
Logic Sniffer
An alternative OLS client
Welcome to the project page of Logic Sniffer Java client. This page will
provide some documentation and, of course, download links.
Table of contents
Introduction
The alternative OLS-client provides a software client for the Open Bench Logic Sniffer logic
analyser hardware.
The Open Bench Logic Sniffer is the result of a collaboration between Gadget Factory and Dangerous
Prototypes. They created a cheap custom implementation of the SUMP
analyzer developed by Michael Poppitz, and released it as Open Source project.
The original SUMP analyzer already provided a workable client on its own. While this client was feature complete
and working quite well, it was no longer actively developed and maintained. Being a developer and loving Open
Source, I immediately started hacking and tweaking it. The result? An alternative OLS client.
News
- October 29th, 2012, OLS version 0.9.6 SP1 released. This service pack fixes the issue that prevented the OLS client to be used on recent
Linux kernels (see also issue #120 and this issue);
- September 9th, 2012, OLS version 0.9.6 released. Major highlights: new signal display component is in place, added DMX512 decoder and
a simple (Manchester) line decoder, many long-pending features were implemented;
- January 8th, 2012, OLS version 0.9.5 released. Major highlights: Asm45 decoder tool added, support for running on Java 7, included PureJavacomm as replacement for RXTX, many small changes and updates;
- April 20th, 2011, OLS version 0.9.4 released. Major highlights: better support for BusPirate, LogicShrimp, IRToy and other SUMP-compatible devices,
several improvements to the user interface;
- February 7th, 2011, OLS version 0.9.3 SP1 released. This service pack fixes some severe bugs that crept into the
last release. Use this release instead of the 0.9.3 release!;
- February 6th, 2011, OLS version 0.9.3 released. Major highlights: better support for RLE encoding, JTAG decoder tool added, generic device added;
- December 19th, 2010, OLS version 0.9.2 released. Major highlights: 1-Wire decoder tool added, better support for OS X Leopard;
- November 1st, 2010, OLS version 0.9.1 released. Major highlights: several bugfixes regarding image exporting on Linux and Windows platforms;
- October 23rd, 2010: OLS version 0.9.0 released. Major highlights: added export to image and VCD.
What other people say about...
I had to rock some intense LAing today, and I just wanted to say that the latest version is fantastic! I've completely
abandoned the old version for yours, and moved it to the top of the wiki software list :) It's a joy to use and it doesn't
feel like Java
. In my opinion this is nicer and richer than the Saleae client (I use the Saleae a lot too).
Great work! Thank you so much! — Ian (Dangerous Prototypes)
It keeps getting better and better! I've officially started using your client exclusively, I just spent the last couple
days troubleshooting some SPI output from the AVR8 Soft Processor core project and your client didn't miss a beat —
Jack Gasset (Gadget Factory)
Features
The alternative Java client provides the following features:
- Cross platform: the client runs on Mac OSX (32/64-bit), Windows (32/64 bit), Linux (32/64 bit) and
Solaris (32 bit);
- Simple installation: no longer fiddling with the serial libraries (RXTX) in order to get the client
up and running. The client embeds the suitable serial libraries for several operating systems;
- Pluggable: adding new functionality on the fly is possible and as easy as copying files to a single
directory;
- Look good, and feel good: the client has a good look and feel, aiming at being as usable as
possible and adhering to the human interface guidelines of the platform it is running on.
Documentation
All documentation is maintained on the wiki.
FAQ
The FAQ is moved and is maintained on the wiki. For additional
information, see the OLS client and the
OLS hardware support forums.
Download
The current release of Logic Sniffer is 0.9.6 SP1.
Older releases, for historical reasons:
- ols-0.9.6 SP1 [tar.gz] [zip] [dmg] [API] released October 29th, 2012, 4.2M;
- ols-0.9.6 [tar.gz] [zip] [dmg] [API] released September 9th, 2012, 4.4M;
- ols-0.9.5 [tar.gz] [zip] [dmg] [API] released January 8th, 2012, 3.8M;
- ols-0.9.4 [tar.gz] [zip] [dmg] [API] released April 20th, 2011, 2.6M;
- ols-0.9.3 SP1 [tar.gz] [zip] [dmg] released February 7th, 2011, 2.3M;
ols-0.9.3 [tar.gz] [zip] [dmg] released February 6th, 2011, 2.3M;
- ols-0.9.2 [tar.gz] [zip] [dmg] released December 19th, 2010, 2.3M;
- ols-0.9.1 [tar.gz] [zip] [dmg] released November 1st, 2010, 2.2M;
- ols-0.9.0 [tar.gz] [zip] [dmg] released October 23rd, 2010, 2.2M;
- ols-0.8.5 [tar.gz] released October 1st, 2010, 2.1M;
- ols-0.8.4 [tar.gz] released September 9th 2010, 1.5M;
- ols-0.8.3 [tar.gz] released August 26th 2010, 1.5M;
- ols-0.8.2 [tar.gz] released August 22nd 2010, 1.5M;
- ols-0.8.1 [tar.gz] released August 07th 2010, 1.4M;
- ols-0.8.0 [tar.gz] released August 24th 2010, 1.4M;
- ols-0.7.0 [tar.gz] released August 9th 2010, 1.3M.
Changelog
The most recent list of changes can always be found on GitHub.
Screenshots
Screenshots of the OLS client are available on this page.
Development
Currently, the project is developed by me, Jan Willem. If you want to contribute, drop me a line.
All development of this project is shared through GitHub, and the main repository can be found on
http://github.com/jawi/ols.
Continuous build
There is a continuous build server available at drone.io. There you
can find the latest snapshot artifacts. Beware that these artifacts are work in progress and may
not be stable as official releases.
The build is currently:

(click for accessing the latest artifacts).
License
The OLS client is developed and released under the General Public License, version 2.
For the license details, see the full license
text.
Links
Acknowledgement
Aside all people who have contributed one way or the other to this project. I would like to give
special attention to the following people and/or companies. Without their generosity sustaining
the development of this project would be a lot harder!
- Dangerous Prototypes, for providing the forum space, hardware and assistance in this project;
- GadgetFactory, for providing binary installers for various platforms;
- GitHub, for providing the central repository;
- drone.io, for providing a continuous integration platform;
- JIDE software, for providing an open-source license of their docking framework.
Tip jar
This project is open source, and written in my (sparse) free time. You can use it free of charge
and without any fees. However, if you want to, you can show your appreciation on this project by
making a small donation. You can do this by clicking one of the following buttons:
© Copyright 2010-2013 - J.W. Janssen.