Thought that there might be some who are interested in my experience getting the PCGU1000 to work in Windows 7…
First things first, and this is unrelated to Windows 7. I had MAJOR problems with that horrible wall-wart Velleman supplies. Those localizing adapter plugs DO NOT MAKE GOOD INTERNAL CONTACT. The wall wart was flickering off and on as it sat plugged into the UPS. Twist it one way it goes off, twist it the other, it goes on. It’s just awful… unreliable… and sure to cause problems for others besides me. I strongly encourage Velleman to make a proper localized adapter for all their markets. This approach is just too unreliable. I wonder how many devices have been damaged by intermittent power like I found. IMO, these ought to be recalled and replaced. They’re junk.
As for installing the driver – The documentation as it stands for Vista is wrong and/or inadequate for Windows 7. I have the 32-bit version running on an Intel motherboard with a Northwood 3.2GHz P4. Plugging in the device causes Windows to post the device with the usual yellow “!” on it. I was able to install the updated driver directly by browsing to the location of the inf file I’d unzipped to the HD. Note that you can not install the inf file by the usual way of right-clicking and selecting install. You must go through Device Manager, the long way.
The driver installs the device as a COM port. THERE IS NO USB DEVICE CREATED.
Starting up PCLab2000 proceeds normally at the splash screen, showing the grayed-out USB device found, and allowing you to select the PCGU button. However, once you OK that, it all falls apart immediately. The PCGU isn’t found and the red “ready” light never illuminates. Cycling the USB connection doesn’t help. It does remove and recreate the COM port, but there’s still no USB entry and PCLab will not find the device.
Just out of curiosity I went to the PCLab shortcut and told it to run the program in XP-SP3 compatibility mode, and waalaa, it worked.
I recommend that Velleman review the setup procedure on Windows 7 and update their setup documentation ASAP. As it stands, it’s just not adequate. I also recommend updating the driver so that compatibility mode isn’t necessary. Nothing in current production and claiming to work on Windows 7 should have to run in compatibility mode.
And while I’m on the subject of setting up, what about the “manual”? Where IS the detailed user manual for the PCGU1000? The only thing that’s on the CD or your site is the quick start guide, which as I’m sure you realize, doesn’t have much to say about the detailed operation of the software or generator. So where is it? There’s no guidance at all in the use of some of the less intuitive functions such as the wave editor or the library waveforms.
FYI, here’s exactly what is on the CD for the PCGU:
- PCGU1000 Function Generator.pdf This is a one page advertising brochure in Documentation\Instruments
- PCGU1000 Reference Manual.pdf Four pages, one of which is a full-page picture, one blank, one generic safety warnings, and one with a list of features. i.e. nothing useful.
- PC-LaBSE2000SE_UK.pdf The pdf version of the Quick Start Guide: A brief description of the software, dwelling almost exclusively on the scope portion. It has the temerity to say “More details can be found on the CD” (no, they can’t.)
- PCGU1000-5_1_assembly.pdf A very sketchy PCB layout diagram with parts locations
- PCGU1000-5_1_SCH.pdf The schematic (kudos for this)
That’s all folks. There is no user manual. I’d like to have one, actually, rather than guess how these features are supposed to work. If someone can post a link to a real manual I’d be most appreciative.
If anyone has questions or wants more details, ask away…