EEVblog #1291 - Mailbag

[EEVblog]

More Mailbag!



SPOILERS:
WTF: A soldering iron mouse controller?
10:05 Snapton Designers Guide: https://www.snaptron.com/free-samples/designers-guide/
Snapton Dome Kit: https://www.snaptron.com/free-samples/
20:18 Open Source LED Snowflake: https://luckyresistor.me/
https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/snowflake
27:20 The world's worst user interface oscilloscope? And it's a Tektronix?
The Tektronix T201/T202 oscilloscope.
Createc SC01 Signal Computer
39:00 I2C USB Driver: https://i2cdriver.com/
49:19 Siemens Rat Pee?

[johnlsenchak]

It would be nice to see you do the "Mailbag"  again  from the  old lab location ,    with  it's  upgraded  power and internet  connection 

[BH1MNM]

the link is something wrong

[Brumby]

555 FTW!!

Times 2 no less. 

[Zbig]

Regarding the hardware protocol debugging aids, I've got a Bus Pirate years ago. Ended up not using it as much as I hoped to because I never got to the point of memorizing the idiosyncratic syntax of the commands its CLI uses. Found out (unsurprisingly) that, when in the flow of problem-solving I need to debug something, I want doing it NOW, DAMMIT, not after I re-learn how to use my debug tool first.

What I found working best for me so far is Digilent Analog Discovery 2 and its accompanying WaveForms software. If has rather extensive I2C/UART/SPI/CAN features and it can act as a sender, receiver and "sniffer" (they call it "spy" mode).

[rhodges]

That soldering iron sounds like the result of a dare. I picture a salesman and an engineer in a bar. After a few beers, the magic happens:

"I can design ANYTHING you can describe!"
"Hah! I can sell ANYTHING you can design!"
"Bet you can't!"
"Bet you can't!"
"Challenge accepted!"

And that's how we got a device made of a soldering iron, a mouse, and a headphone cable.

I had one of the Tek T201 portable scopes. You can NOT use it without reading the manual. No, forget it. I had to read it at least three times before I could do anything with it. Mine also had a weak multi-switch on the left side, but the right switch was decent.

I can picture the sales manager and the engineer screaming at each other.
"Our customers are angry! They can't use the damn thing!"
"Tell them to read the damn manual! You can't program MIPS assembly language without reading the manual! Why should a scope be any different?!"
"They don't want to read the bloody manual! They already know how to use other scopes!"
"If they are too lazy to read the manual, tell them to sod off!"

[firehopper]

I have a tek t201, and the most important manual. also somewhere I have the pinout of that power supply plug. +5 -5 +12 -12 and gnd I think it was.
might have been 15 volts instead of 12.

I do have the manual scanned as a bunch of jpg's as well if anyone wants them

[firehopper]

also that cover can be used as a foot/stand to support the scope. and on the bottom near the power input is a trimmer that can be used to adjust the contrast.

[firehopper]

after reading the manual, try this to display a waveform. set the voltage switch to the proper voltage, and ac or dc, then hit ch1 key then auto key. see if that works.

[glatocha]

Just to explain a little last item in the mailbag.
This is a Safety output card with 12 digital output channel. The dip switch is actually on the back to set address on the bus. This does plug into the rail.

It was interesting for me to see how complicated it is to do industrial safety card which basically have 12 transistors as an output element.