On 3/14/2023 4:48 PM, Alexander Huemer via cctalk wrote:
* The main IC in a 16 channel Saleae LA is a Xilinx Spartan 6,
The clones are of the older pre 2015 Cypress FX2 design, which was not
easy to protect. I don't see any eBay listings for the newer stuff in
clone format. I do see Logic8/Logic16 clones for sale, but they are not
the Xilinx variant.
* The Saleae host software doesn't attempt to validate that the hardware
it talks to is genuine even though that would be trivial to do as
well.
When version 1.1.9 came out, they did just that, to try to protect the
unit. The backlash was incredible, since most of the clones had
represented themselves as Saleae units, so the folks with now bricked
units complained bitterly to Saleae. They removed the check under
pressure. If you look at clone ads, you'll see 1.1.10+ as the app
version, for exactly that reason.
* No import stop of clones or anything like that was attempted by the
company.
I don't know how you would stop the import of clones. The design is
trivial and cannot be copyrighted (the specific PCB artwork could, but
the clones never use that, they are much smaller and laid out
differently. The controller is loaded from the PC, so I believe the
clones didn't even need to pirate the SW.
* Listings on eBay, etc. of Saleae clones are advertised as "Saleae",
which could easily be stopped by the company, that has happened
thousands of times for other products.
They seem reasonably successful. I remember in mid 2010s, there were
tons of listings. Now, I see a single Logic16 (old Cypress-based clone)
for $73 on eBay before I see actual used Logic16 Pro units. But, I see
a ton of Logic8 and Logic16 clones under generic names that are easy to
identify as Logic clones. $9.00 (for 8 ch) to $50 (for 16).
Clones of Saleae devices are on the market since a long time. Saleae
brought out new hardware revisions since then, so the argument 'they
were taken by surprise' doesn't hold up.
Is there a link where they said they were taken by surprise? I think
they were in the beginning, but that was in 2014. If the quote is
recent, I would agree, they've known for a while.
Though a knockoff Saleae LA won't make you end up in hell.
I don't think I implied it would. I do have reservations about such a
recommendation in general and how it could negatively affect this
community, as people apply it to other products/projects.
All that said, I will concede that the current Logic pricing is steep.
For the price of a 2023 Logic16Pro, I procured 2 complete 16XXX HP
frames, made a fully loaded units with 2 function generators/3 333 MHz
LA cards (204 channels)/100MHz DSO, and sold the extra 16500 frame with
2 100MHz+ cards onto to another community member. Maybe Sigrok and a
few of the less expensive 32/34 channel options is a better suggestion
for the lower end option.
Jim
--
Jim Brain
br...@jbrain.com
www.jbrain.com
