low-end scope
in [Design]
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From: Joerg on 1 Mar 2010 19:49 Jan Panteltje wrote: > On a sunny day (Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:30:11 -0800) it happened John Larkin > <jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in > <h5joo5tu7iv486nr7g4pp69r0vpco1cnuc(a)4ax.com>: > >> I've gotten used to small, light, color digital scopes > > Mine has color too: Green. Mine even glows in the dark. Now that's something DSOs can't do :-) -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: John Larkin on 1 Mar 2010 20:46 On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:49:54 -0800, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >Jan Panteltje wrote: >> On a sunny day (Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:30:11 -0800) it happened John Larkin >> <jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in >> <h5joo5tu7iv486nr7g4pp69r0vpco1cnuc(a)4ax.com>: >> >>> I've gotten used to small, light, color digital scopes >> >> Mine has color too: Green. > > >Mine even glows in the dark. Now that's something DSOs can't do :-) Yeah, but how long can you hold it out at arm's length? Now whenever I use an analog scope - which is seldom - I get confused about which trace is which. I don't miss black+white TV sets, or typewriters and carbon paper, or analog VOMs, or slide rules, or 300 baud acoustic modems either. John
From: Joerg on 1 Mar 2010 21:04 John Larkin wrote: > On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:49:54 -0800, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> > wrote: > >> Jan Panteltje wrote: >>> On a sunny day (Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:30:11 -0800) it happened John Larkin >>> <jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote in >>> <h5joo5tu7iv486nr7g4pp69r0vpco1cnuc(a)4ax.com>: >>> >>>> I've gotten used to small, light, color digital scopes >>> Mine has color too: Green. >> >> Mine even glows in the dark. Now that's something DSOs can't do :-) > > Yeah, but how long can you hold it out at arm's length? > > Now whenever I use an analog scope - which is seldom - I get confused > about which trace is which. I don't miss black+white TV sets, or > typewriters and carbon paper, or analog VOMs, or slide rules, or 300 > baud acoustic modems either. > When you do noise debugging as much as I do you'd be glad analog scopes are still around. Not that it's always fun but someone has got to do the job. One client instantly bought a Tek 2465 after they saw me working on their stuff. They had spent weeks with a Tek DSO and not found the problem, and neither could I until I got a "real" scope out of the trunk. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: Paul Keinanen on 1 Mar 2010 21:38 On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:32:34 -0800, John Larkin <jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote: >On Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:27:08 -0800, VWWall <vwall(a)large.invalid> >wrote: > >>John Larkin wrote: >>> >>> I'd like to have a low-end scope or two to keep around the house, >>> occasional use only. I could use it at work, too, for simple analog >>> stuff, timing software execution, stuff like that. >>> >>> I was think about a Rigol DS1052E, 50 MHz color, 2 traces, about $535. >>> Or something like that. Any suggestions or comments? >>> >>How about one of those scopes that plug into the USB socket of your >>computer? >> >>saelig competes with Rigol, and has PC scopes as well: >> >>http://www.saelig.com/category/PSPCEL.htm >> >>Just a thought. With the price of net-book type PC's as low as it is, a >>separate PC just for test equipment use might be economical. At least the net-book PC + USB scope would run easily on battery power. >I'd rather not have a scope that runs Windows and that needs two >boxes, drivers, a USB cable, and a mouse to do anything. A real scope >will most likely still be working 20 years from now. I like real >scopes with lots of real knobs. > >A USB scope would make sense in some data-centric application where >the waveform needs to be shipped into Matlab or some such in real >time. > >John For me, built in battery power would be a critical requirement so that you could use it as easily as a multimeter. A battery powered unit does not suffer so much from stray capacitances to ground. Measuring mains current waveforms across some known resistance is easy with a floating test gear, without breaking the circuit to install a current transformer.
From: Phil Allison on 1 Mar 2010 23:07
"Joerg" > > When you do noise debugging as much as I do you'd be glad analog scopes > are still around. Not that it's always fun but someone has got to do the > job. One client instantly bought a Tek 2465 after they saw me working on > their stuff. They had spent weeks with a Tek DSO and not found the > problem, and neither could I until I got a "real" scope out of the trunk. > ** Bought a Rigol DS1052E DSO late last year, when the direct from China price had dropped to that of a mid range hand held Fluke multimeter - I paid A$407 including delivery to my door. Does everything the maker says - but still has ALL the drawbacks inherent in DSOs too. While it can certainly do things my analogue scope cannot it is all but *useless* for general service work on audio equipment. The noisy trace, lack of instant real time display plus serious ambiguity displaying signals that have a wide bandwidth means one cannot trust what you see on the screen is REALLY what is coming out of the item under test. One annoyance is that even in "AUTO" sweep mode, all signals are displayed for 2 seconds after they have disappeared at the input. ...... Phil |