When I first knew that the funding was being gathered together to order my scope (thanks Chet and all the contributors Yet Again for this wonderful gift!) I did some research and found that some people were having trouble generating the correct unlocking codes from the various websites hosting the keygen. But on one of the sites I found this zipfile (attached below). Inside the zipfile are working kegens. There is a Windows .exe, a HTML that will run in your browser, an OSX thing I haven't tested not being a Mac fellow, and a Linux version. The Linux needs to be compiled on your individual system, the makefile and all auxiliary files are in the zipfile.
Hint: don't delete the full zipfile. Extract it into a separate directory, or move the zipfile itself to someplace safe, then also copy the extracted Windows .exe and the HTML folder to another directory, before you run the makefile to compile your Linux version. I found that the "make all" actually also did something to the HTML and Windows .exe as well. That's why you want uncorrupted ones directly from the zipfile.
So with the Windows, just get a command prompt and run the .exe file. Or open the HTML file in your browser. Or once you've compiled the Linux version, in a terminal window, cd to the dir it's in and enter ./riglol and follow the directions. "riglol" with the lol! I suppose the Mac application also works similarly. I've tested the Windows and the HTML and the compiled Linux and they all work for me, and I've also generated a couple of keys for other people that also worked.
You need your serial number and the options code. Inside the keygen is a list of the option codes available for several Rigol instruments, but for the DS1054z you want to use code DSER, which is not listed.
No "private key" is needed even though there is a place for it in the kegen program. So you enter your SN and the option code DSER, and the program returns a 28-character key, 4 groups of 7 chars. Then you enter this 28 character key into the Options Setup area of the scope. Or send it using telnet and the SCPI command :SYSTem:OPTions:INSTall xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (no hyphens in the key).
If you enter the key wrong or have made a mistake transcribing your SN into the keygen, the scope may "lock you out" of further key entry attempts for 12 hours. You just have to keep the scope on until your penalty time runs out... the DS1054z has no RealTime Clock so it just knows duration of on-time.
I would recommend generating the key for your own instruments in each of the apps in the zipfile to make sure they match, before entering it into the scope. It's good practice. In all cases that I know about, for the DS1054z and options code DSER the first two groups in the 28 character key are RDJ9JBB-N3SWWUS-xxxxxxx-xxxxxxx.
The interesting thing is that Rigol know all about this, it has been out there for years already and they don't seem to mind "officially". I don't know how they would treat a warranty return with a hack in place, though. One normally buys the options and gets the install key from the Rigol site on proof-of-purchase. For sure, the "hackability" is a major selling point and is part of why the DS1054z in particular is selling like mad.
Usually, to center a waveform vertically you just need to press the CH button for the channel you are looking at and then press on the Vertical position knob-button, and the baseline should snap to center screen. This also works for Horizontal position (snaps the trigger point to center horizontally) and Trigger level (snaps trigger level to the baseline position of the Trigger channel) knob-buttons. And to go from Normal mode to Zoom mode and back in the Horizontal, just press the Horizontal scale knob-button. This works best if you have more memory depth selected than "Auto".
I made a new video showing the unboxing and some testing of the new scope using the Mask Test Pass-Fail function to look at a waveform and wait for any bad behaviour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY34Kyakflw
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Topic: Let's get Slider (aka Mark Vaughan) a nice 4-channel DSO with math functions! (Read 62029 times)
