Enable Options UPL Analyzer
One challenge still active is to enable remaining options on my analyzer.
There are many posts here and on EEVblog for enabling the options on newer gear of R&S but not for the previous generations which run on DOS and have option stickers on the back of the units.
The ultimate goal is to create a public program to share.
If anybody has any information or clues that could help, please share them.
Progress will be shared off course.
Thanks!
Bart
One challenge still active is to enable remaining options on my analyzer.
There are many posts here and on EEVblog for enabling the options on newer gear of R&S but not for the previous generations which run on DOS and have option stickers on the back of the units.
The ultimate goal is to create a public program to share.
If anybody has any information or clues that could help, please share them.
Progress will be shared off course.
Thanks!
Bart
Here is the complete software option list as found in the help files of the UPL.
0: UPL-B4 Remote Control (IEEE bus and RS232)
1: UPL-B21 Digital Audio Protocol
2: UPL-B22 Jitter and Interface Test
3: UPL-B10 Universal Sequence Controller
4: UPL-B6 Extended Analysis
5: UPL-B33 ITU-T33
6: UPL-B8 GSM Phone Tests
7: UPL-B23 Coded Audio Signal Generation
8: UPL-B9 3G Phone Tests
0: UPL-B4 Remote Control (IEEE bus and RS232)
1: UPL-B21 Digital Audio Protocol
2: UPL-B22 Jitter and Interface Test
3: UPL-B10 Universal Sequence Controller
4: UPL-B6 Extended Analysis
5: UPL-B33 ITU-T33
6: UPL-B8 GSM Phone Tests
7: UPL-B23 Coded Audio Signal Generation
8: UPL-B9 3G Phone Tests
Replace HDD with CF Card
Another very simple upgrade is replacing the harddrive with a flash storage. The most convenient and cheap alternative is a CF Card. There are other alternatics like parallel ssd's and IDE to sata converters but this is really the most simple one.
I chose these components.
SanDisk Compact Flash 512MB Memory Card Memory Card CF | eBay
Brand New CF IDE 44 PIN Adapter + 2.5" IDE Lead for Amiga 600 Amiga 1200 | eBay
Before you install anything, a good bet is to backup the C:\UPL\REF folder as that holds all the CAL files. You don't really need these files as everything is backed up inside the EEPROM of the UPL and will be copied back to the C-Drive if not found. But it doesn't hurt to have it somewhere else.
Installing it is quite easy. Make sure the pin1 is correct. The ribbon is easily indicated by the black wire in the ribbon and the 1 printed on the CF adapter card.
When replacing the hard drive i first went into the BIOS and made sure the new CF card was recognized as the PRIMARY MASTER.
IMG_2081.HEIC - Google Drive
Then everything is good to go. Make sure the first DOS install media is present in the floppy drive and the floppy drive is the first booted device. Change the order if needed inside the BIOS.
Continue swapping the disks when requested during the install.
After the installation of DOS the UPL will startup as a DOS computer with no R&S software on it.
Insert the first installation disk of the UPL. Navigate to A:\ and type UPLINST and then enter.
The UPL software will start to install by first copying all the files to c:\INSTALL and then installing from there.
Follow the remaining instructions for Language and keyboard settings. If options are installed e.g. B10 additional settings will be requested on how the UPL should boot and how much memory should be allocated.
After a reboot the UPL software will start normally. You'll get a warning that the harddrive has been changed. This is because inside the C:\UPL\REF folder is a file called SERIAL.NR with the serial number of the device. When not found this warning will pop up. When you press 1 on the screen to acknowledge this as permanent the UPL will write this file again using the serial number stored in the EEPROM of the UPL.
After the software is started up go to DOS again and insert the 2nd installation disk of the UPL.
Navigate back to A:\ and type SETINST and then enter.
After that the installation will be complete.
If you're like me and have an unsupported keyboard layout you can change this in the USERKEYB.BAT file located in the C:\UPL directory
If you want to change this naviate to C:\UPL type EDIT USERKEYB.BAT
This will open an editor. Type or uncomment KEYB US and change the US to the keyboard layout you want.
Save the file and on reboot the correct layout will be set.
To fixate the CF adapter I chose to reuse existing holes. I used a spacer to offset the board from the metal chassis and used existing holes in the PCB to mount it. There is no weight in this component so the fixation is more than enough for me.
Additionally i started up FDISK to see how much space a fresh install takes. With a 512MB card you have more than space enough (492MB Free) and these cards run relatively cheap.
I bought 2 of these cards. When my cardreader arrives for my laptop i'll take a backup so i can swap cards if needed.
The whole collection of pictures can be found here:
CompactFlash Card - Google Drive
Cheers,
Bart
Another very simple upgrade is replacing the harddrive with a flash storage. The most convenient and cheap alternative is a CF Card. There are other alternatics like parallel ssd's and IDE to sata converters but this is really the most simple one.
I chose these components.
SanDisk Compact Flash 512MB Memory Card Memory Card CF | eBay
Brand New CF IDE 44 PIN Adapter + 2.5" IDE Lead for Amiga 600 Amiga 1200 | eBay
Before you install anything, a good bet is to backup the C:\UPL\REF folder as that holds all the CAL files. You don't really need these files as everything is backed up inside the EEPROM of the UPL and will be copied back to the C-Drive if not found. But it doesn't hurt to have it somewhere else.
Installing it is quite easy. Make sure the pin1 is correct. The ribbon is easily indicated by the black wire in the ribbon and the 1 printed on the CF adapter card.
When replacing the hard drive i first went into the BIOS and made sure the new CF card was recognized as the PRIMARY MASTER.
IMG_2081.HEIC - Google Drive
Then everything is good to go. Make sure the first DOS install media is present in the floppy drive and the floppy drive is the first booted device. Change the order if needed inside the BIOS.
Continue swapping the disks when requested during the install.
After the installation of DOS the UPL will startup as a DOS computer with no R&S software on it.
Insert the first installation disk of the UPL. Navigate to A:\ and type UPLINST and then enter.
The UPL software will start to install by first copying all the files to c:\INSTALL and then installing from there.
Follow the remaining instructions for Language and keyboard settings. If options are installed e.g. B10 additional settings will be requested on how the UPL should boot and how much memory should be allocated.
After a reboot the UPL software will start normally. You'll get a warning that the harddrive has been changed. This is because inside the C:\UPL\REF folder is a file called SERIAL.NR with the serial number of the device. When not found this warning will pop up. When you press 1 on the screen to acknowledge this as permanent the UPL will write this file again using the serial number stored in the EEPROM of the UPL.
After the software is started up go to DOS again and insert the 2nd installation disk of the UPL.
Navigate back to A:\ and type SETINST and then enter.
After that the installation will be complete.
If you're like me and have an unsupported keyboard layout you can change this in the USERKEYB.BAT file located in the C:\UPL directory
If you want to change this naviate to C:\UPL type EDIT USERKEYB.BAT
This will open an editor. Type or uncomment KEYB US and change the US to the keyboard layout you want.
Save the file and on reboot the correct layout will be set.
To fixate the CF adapter I chose to reuse existing holes. I used a spacer to offset the board from the metal chassis and used existing holes in the PCB to mount it. There is no weight in this component so the fixation is more than enough for me.
Additionally i started up FDISK to see how much space a fresh install takes. With a 512MB card you have more than space enough (492MB Free) and these cards run relatively cheap.
I bought 2 of these cards. When my cardreader arrives for my laptop i'll take a backup so i can swap cards if needed.
The whole collection of pictures can be found here:
CompactFlash Card - Google Drive
Cheers,
Bart
Replace Lithium Battery in the PC Motherboard
A small detail that i wanted to cross of the list.
Replacing the battery of the PC motherboard.
The type is a CR2477N in my case.
IMG_2109.HEIC - Google Drive
Simply swapping the battery out and job done.
You might want to take notes of the BIOS settings like i did. However in my case i didn't lose any settings.
Cheers
Bart
A small detail that i wanted to cross of the list.
Replacing the battery of the PC motherboard.
The type is a CR2477N in my case.
IMG_2109.HEIC - Google Drive
Simply swapping the battery out and job done.
You might want to take notes of the BIOS settings like i did. However in my case i didn't lose any settings.
Cheers
Bart
UPL Keyboard PCB
For those interested,
I've uploaded the gerber files as well as the BOM.
KeyBoard - Google Drive
I still have 3 PCB's still available for anyone who wants to buy one.
Cheers,
Bart
For those interested,
I've uploaded the gerber files as well as the BOM.
KeyBoard - Google Drive
I still have 3 PCB's still available for anyone who wants to buy one.
Cheers,
Bart
UPL Analyzer Disk Clone
I received my CF card reader and was able to clone and take a backup of my working installation.
I've uploaded the image here. I'll store them here if something would change.
VMDK Image Backups - Google Drive
Can always be usefull if you want to look around in an installation.
Cheers, Bart
I received my CF card reader and was able to clone and take a backup of my working installation.
I've uploaded the image here. I'll store them here if something would change.
VMDK Image Backups - Google Drive
Can always be usefull if you want to look around in an installation.
Cheers, Bart
UPL Analyzer Option Stickers
Maybe the most stupid upgrade there is but i was bored.
The option stickers were not readable and heavily scratched.
I opened up photoshop and remade all stickers for the 10 options available.
There might be some mistakes as i could not find all existing stickers.
The PDF file can be found here.
Empty Templates.pdf - Google Drive
Cheers,
Bart
Maybe the most stupid upgrade there is but i was bored.
The option stickers were not readable and heavily scratched.
I opened up photoshop and remade all stickers for the 10 options available.
There might be some mistakes as i could not find all existing stickers.
The PDF file can be found here.
Empty Templates.pdf - Google Drive
Cheers,
Bart
R&S BASIC - UPL-B10 Sequence Controller
After spending several days with the UPL-B10 option, i'm finally able to fully use the functionality.
Being frustrated that it took me so long (partially due to my lack of BASIC knowledge but mainly due to the lack of poor documentation of R&S) I decided to write my own manual with the most important pitfalls i encountered.
All can be found here.
BASIC - Google Drive
I've also uploaded an example program I made that show cases the useful functionality this option provides. Additionaly i've added the B10-Exam folder which also containts a lot of usefull code.
Cheers,
Bart
After spending several days with the UPL-B10 option, i'm finally able to fully use the functionality.
Being frustrated that it took me so long (partially due to my lack of BASIC knowledge but mainly due to the lack of poor documentation of R&S) I decided to write my own manual with the most important pitfalls i encountered.
All can be found here.
BASIC - Google Drive
I've also uploaded an example program I made that show cases the useful functionality this option provides. Additionaly i've added the B10-Exam folder which also containts a lot of usefull code.
Cheers,
Bart
UPL EEPROM Error
I had a very annoying issue with my analyzer. An invalid INSTALL KEY was entered which normally should be prompted with an error and dismissed but in my case resulted in an EEPROM error. This also caused the EEPROM to be stuck in the way that nothing new could be entered or existing data could be altered in the diagnostic menu. This was very painful as I had the Extended Analysis option B6 which i could not install.
I did what every guy that loves his analyzer would do, cried in a corner.
But then i started thinking and made up a plan. The EEPROM chip is an AT24C164 from ATMEL and is located on the analog board.
I made backups of the CAL Files on the C-drive and noted everything i could find in the diagnostics menu of the EEPROM.
I needed a programmer. This had always been on my wish list and now i had a very nice cause. I settled on the TL866II+
TL866II+ Mini Pro USB Universal Nand Spi Eeprom Programmer | eBay
Since i wanted to avoid soldering on the fragile board, I also bought an SOIC8 Clip.
Test CLIP SOIC 8 SOP8 ESP8266 ICS BIOS/24/25/93 AVR Programmer Clip Adapter... | eBay
I also ordered some spare chips to play around and get comfortable.
Reading out the chip went rather flawless after getting the clip on right. Now I had a backup and could start to play around. Pro Tip: unplug all connectors from the analog board, otherwise the programmer will be unable to read the chip.
The first thing i tried was to see if I could find back the corrupt INSTALL KEY. In my case this was 59079. After finding a match i tried to set all the values to FF and programmed the chip. I used a very nice online editor.
HexEd.it - Browser-based Online Hex Editing
After restarting the UPL, the analyzer complained in full screen of an EEPROM Error so i quickly reverted back to my backup.
I then started wondering. I had the crazy idea that the EEPROM was probably empty when they produced the unit and only later programmed it during calibration. This would make sense since most of the items in the EEPROM are order based (Install keys), Calibration steps which would not occur in a production environment and the serial number. The final clue came from the Diagnostics menu where there is a hint that the serial number could be entered.
I decided to clear the chip and start up the unit.
The UPL took a bit longer in his selftest and then came up with some very nice messages saying, New EEPROM Detected! I then got the option to copy back calibration data and serial number data from the harddisk. After confirming all these steps I went back to the OPTION menu and reentered my missing INSTALL KEY which i could not enter anymore due to the EEPROM error and lo and behold the UPL nicely accepted it.
I have fixed my issue, I went back and took a dump of the working EEPROM.
I am a very happy guy right now, my analyzer is back complete!
All info can be found here.
EEPROM - Google Drive
Cheers,
Bart
I had a very annoying issue with my analyzer. An invalid INSTALL KEY was entered which normally should be prompted with an error and dismissed but in my case resulted in an EEPROM error. This also caused the EEPROM to be stuck in the way that nothing new could be entered or existing data could be altered in the diagnostic menu. This was very painful as I had the Extended Analysis option B6 which i could not install.
I did what every guy that loves his analyzer would do, cried in a corner.
But then i started thinking and made up a plan. The EEPROM chip is an AT24C164 from ATMEL and is located on the analog board.
I made backups of the CAL Files on the C-drive and noted everything i could find in the diagnostics menu of the EEPROM.
I needed a programmer. This had always been on my wish list and now i had a very nice cause. I settled on the TL866II+
TL866II+ Mini Pro USB Universal Nand Spi Eeprom Programmer | eBay
Since i wanted to avoid soldering on the fragile board, I also bought an SOIC8 Clip.
Test CLIP SOIC 8 SOP8 ESP8266 ICS BIOS/24/25/93 AVR Programmer Clip Adapter... | eBay
I also ordered some spare chips to play around and get comfortable.
Reading out the chip went rather flawless after getting the clip on right. Now I had a backup and could start to play around. Pro Tip: unplug all connectors from the analog board, otherwise the programmer will be unable to read the chip.
The first thing i tried was to see if I could find back the corrupt INSTALL KEY. In my case this was 59079. After finding a match i tried to set all the values to FF and programmed the chip. I used a very nice online editor.
HexEd.it - Browser-based Online Hex Editing
After restarting the UPL, the analyzer complained in full screen of an EEPROM Error so i quickly reverted back to my backup.
I then started wondering. I had the crazy idea that the EEPROM was probably empty when they produced the unit and only later programmed it during calibration. This would make sense since most of the items in the EEPROM are order based (Install keys), Calibration steps which would not occur in a production environment and the serial number. The final clue came from the Diagnostics menu where there is a hint that the serial number could be entered.
I decided to clear the chip and start up the unit.
The UPL took a bit longer in his selftest and then came up with some very nice messages saying, New EEPROM Detected! I then got the option to copy back calibration data and serial number data from the harddisk. After confirming all these steps I went back to the OPTION menu and reentered my missing INSTALL KEY which i could not enter anymore due to the EEPROM error and lo and behold the UPL nicely accepted it.
I have fixed my issue, I went back and took a dump of the working EEPROM.
I am a very happy guy right now, my analyzer is back complete!
All info can be found here.
EEPROM - Google Drive
Cheers,
Bart
UPL Network + FTP
The last upgrade on my list is to get the network port working on my motherboard. On the newer type of motherboards there is a network port available.
Just having FTP access would make large data transfers or organizing files much easier.
All credits are to oh2nlt for helping me out! Many Thanks!
See his original post here:
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/equipment-and-tools/302785-lcd-backlight-rohde-schwarz-upl-4.html#post5043393
You can find the files he made here.
05 NETWORK DRIVER FTP - Google Drive
You can copy these files to the C-drive from your floppy with the following command.
xcopy A:\ C:\ /S
This will copy the network folder to the C driver where it will be as C:\NETWORK
I have restructured the files to make it more clear.
All settings regarding IP-address you need to edit in the MTCPCFG.TXT file.
All user and password settings regarding FTP you need to edit in the FTPPASS.TXT File. For now i added a user upl with password upl.
When all is done you can load the batch files. Navigate to C:\NETWORK.
LOADN.bat will load the networkdriver and get a connection. LOADFTP.bat will do the same as LOADN.bat but will additionally start up the FTP server. When finished you can execute UNLOAD.bat to unload the network driver and free up some memory for the UPL.
On the client you can use a simple tool like Filezilla. Enter the IP adress. In my example this is 192.168.100.100 with users upl and password up.
To make the RJ45 connection on the back of my unit, I opted for a decent Neutrik ETHERCON connector. After removing all boards from the unit i drilled the unused holes on the left side, leaving me enough space to remove the motherboard if needed.
All pictures can be found here:
Network - Google Drive
My renovation is now complete. Thanks to everybody that helped me out.
Cheers,
Bart
The last upgrade on my list is to get the network port working on my motherboard. On the newer type of motherboards there is a network port available.
Just having FTP access would make large data transfers or organizing files much easier.
All credits are to oh2nlt for helping me out! Many Thanks!
See his original post here:
https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/equipment-and-tools/302785-lcd-backlight-rohde-schwarz-upl-4.html#post5043393
You can find the files he made here.
05 NETWORK DRIVER FTP - Google Drive
You can copy these files to the C-drive from your floppy with the following command.
xcopy A:\ C:\ /S
This will copy the network folder to the C driver where it will be as C:\NETWORK
I have restructured the files to make it more clear.
All settings regarding IP-address you need to edit in the MTCPCFG.TXT file.
All user and password settings regarding FTP you need to edit in the FTPPASS.TXT File. For now i added a user upl with password upl.
When all is done you can load the batch files. Navigate to C:\NETWORK.
LOADN.bat will load the networkdriver and get a connection. LOADFTP.bat will do the same as LOADN.bat but will additionally start up the FTP server. When finished you can execute UNLOAD.bat to unload the network driver and free up some memory for the UPL.
On the client you can use a simple tool like Filezilla. Enter the IP adress. In my example this is 192.168.100.100 with users upl and password up.
To make the RJ45 connection on the back of my unit, I opted for a decent Neutrik ETHERCON connector. After removing all boards from the unit i drilled the unused holes on the left side, leaving me enough space to remove the motherboard if needed.
All pictures can be found here:
Network - Google Drive
My renovation is now complete. Thanks to everybody that helped me out.
Cheers,
Bart
UPL ethernet
You have to accept old dos memory limitations. UPL system already runs himem extension. When I did Ethernet addition to my UPL I did not test it fully how much memory is available when UPL and maybe Basic is running. I decided not to risc UPL operation and load network drivers and FTP server under DOS when neded.
There must be reason why R&S did not launch Ethernet option but left the Ethernet port unused inside the box.
You have to accept old dos memory limitations. UPL system already runs himem extension. When I did Ethernet addition to my UPL I did not test it fully how much memory is available when UPL and maybe Basic is running. I decided not to risc UPL operation and load network drivers and FTP server under DOS when neded.
There must be reason why R&S did not launch Ethernet option but left the Ethernet port unused inside the box.