# nanoDLA is an open hardware logic analyzer that leans on PulseView > nanoDLA is a small logic analyzer from MuseLab whose hardware, firmware and host software are all published, with a top sampling rate of 24 MHz across 8 channels. The analysis side is not its own software but PulseView from the sigrok community, which is also why the USB driver step is the fiddliest part of setting it up. **wuxx/nanoDLA** — 24MHz sampling rate Logic Analyzer based on fx2lafw （由于市面上出现不少恶意抄袭的同行，请认准以下实验室官方链接） - Repository: https://github.com/wuxx/nanoDLA - Website: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?abbucket=9&id=614150181233 - Stars: 813 · Forks: 189 - Language: C - License: not declared - Published: 2026-10-20 · Updated: 2026-10-20 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/wuxx-nanodla ## The hardware, firmware and host software are all published nanoDLA comes from MuseLab, and the project is explicit about what it gives away. The hardware is open and the schematics are provided so hobbyists can build their own board. The firmware source is published and can be compiled independently. And the host software is open as well, which is the point of the whole design. That last part is the distinguishing claim. The manual argues that logic analysers on the market generally ship with cracked host software, which carries some legal risk in use, and that nanoDLA instead relies on the open sigrok community and uses the open source PulseView application as its host. PulseView is described as feature rich, supporting more than a hundred protocol decoders, free and open source. The hardware headline numbers are a maximum sampling rate of 24 MHz, 8 channels sampled simultaneously, and an input voltage range of [-0.5v, 5.25v], with the low level defined as [-0.5v, 0.8v] and the high level as [2v, 5.25v]. The stated use cases are everyday electronics development and debugging: locating faults, working through complex multi-component systems, timing analysis and performance analysis. The repository layout backs the openness claim. It holds hardware/, firmware/, software/, tools/ and doc/ directories, plus a Chinese README, an English README, an older README_v1.1.md for the previous hardware revision, and a decoder_list.md. ## The Windows path runs through Zadig and a WinUSB driver Before PulseView can see the device, the driver has to be installed by hand, and this is the step most people trip over. The manual is blunt about it: you must install the driver manually so PulseView recognises the device, and the procedure is to install PulseView first, then use the Zadig tool that ships with PulseView. The sequence described goes like this. Plug in the nanoDLA, and the device manager shows an fx2lafw device. Search for zadig in the start bar and open it. Choose Options and List All Devices, pick the fx2lafw entry that corresponds to your nanoDLA, select the WinUSB driver in the driver dropdown, and click Install Driver. After a short wait the driver is installed and the device is recognised normally. The identifying detail is worth keeping: the USB ID for the device is 1D50:608C, and the entry you select in Zadig is the one labelled fx2lafw. Without the List All Devices option, the hidden fx2lafw interface is not offered, which is the usual reason a first attempt appears to do nothing. The PulseView installer itself is in the software directory of the repository, and the documented install is to run it and click through the next buttons. No shell command is given for any of this, because there is nothing to type. ## PulseView finds the fx2lafw device on startup Once the driver is in place, the tool is quick to use. Plug the nanoDLA into the PC and open PulseView. On startup it searches for and opens the fx2lafw device automatically, so there is no device selection dialog to work through. Sampling itself is described as simple. You configure the sample buffer size and the sample rate in the menu bar at the bottom, then press the run button in the top left to start capturing. For nanoDLA the highest configurable rate is 24 MHz, with all 8 channels working at the same time. Protocol decoding is the next step, and it uses PulseView's own facilities. Once you have valid captured data, you click the protocol decode icon in the menu bar, choose a protocol in the panel on the right, and then click the protocol that appears on the left to configure it. The worked example is UART, where you set the baud rate, data parity and stop bits. After that PulseView produces a visual decoding of the captured stream for analysis. The manual notes that PulseView supports more than a hundred protocol decoders, and the repository ships a decoder_list.md with the supported protocol list. The firmware source lives in a separate repository, sigrok-firmware-fx2lafw, which is where the manual sends you if you want to read or rebuild it. ## Sampling failures come down to USB bandwidth and hubs The FAQ answers the question of why sampling fails, and the answer is specific enough to save time. The USB link operates in USB 2.0 high speed mode, so the bandwidth demand is high. If the device hangs off a hub, the hub may not carry that much bandwidth, particularly when other USB devices are attached to the same hub. The suggested fix is to plug the nanoDLA directly into the PC, which usually resolves it. That is the only troubleshooting item the manual gives with a concrete cause attached. There is no section on ground loops, probe loading or level shifting, so if you need advice on the electrical side of probing, this documentation will not supply it. The same document lists a FAQ entry asking how to flash the firmware yourself, and a separate entry asking how to obtain the firmware source. The source answer points at the sigrok-firmware-fx2lafw repository. The flashing entry itself is not answered in the text provided, which means the flashing procedure is documented elsewhere, most likely in the firmware repository, and anyone relying on it should read that repository rather than assume a command here. Support is handled through the repository issues page, and the project says it will keep following up on questions and suggestions raised there. ## Platform support is broad, but the driver path is Windows shaped The stated platform support covers Windows, Linux, Mac and Android. The host application is PulseView, which is the sigrok community project, and that choice is what makes the cross-platform claim plausible rather than aspirational. The catch is that the setup procedure the manual documents is written for Windows. The Zadig step, the start bar search, the device manager, the Options and List All Devices menu and the Install Driver button are all Windows specific. On Linux and Mac the equivalent WinUSB binding is handled by the operating system's own mechanisms, but the manual does not spell that out, and it does not describe what to do about USB permissions on those systems. So the honest reading is that the hardware is intended to work across four operating systems, while the documented path to a working driver covers one of them. On Android the same question applies with an extra step, since a phone needs host USB access before anything else is relevant. This is the difference between a device that works on Linux and a device you can set up on Linux in an afternoon from the documentation at hand. ## Buying the hardware is a Taobao link, and the licence is unstated The product links in the manual point to two Taobao listings, one for the USB-A variant and one for the USB-C variant. There is no official site or distributor named beyond that, and the repository description carries a warning that copies from other sellers exist, so it points readers to the official lab link to tell the genuine article from imitations. A western buyer without a Taobao account has no documented purchase route in this repository, which is a real constraint on adoption even though the hardware files are open. Open hardware also raises a question that the repository does not answer. The schematics are published so that anyone can build their own board, but no licence is listed for the repository, so the terms for reusing those files are not stated in the README. Before ordering boards or publishing a derived design, read the licensing situation yourself. The activity level is worth recording precisely. The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-04-13, which is more than six months before today, with no GitHub releases published. The project continues to exist in this form, and the open files remain readable, but there is no release cadence behind them and no packaged firmware version to track. ## Conclusion Adopt nanoDLA if you want a cheap logic analyzer whose hardware files and firmware source you can read and modify, and you are already comfortable installing unsigned USB drivers on the machines you debug from. Skip it if you need a device with a supported driver out of the box or a signed installer, since setup depends on Zadig and the WinUSB driver, and if you are on a managed laptop where that is blocked. Verify first that your host runs PulseView on Windows, Linux, Mac or Android and that your USB port is a direct connection rather than a hub, which the project names as the usual cause of failed sampling. ## FAQ ### Which protocols can nanoDLA decode? The host application is PulseView from the sigrok community, which supports more than a hundred protocol decoders. The repository ships a decoder_list.md with the supported protocol list. ### Why does sampling fail on my nanoDLA? The device uses USB 2.0 high speed mode, so a hub may not have enough bandwidth, especially with other USB devices attached. The manual suggests connecting the nanoDLA directly to a PC USB port instead. ### How do I install the driver so PulseView recognises the nanoDLA? Install PulseView first, plug in the device, then open the Zadig tool that comes with PulseView. Choose Options and List All Devices, select the fx2lafw entry with USB ID 1D50:608C, pick WinUSB in the driver list and click Install Driver. ### Where do I get the nanoDLA firmware source? The manual points to the sigrok-firmware-fx2lafw repository, which holds the firmware for the fx2lafw hardware that nanoDLA is based on. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/wuxx/nanoDLA/issues) - [Project website](https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?abbucket=9&id=614150181233) - [README](https://github.com/wuxx/nanoDLA/blob/master/README.md) - [wuxx/nanoDLA on GitHub](https://github.com/wuxx/nanoDLA) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/wuxx-nanodla