RPi with an Oscilloscope and Java Embedded: Ready for Benchmarking (Part 1)

So, the oscilloscope that Gary C. and Vlad D. found for our Java Embedded on Raspberry Pi analysis (see top photo) is actually a fancy-schmancy HP 16700A logic analyzer with an HP 16534A oscilloscope module -- which in plain English means it cost SavaJe beaucoup bucks to buy (4 G's back in 2001). And, I'm guessing that as a typical RPi hobbyist, you're not going to want to drop $4k on your project just to measure the frequency of a Java Embedded generated PWM wave. Am I right?

Thought so. Well, if you are interested in using an oscilloscope to play around with, there is hope. For example, here's a price-friendly PicoScope 2205A Oscilloscope.

This PicoScope only costs $275 at Allied Electronics, see PicoScope link. It does pretty much the same thing as the HP logic analyzer I have in my office, but at a much lower price... and with a lot less noise!

So, the first step for all you developers playing along at home is to beg, borrow, or buy an oscilloscope, or the PicoScope for a fraction of the price (if you don't have the luxury of using an HP logic analyzer from a previous high tech acquisition that is). Once you have that, come back to my future blog post and see how to hook it up to your Raspberry Pi for some GPIO benchmarking.