Embedded and firmware debugging often becomes a guessing game.
UART data gets corrupted.
I2C devices don’t respond.
Code looks correct.
And most of the time, a hardware logic analyzer is not available.
To solve this exact problem, I built SoftLA.
🚀 What is SoftLA?
SoftLA is a software-only logic analyzer that helps debug UART and I2C communication issues using simple pin-level trace logs, without requiring any hardware logic analyzer.
It is designed for:
Embedded developers
Firmware engineers
IoT teams
Students learning real protocol debugging
🔧 What Problems Does SoftLA Solve?
UART Debugging
Detects START bit
Decodes UART byte (LSB first)
Validates STOP bit
Detects framing errors
Example:
UART 1100 0x41 'A' OK
I2C Debugging
Detects START condition
Detects STOP condition
Helps identify bus hang issues
Example:
I2C 1200 START
I2C 2200 STOP
🧠 Why SoftLA is Different
❌ No hardware required
❌ No waveform guessing
❌ No expensive tools
✅ Works from plain text logs
✅ Command-line based (CLI)
✅ CI-friendly
✅ Works on Windows and Linux
This makes SoftLA ideal for automation, regression testing, and CI pipelines.
🪟 Windows SmartScreen Warning (Important)
When downloading softla.exe on Windows, you may see:
“Windows protected your PC”
This happens because the binary is unsigned (common for open-source tools).
How to run:
Click More info
Click Run anyway
Open terminal in the folder
Run:
.\softla.exe samples\uart.log
SoftLA is a CLI tool, not a GUI app, so double-clicking will not show any window.
🛠️ Build & Usage
Build:
gcc src/*.c -Iinclude -o softla
Run:
softla samples/uart.log
softla samples/i2c.log
🔗 GitHub Repository
👉 https://github.com/Manish112233/SoftLA
👤 About the Author
Hi, I’m Manish Joshi, a software engineer working at the intersection of embedded systems, firmware, and developer tooling.
SoftLA was built to solve real-world debugging problems I personally faced.
🏁 Final Thoughts
SoftLA is not a replacement for hardware analyzers —
it is a practical, lightweight, and automation-friendly alternative when hardware is unavailable.
If you work with UART or I2C, I’d love your feedback.
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