Machine Shop, Software

LXI-Tools for Siglent SDS2304X Oscilloscope and SDM3045X Multimeter

For whatever reason, my Siglent SDS2304X Oscilloscope and SDM3045X Multimeter partially implement their documented command sets through partial implementations of the VXI instrumentation driver network protocol. The Linux command-line side comes from lxi-tools, which one must fetch from its repository and compile from source(do liblxi first, then lxi-tools)  through the usual ./configure - make - sudo make install process, after tediously installing whatever dependencies might be revealed by incremental progress through the configuration(s) on your system(s).

The alternative, of course, is Labview on Windows.

The SDS2304X scope doesn’t respond to the LXI discover broadcast, so you must know and specify its IP address in the command. It’s easiest to configure the Siglent instruments at fixed IP addresses and be done with it:

lxi scpi -a 192.168.1.41 "*idn?"
Siglent Technologies,SDM3045X,SDM34whatever,5.01.01.03
lxi scpi -a 192.168.1.42 "*idn?"
*IDN SIGLENT,SDS2304X,SDS2Xwhatever,1.2.2.2 R10

Although the LXI tools also come in a Snap package, installing them that way prevents storing files outside the user’s home directory; having evolved a fairly extensive NFS filesystem, Snaps seem basically useless for my purposes. I don’t see much more security exposure from downloading and running a Snap than from downloading, compiling, and running the source code, but they obviously know what’s best for me.

4 thoughts on “LXI-Tools for Siglent SDS2304X Oscilloscope and SDM3045X Multimeter”

  1. For those sufficiently motivated, Slackware offers SlackBuilds for LXI, and they list the dependencies for liblxi and lxi-tools.

    Qt5 is required for the lxi-tools package, though Slackware64_14.2 ships with Qt4. OTOH, I already had to get Qt5.5 to build SleepyHead, the generic CPAP monitor program. I have both versions and tweak symlinks as necessary.

    1. It’s getting time to install a distro newer than Xubuntu 16.04 and I briefly (re)considered Arch, then came to my senses. Most likely, I’ll wind up with Lubuntu 18.04 after the July refresh, because, nowadays, I want sysadmin stuff to Just Go Away …

      1. Slack isn’t the easiest, but it doesn’t hurt that the two 64 bit systems are nearly identical. I’m used to it, and have found tools that will let me take other packages (rpms, mostly) and convert to txz.

        I need to get the 32 bit shop system updated. I need to remember to do the keygens so I don’t have to lug the monitor back to the house.

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