Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Sticky tape

[Specmaster]

I don't want to jinx it, but it looks like my TF930 is going to work out after all. I was a bit cheeky and added the shop's address to my shipping addresses, allowing me to put in a bid despite the limitations imposed. Today I got a message that they assume I don't want to gift them a unit and that they'll properly invoice me if I provide the correct details.

I'm glad they're good sports!

Yes, I've always found them to be good in most respects but like most organisations of a certain size, they have their policies and they follow then to the letter if at possible. I really hope that you get yours soon.

[Specmaster]

Sticky tape

Yes that will do it but not an elegant solution though is it.

[Mr. Scram]

Yes, I've always found them to be good in most respects but like most organisations of a certain size, they have their policies and they follow then to the letter if at possible. I really hope that you get yours soon.

They seem to be prepared and willing to help, just a bit sluggish.

[bitseeker]

I'm afraid I'm getting an addiction to repairing Keithley DMM's. (in my case so far, just recapping and firmware upgrades, without any other issues)  First a 2015, then a 2000, just now a 2001.

Where will it end?

Over there. Way over there. You see that telescope? Yeah, it won't help. It's way out there. Best not to think about it. Go get yourself a 2002. Don't worry, you'll feel better.

You're all screwed; no wait... You're all so far beyond screwed that the light from merely screwed will take a thousand years to reach you. I, on the other hand, am perfectly fine. 

It's good to know someone around here is normal.

[xrunner]

It's good to know someone around here is normal.

I think we all got the Abby Normal brain! 

[Cerebus]

Currently hacking the FTDI driver for OSX so it recognises it and I can start talking to it. Then I'm going to measure VFO drift overnight

Pretty please, drop a note here or in a PM when you're done and you can save me from having to do exactly the same.

[bd139]

Currently hacking the FTDI driver for OSX so it recognises it and I can start talking to it. Then I'm going to measure VFO drift overnight

Pretty please, drop a note here or in a PM when you're done and you can save me from having to do exactly the same.

I've given up for the night. The kernel is refusing to accept the unsigned FTDI driver even though I've jumped through the relevant hoops and followed the FTDI customisation. It just wont kextload it. I tried adding the vendor id and product id to the Apple shipped FTDI driver one but I can't edit the Plist.info to add it even as root. Fun will resume tomorrow

Basically FTDI allow the purchaser of large volumes of FTDI ICs to customise the vendor and device ID of the FTDI controller. TTi have done this. Ergo for every damn vendor and product you have to add a hint to the driver so the kernel knows that driver belongs to the vid/pid pair.

All it is, is a damn USB to serial adapter!

Big smelly poo 

[Specmaster]

I think i was misinterpreted, but only because i wasn't clear. I have an annual budget of 2K. Yes, that's true, however, it is $160 a month only and i can't just spend it i have to bother coming up with a good reason.

If i go over $160 a month or 2K a year then this becomes me 

Kind of puts a damper on big purchases

Edit: Well there is one amendment to this, any income i generate is mine to spend as i will. I just don'th have any income.

No I don't thing you were at all, I for one would gladly settle for 160 per month  with 160 a month I could amass a reasonable haul in a year I know.

In the past year,
Heathkit ID-22
Fluke 8400A
Fluke 8400A loaded with options
Heathkit 0-12
Hickok 209A newer and working
Tek 7704
Fluke 8200A
Fluke 8050A
Keithley 177
Hickok 209A
B+K Precision 1801
1% 0-99.9 ohm decade resistance box
Fluke 8800A
HP 5340A loaded with options
Metcal STSS-02 and new handle
Fairchild 7050A


OK you have a point... quite a haul for a year but quite different when your building a lab from scratch i think...

Either ways things are going to go much slower now because i'm running out of justification for cheap items.

Hmm out of 16 items purchased, 13 of them are top drawer items that some would love to aspire to, instead of having unknown Chinesium products such as Katsu, Quicko, Iotech, Tech, Proster, Bside and other unbranded items making up their labs. Nothing wrong with having the gear that you have, just making a point that not everybody has a list like that to their credit, nor the means to acquire them in such short a time frame unless you happen to stumble on the luckiest break of all time with a company relocating and literally dumping loads of gear rather transporting it. In this case that person prevented it from hitting the bottom of the dumpster and now has, as a result, no room left in his house 

[Specmaster]

Currently hacking the FTDI driver for OSX so it recognises it and I can start talking to it. Then I'm going to measure VFO drift overnight

Pretty please, drop a note here or in a PM when you're done and you can save me from having to do exactly the same.

I've given up for the night. The kernel is refusing to accept the unsigned FTDI driver even though I've jumped through the relevant hoops and followed the FTDI customisation. It just wont kextload it. I tried adding the vendor id and product id to the Apple shipped FTDI driver one but I can't edit the Plist.info to add it even as root. Fun will resume tomorrow

Basically FTDI allow the purchaser of large volumes of FTDI ICs to customise the vendor and device ID of the FTDI controller. TTi have done this. Ergo for every damn vendor and product you have to add a hint to the driver so the kernel knows that driver belongs to the vid/pid pair.

All it is, is a damn USB to serial adapter!

Big smelly poo 

Are you sure that you can't download it from TTi? Oh by the way, thanks for the SMM, downloaded and saved.

[Specmaster]

Currently hacking the FTDI driver for OSX so it recognises it and I can start talking to it. Then I'm going to measure VFO drift overnight

Pretty please, drop a note here or in a PM when you're done and you can save me from having to do exactly the same.

Yes it is on their site under support, https://www.aimtti.com/support, USB Driver - FTDI based products (ZIP / English) or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

I've given up for the night. The kernel is refusing to accept the unsigned FTDI driver even though I've jumped through the relevant hoops and followed the FTDI customisation. It just wont kextload it. I tried adding the vendor id and product id to the Apple shipped FTDI driver one but I can't edit the Plist.info to add it even as root. Fun will resume tomorrow

Basically FTDI allow the purchaser of large volumes of FTDI ICs to customise the vendor and device ID of the FTDI controller. TTi have done this. Ergo for every damn vendor and product you have to add a hint to the driver so the kernel knows that driver belongs to the vid/pid pair.

All it is, is a damn USB to serial adapter!

Big smelly poo 

[bd139]

Are you sure that you can't download it from TTi? Oh by the way, thanks for the SMM, downloaded and saved.

Unfortunately so; they don't do OSX drivers. FTDI do so I'm basically making the default ones work with this device.

[Cerebus]

Currently hacking the FTDI driver for OSX so it recognises it and I can start talking to it. Then I'm going to measure VFO drift overnight

Pretty please, drop a note here or in a PM when you're done and you can save me from having to do exactly the same.

I've given up for the night. The kernel is refusing to accept the unsigned FTDI driver even though I've jumped through the relevant hoops and followed the FTDI customisation. It just wont kextload it. I tried adding the vendor id and product id to the Apple shipped FTDI driver one but I can't edit the Plist.info to add it even as root. Fun will resume tomorrow

Mine will be with me tomorrow so I may pitch in on the effort if I can get away from my FPGA fiddling for my current project and from necessary pre-christmas tidying. I've done it before but I'm buggered if I can remember how, or where any notes I made at the time have got to.

Basically FTDI allow the purchaser of large volumes of FTDI ICs to customise the vendor and device ID of the FTDI controller. TTi have done this. Ergo for every damn vendor and product you have to add a hint to the driver so the kernel knows that driver belongs to the vid/pid pair.

You don't have to be a large volume purchaser, the reprogramming is (or at least was) documented and doesn't require any programming hardware, just access to the chip over USB. All as far as I can remember, again, something that I've done before, once,  too long ago for it to come to the surface of my mind fast enough..

[Specmaster]

Are you sure that you can't download it from TTi? Oh by the way, thanks for the SMM, downloaded and saved.

Unfortunately so; they don't do OSX drivers. FTDI do so I'm basically making the default ones work with this device.

Am I missing something here then, is the OSX drivers a big secret, won't TTi FTDI provide you with this if you ask them?

Edit, not TTi but FTDI?

[Cerebus]

Are you sure that you can't download it from TTi? Oh by the way, thanks for the SMM, downloaded and saved.

Unfortunately so; they don't do OSX drivers. FTDI do so I'm basically making the default ones work with this device.

Am I missing something here then, is the OSX drivers a big secret, won't TTi FTDI provide you with this if you ask them?

Edit, not TTi but FTDI?

Aim-TTi only provide windows drivers (but probably based on a generic FTDI driver). FTDI provide a generic driver for OS X, but it doesn't have the manufacturer and product IDs used by Aim-TTi in it, so it won't see the TTi box. It can be hacked, via property lists, to work but it's not simple because of driver signing and, in the most recent versions of OS X, additional security measures to protect system software from malicious tampering (e.g. viruses).

[neo]

Hmm out of 16 items purchased, 13 of them are top drawer items that some would love to aspire to, instead of having unknown Chinesium products such as Katsu, Quicko, Iotech, Tech, Proster, Bside and other unbranded items making up their labs. Nothing wrong with having the gear that you have, just making a point that not everybody has a list like that to their credit, nor the means to acquire them in such short a time frame unless you happen to stumble on the luckiest break of all time with a company relocating and literally dumping loads of gear rather transporting it. In this case that person prevented it from hitting the bottom of the dumpster and no has, as a result, no room left in his house 

Only 13 top shelf? What are the 3?

[tautech]

OK guys prepare yourselves as we're very nearly at 200 pages of TEA and COFFEE.
Today or tomorrow will we hit the 2 hundy ?

 

[xrunner]

OK guys prepare yourselves as we're very nearly at 200 pages of TEA and COFFEE.
Today or tomorrow will we hit the 2 hundy ?

 

Yep and there's more news ...

This thread is close to taking over third place in the forum Top 10 Topics (by Replies). Keep posting here! 

[Specmaster]

Are you sure that you can't download it from TTi? Oh by the way, thanks for the SMM, downloaded and saved.

Unfortunately so; they don't do OSX drivers. FTDI do so I'm basically making the default ones work with this device.

Am I missing something here then, is the OSX drivers a big secret, won't TTi FTDI provide you with this if you ask them?

Edit, not TTi but FTDI?

Aim-TTi only provide windows drivers (but probably based on a generic FTDI driver). FTDI provide a generic driver for OS X, but it doesn't have the manufacturer and product IDs used by Aim-TTi in it, so it won't see the TTi box. It can be hacked, via property lists, to work but it's not simple because of driver signing and, in the most recent versions of OS X, additional security measures to protect system software from malicious tampering (e.g. viruses).

So the supplied TTi driver won't do the job then, so what you are trying to do is access the firmware that you're not supposed to have access to is that it? TTi won't give you the software to enable this either in case you end bricking the TTi box or try to get it to do more then it was designed to do and then maybe claim it was faulty or something from them? Sorry if it seems obvious to you but to a non programmer like myself, it leaves me scratching my head.

[Specmaster]

OK guys prepare yourselves as we're very nearly at 200 pages of TEA and COFFEE.
Today or tomorrow will we hit the 2 hundy ?

 

Yep and there's more news ...

This thread is close to taking over third place in the forum Top 10 Topics (by Replies). Keep posting here! 

Which is what, What did you purchase today by any chance?

[xrunner]

Which is what, What did you purchase today by any chance?

See for yourself here -

Forum Stats

[bitseeker]

Specmaster made it to page 200.

[WastelandTek]

posting on milestone page

only TE to report is Leo Bodnar's pulser came

[Specmaster]

Specmaster made it to page 200.

Yep and as I reported earlier in the week, we were just 8 pages behind the "What did you buy this week", now we are only 4 pages behind so with any luck by the end of play next week we will have more pages then them as well 

[neo]

200 pages of TEA, 200 pages of madness lunacy and giving booze to alcoholics or in this instance test equipment to test equipment addicts.

Perhaps somewhat significant over 100 pages of my own involvement here.