Electronics > Beginners
A switching power supply in an oscilloscope?
Martini:
I'm currently reading Jobs's biography and it says they designed a switch mode power supply like those used in oscilloscopes for the Apple II.
Were scopes using these in the 70's!?
tooki:
While I actually can't speak to scopes of the era, I can say that Jobs' praise for their SMPS was… exaggerated. He always made it sound as though they were a total innovation, when in fact SMPS's were already in wide use (though not as wide as these days). Apple did innovate a lot over the years, but this instance really is the Reality Distortion Field at work. :P
Martini:
I was born in 1985 and most power supplies I used when I was young (on my game console and whatnot) were linear. I remember thinking about the progress we had made in the 2000's about the weight and dimensions of the PSU, not knowing what technologies were behind
tooki:
Yep, wall warts and the like did change. But larger power supplies had already been switch-mode. Hence why I said that they were already in wide use, but not as wide as today.
Pretty much the only area where large linear power supplies remain common is in better-quality audio gear, where SMPSs can be a bit noisy.
Wolfram:
I know at least some Tektronix oscilloscopes from that era used a switching power supply. Check out the 7904 for example, which was introduced in 1971. https://lazyelectrons.wordpress.com/2018/11/24/tektronix-7904-oscilloscope-power-supply-repair/
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