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL'

#    define _USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL 2

                               ^

In file included from src/mxml.c:79:

include/strlcpy.h:28:14: error: expected ')'

/usr/include/secure/_string.h:111:44: note: expanded from macro 'strlcat'

  __builtin___strlcat_chk (dest, src, len, __darwin_obsz (dest))

                                           ^

/usr/include/secure/_common.h:39:62: note: expanded from macro '__darwin_obsz'

#define __darwin_obsz(object) __builtin_object_size (object, _USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL > 1 ? 1 : 0)

                                                             ^

/usr/include/secure/_common.h:30:32: note: expanded from macro '_USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL'

#    define _USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL 2

                               ^

include/strlcpy.h:28:14: note: to match this '('

/usr/include/secure/_string.h:111:44: note: expanded from macro 'strlcat'

  __builtin___strlcat_chk (dest, src, len, __darwin_obsz (dest))

                                           ^

/usr/include/secure/_common.h:39:53: note: expanded from macro '__darwin_obsz'

#define __darwin_obsz(object) __builtin_object_size (object, _USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL > 1 ? 1 : 0)

                                                    ^

In file included from src/mxml.c:79:

include/strlcpy.h:28:14: warning: type specifier missing, defaults to 'int' [-Wimplicit-int]

size_t EXPRT strlcat(char *dst, const char *src, size_t size);

             ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/usr/include/secure/_string.h:111:44: note: expanded from macro 'strlcat'

  __builtin___strlcat_chk (dest, src, len, __darwin_obsz (dest))

                                           ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

/usr/include/secure/_common.h:39:31: note: expanded from macro '__darwin_obsz'

#define __darwin_obsz(object) __builtin_object_size (object, _USE_FORTIFY_LEVEL > 1 ? 1 : 0)

                              ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In file included from src/mxml.c:79:

include/strlcpy.h:28:14: error: conflicting types for '__builtin___strlcat_chk'

/usr/include/secure/_string.h:111:3: note: expanded from macro 'strlcat'

  __builtin___strlcat_chk (dest, src, len, __darwin_obsz (dest))

  ^

include/strlcpy.h:28:14: note: '__builtin___strlcat_chk' is a builtin with type 'unsigned long (char *, const char *, unsigned long, unsigned long)'

/usr/include/secure/_string.h:111:3: note: expanded from macro 'strlcat'

  __builtin___strlcat_chk (dest, src, len, __darwin_obsz (dest))

  ^

2 warnings and 6 errors generated.

make: *** [mxml.o] Error 1

What the best way to build DRSOsc on the Mac OS X?

Thanks,

Andriy.

DRSOsc seems broken on OSX 10.9. I'm working on this right now. Some of the problems are related to wxWidgets, so I'm waiting for a new version running stably under OSX 10.9. The compilation problem related to "strlcpy" comes from the fact that OSX 10.9 now comes with its own version of that function, while all previous versions did not. So simply removing strlcpy.h/c from the project fixes that.

There will be a new version of DRSOsc next month which fixes all this problems, so just stay tuned.

/Stefan 

 I will have beam test next week :-(

I installed wxWidgets-3.0 using MacPorts (and libusb too). After removing strlcpy and hacking of Makefile I managed to build MacOS application. 

When I launch DRSOsc.app/Contents/MacOS/DRSOsc from terminal, I see constantly pouring messages about fonts:

2013-11-19 12:21:22.232 DRSOsc[99520:507] CoreText performance note: Client called CTFontCreateWithName() using name "Lucida Grande" and got font with PostScript name "LucidaGrande". For best performance, only use PostScript names when calling this API.

2013-11-19 12:21:22.275 DRSOsc[99520:507] CoreText performance note: Client called CTFontCreateWithName() using name "Lucida Grande" and got font with PostScript name "LucidaGrande". For best performance, only use PostScript names when calling this API.

...

How may I get rid of them?

Another problem: I was not able to save data in binary (*.dat) file. I used DRSOsc settings to set binary format, I specified explicit extension *.dat, tried everything (including hiding extension), but was not able to save in binary format. Do I need to apply some trick? How may I hardcode usage of the binary format?

Thanks,

Andriy.

The CoreText issue comes from WxWidgets or a combination with OSX 10.9. Many other people have the same problem:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=934261

and I have no idea how to get rid of it.

Concerning your problem with the binary format, just have a look at elog:272

Hi,

Our group had previously heard that a "DRS-5.0" might be on the horizon and that it may have ethernet capabilities as well as 16-input channels (we heard this when ordering the DRS-4). Is this still in the works and accurate information? If so, is there a rough estimate to the "release date?"

Thanks for your time,

Zach Miller

You mix up two things: The DRS5 chip is a new device with improved samling speed (10 GSPS) and lower dead time. This chip might come in 2-3 years. The 16-input board you mentioned is a DAQ board based on the DRS4 chip. This board well be operational beginning of 2013 as a prototype. It is not clear however at this point in which way this board will be made available for public. Maybe we will license this to industry. The design is however pretty much defined: 16 channels with gain 0.1-100, 1 GHz Bandwidth, Gigabit Ethernet output, and multi-board capabilities. Trigger on each channel with logical combinations. 80 MSPS continuous sampling (in addition to the DRS4 sampling). Each channel can be biased 0-210 V for SiPMT or APD power. A 19" 3 HE crate will host 16 boards with 256 channels.

/Stefan

 Thanks, Stefan. That was the information we were looking for.

Cheers.

-Zach

Hello Sir,

Regarding to analog pulse counting by using DRS4 Rev.2.0 board, you have said that "There is a way to perform the counting dead time free, but that requires the V4 board, which has a hardware comparator on all four channels (The V2 board has only one comparator and a multiplexer). The output of these comparators go directly to the FPGA, which can then trigger on these signals. In principle one could implement a hardware counter in the FPGA, which works practically dead time free. But this requires a new firmware which has to be written. Either you do it yourself using the Xilinx development tools, or you wait until I find some time to implement this, which could take a couple of weeks or even months."

I am interested in it. I have DRS4 Rev.2.0 board. I have FPGA and Microcontroller firmware for this board. How can I implement this concept of counting pulses?

As I said above, you need a V4 board which has the four hardware comparators mounted. You cannot do that with the V2 board, even with a firmware upgrade.

The firmware upgrade for the V4 board is not yet ready and I won't have time for that in the next 3-4 weeks, but afterwards maybe.

Best regards,

Stefan 

 Thank you for your response.

The DRS4 Rev.2.0 with one Multiplexer and a Comparator I think may be is ok for me. Since I wanted to implement counter in FPGA, I have gone through firmware but its very difficult for me to get the flow of data from DRS to USB. Could you help me to get familiar with or to get flow of the data from DRS to the USB?

Thank You,

Sonal

Hi Sonai,

unfortunately I cannot teach you VHDL, you should take a course somewhere. Actually you don't have to touch the USB part, you just have to implement a new register in the firmware, and connect it to a VHDL counter attached to the trigger input. I will do this in a couple of weeks myself, so you can also just wait. I will however only do this for the V4 board, so you have to port it back to the V2 firmware.

Best regards,

Stefan

Hello, Stefan. Have you implemented pulse counting yet?

Best, Osip.

Nope. 

 Will it be done in the foreseeable future?

Yes. I will announce it in the forum. 

Hi i am using DRS4 Eval Board V2, How to acquire data to a bin file using it.