The Welec W2000A project

Enhancements, upgrades and improvements to the firmware, software and hardware for the W2000A series digital storage oscilloscope made by Welec.

Just want to upgrade your oscilloscope firmware? Here is the info you need!

• We think the firmware developed here is already superior to the one delivered with the scopes from Welec.
• Consider that this is a development project and that you use the firmware at your own risk. There is more information about licensing on the downloads pags.
• How to upload new firmware file to your scope
• Questions or comments? Post in the Forum (Discussion forum)

Front side of the W2022A scope


FFT done with firmware 1.2.BF.1.5, showing a clipped 40KHz signal, sampled at 1MHz
The screen image was transferred from the scope to a PC using the Screenshot application

An overview of the project for those who want to know more

At the core of the scopes there is hardware and software. The Welec W2000A series oscilloscopes are a basically good performance scopes at a reasonable price but the firmware does not have a good reputation and the hardware could benifit from improvements. Development is done in this project for both sides:

• developing better firmware and software for the scopes, to improve functionality, usability and performance
• to improve the hardware for better performance and adding functionality

Software

The software development in this project is done essentially along two lines; one for the current FPGA code, one with a new FPGA code:

• Based on the available FPGA functionality, adding a new firmware to the scope. Often referred to as the "Hayo" project after the core developer. This project adds a better user interface and functionality to the scope, based on the FPGA code developed by Welec. The currently released firmware here is developed along these lines. The developers consider the current (june-2010) versions as beta, but already superior to the original Welec firmware.
• The "Leon3" project where the FPGA is rewritten from the core and then new firmware is added to it. Wherever you see something about FPGA development, it's probably the Leon3 project. The reason for rewriting the FPGA code is that the original FPGA code is not available from Welec, so it is essentially undocumented. This project branch is not yet available for end users and no end user firmware is available so far (may-2010).

This table is under development

Input to this page and this table is encouraged and appreciated. janaf

FPGA Design	WELEC	WELEC	WELEC	New Implementation based on the LEON3 soft-core
FPGA Design Status	buggy, not public	buggy, not public	buggy, not public	fully OpenSource
Implemented soft-core	NIOS I	NIOS I	NIOS I	LEON3
Firmware for soft-core	Original WELEC	BF-Version by Hayo	OS-Version by Falk and Rolf	LEON3 by Alex,Robert and Daniel
Firmware Status	Buggy, not recommended	recommended	no further support	Alpha/development
Firmware reference	WELEC	TBD	TBD	TBD
Firmware version	latest WELEC 1.4	1.2.BF.4.X	1.2.OS.0.X	Alpha, not for end users yet
Firmware uploader	WELEC	Perl script or WelecUpdater	Perl script or WelecUpdater	WaveRecorder
PC data export	N/A	Data export Screenshot	Data export Screenshot	WaveRecorder
PC app/GUI	WELEC PC app	GUI for Matlab	GUI for Matlab	NA
Com. Protocols	?	RS232 API, USB protocol	RS232 API, USB protocol	Under development
End user support	WELEC	Forum	Forum	Forum
Developers groups	WELEC	Mostly http://www.mikrocontroller.net Firmware Thread http://www.mikrocontroller.net/topic/206819?goto=new#new	Mostly http://www.mikrocontroller.net	https://github.com/alexvie/welecw2000a

This table is under development

Hardware

There is development on the hardware done here, to improve it's performance and functionality. The results are not really ready for normal end users yet (may 2010) but it is an interesting development project that you may want to follow or get involved in. Some examples:

• There is extensive work done to improve the analogue input section and AD converters, ie changes in the hardware interiors.
• Other oscilloscope modifications for interfacing, for example addition of a board that enables screen dumps to a USB stick.

Sitemap

Below you will find links to pages with more information about the Welec scope, its firmware, hardware and about the development projects. You are also welcome to support our development with your knowledge. Just join our project!

This Page

• Project Homepage (this page)

Firmware

• Firmware
  • How to backup original firmware file
  • How to upload new firmware file
  • Road-map
  • Firmware History
  • Wish List
  • Architecture for a new firmware
• What we know about the original firmware
  • Documentation of Variables
  • NIOS Peripheral Address Map

Upgrading a W20xx to W20xxA

• Upgrade instruction

FPGA

• Quartus- Beginner instructions
  • In System Memory Content Editor
  • Dumping and flashing the FPGA config flash
  • USBBlaster
• ZPU - FPGA design with implemented ZPU softcore
• Leon3 - Alternative independend implementation with the Leon3 softcore
  • Setting up toolchain on Windows
  • Leon Binaries

Worth Knowing

• Digital signal processing
  • Interpolation in DSO/DPO
  • ADC-timing notes
• ADCs, FIFO, Timing, RAM as seen by the Firmware

Hardware and hardware modifications

• Hardware overview
  • Some documentation on the LCD screen
  • Measurements for Re-engineering
  • Hardware Improvement Documentation
• Modifications on W20xx(A) Scopes
• USB-Host Add-on

Miscellaneous

• A list of the Developers
• File archive / Repository structure
• Forum (Discussion forum hosted here at SourceForge)
• Review of GW-Instek GDS-1152A
• Review of Cleverscope C328A
• The SourceForge page for this project
• Devices of several users and their hardware code and some results
• Active Probe with OPA659 by A.B. alias branadic
• Review SNA2550 by A.B. alias branadic

Old resources, read-only:

• old SF board (use the Forum instead)
• old Google Group (use the Forum instead)

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Linking to us

IMPORTANT: If you want to link to/bookmark this page, please do so for the URL http://welecw2000a.sourceforge.net/. This allows us to "update your link to us", if we decide to e.g. trash Trac or host it by ourselves.

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Trac Documentation (These web pages are built using the Trac wiki system)

For reference:

• TracGuide -- Built-in Documentation
• The Trac project -- Trac Open Source Project
• Trac FAQ -- Frequently Asked Questions
• TracSupport -- Trac Support

For a complete list of local wiki pages, see TitleIndex.