Success! I've upgraded my RTO1024 from 2GB RAM Windows XP to 8GB RAM Windows 7 -- which also lets me upgrade the "firmware" from 1.x to 3.x. It's a big step up. Many of the annoyances I had on the old firmware are gone and there are a ton of new features. Mostly locked, but still :-)
Here is the procedure:
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Ordered, installed a new, empty SSD (easy) - I looked for SATA-II compatibility because the chipset doesn't support SATA-III
- Settled on Kingston 240GB A400 SSD 2.5'' SATA 7MM 2.5-Inch SA400S37/240G
- It was the first SSD I tried and it worked great
- The sheet metal screw tray made swapping the HDD super easy
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Got at the RAM (hard) - You need keys to slide out the CPU board
- Here is the lock mechanism and how I made keys for it:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/M3uLj5EZG8Zk7qXB7 - There is undoubtedly another way. Hook tools, something to firmly press in the tabs from the outside... be inventive and share your results!
- Do you really need 8GB RAM? Yes. I tried without. It was painful and didn't work.
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Ordered, installed 2x4GB RAM SODIMMs (easy) - I tried two theoretically chipset-compatible DDR3-1066 SODIMMs that didn't POST (black screen, no boot).
- The RTO is a picky beast.
- SODIMMs known to work:
* 2x HMT351S6CFR8C-PB
* 2x 16KTF51264HZ-1G6K1
* 2x M471B5273BH1-CF8
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Installed Win7 Pro onto the empty new SSD (easy) - I followed instructions on MS help pages to make a USB stick
- USB stick is before HDD in the RTO's boot order so it Just Works
- I created a user "jon" before realizing this was different from XP's "instrument" user, but it didn't matter
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Installed R&S Firmware (easy) - Got it here:
https://www.rohde-schwarz.com/us/firmware/rto1000/ - Version 3.70.1.0
- Install ran without a hitch
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Ran the RTx Application (easy) - It flashed a few FPGAs, restarted
- Then "Error, FEC PicoBlaze not ready, switching to Service Mode > CreateDeviceFootprint() failed"
- Terminated the Rtx app, ran it again with administrator privileges
- This time it flashed the PicoBlaze correctly and landed in scope mode
- The instrument model and old options populated automatically from the smartcard
- Subsequent invocations don't seem to require admin, but subtly broken features are always a possibility