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History of bandwidth/feature upgradable scopes via license code

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Someone:

--- Quote from: Berni on March 08, 2022, 06:42:23 am ---Hard to say when it began, but it makes the most sense for midrange scopes.
--- End quote ---
Not really hard to say when it began, these big companies love their press releases which makes for accurate dates of "milestones".

Berni:

--- Quote from: Someone on March 08, 2022, 06:49:59 am ---
--- Quote from: Berni on March 08, 2022, 06:42:23 am ---Hard to say when it began, but it makes the most sense for midrange scopes.
--- End quote ---
Not really hard to say when it began, these big companies love their press releases which makes for accurate dates of "milestones".

--- End quote ---

They do not always make this public.

There are cases where the manufacturer offers bandwidth upgrades in the form of shipping the scope to a service center. Sometimes this means swapping out the board, it might mean swapping some passives, other times this means just software config. Why not offer this to buy in the form of a license key and new sticker? Might be that they don't want people to know they are this easy to upgrade, or they need calibration steps done to it after the upgrade for the scope to meet spec.

Someone:

--- Quote from: Berni on March 08, 2022, 07:39:10 am ---
--- Quote from: Someone on March 08, 2022, 06:49:59 am ---
--- Quote from: Berni on March 08, 2022, 06:42:23 am ---Hard to say when it began, but it makes the most sense for midrange scopes.
--- End quote ---
Not really hard to say when it began, these big companies love their press releases which makes for accurate dates of "milestones".
--- End quote ---
They do not always make this public.

There are cases where the manufacturer offers bandwidth upgrades in the form of shipping the scope to a service center. Sometimes this means swapping out the board, it might mean swapping some passives, other times this means just software config. Why not offer this to buy in the form of a license key and new sticker? Might be that they don't want people to know they are this easy to upgrade, or they need calibration steps done to it after the upgrade for the scope to meet spec.
--- End quote ---
Even when it was possible to board swap or update hard configs but was hidden from the user, those processes included recalibration (in the correction/adjustment/alignment sense, not the metrology sense). The step change was being able to seamlessly change the bandwidth without requiring re-calibration, which of course was exposed to the customers as quickly/easily as possible (for profit!).

tautech:

--- Quote from: Someone on March 08, 2022, 10:52:07 pm ---The step change was being able to seamlessly change the bandwidth without requiring re-calibration, which of course was exposed to the customers as quickly/easily as possible (for profit!).

--- End quote ---
Hardly.
For decades cost effective production methods have used SW upgradable PCB's and some examples are TDS200, TDS1000 and 2000 models from as early as the 90's and likely others well before.
Owners of more recent equipment have spent countless hours sniffing data buses in efforts to understand the SW  BW limiting techniques and how they can be circumvented with just a SW patch or license code.

Today most models in a product series all share the same HW and are SW configured at the factory and despite the best efforts of manufacturers the motivated will go to some trouble to discover the model licensing/configuration methods used.

Manufacturers certainly don't disclose this sort of information however the collective efforts of communities such as EEVblog work tirelessly to discover it and share so everyone can benefit.....us sellers too !  ;D

Someone:

--- Quote from: tautech on March 09, 2022, 06:58:20 am ---
--- Quote from: Someone on March 08, 2022, 10:52:07 pm ---The step change was being able to seamlessly change the bandwidth without requiring re-calibration, which of course was exposed to the customers as quickly/easily as possible (for profit!).

--- End quote ---
Hardly.
For decades cost effective production methods have used SW upgradable PCB's and some examples are TDS200, TDS1000 and 2000 models from as early as the 90's and likely others well before.
Owners of more recent equipment have spent countless hours sniffing data buses in efforts to understand the SW  BW limiting techniques and how they can be circumvented with just a SW patch or license code.

Today most models in a product series all share the same HW and are SW configured at the factory and despite the best efforts of manufacturers the motivated will go to some trouble to discover the model licensing/configuration methods used.

Manufacturers certainly don't disclose this sort of information however the collective efforts of communities such as EEVblog work tirelessly to discover it and share so everyone can benefit.....us sellers too !  ;D
--- End quote ---
Factory config is very different from field/customer change/upgrade, of course economy of scales had them all made from (in many cases exactly, some times almost exactly) the same underlying hardware. SmallCog mentions this above with the example of the Automotive industry, same engine, same parts, different map/tune (often one or two key parts like the clutch/gearbox/axle might be different) and a span of performance/price models. No one is disputing that.

Were the TDS200 modules calibrated identically and able to be changed in the field without readjustment? The service manual says, no, they were calibrated and adjusted differently. That someone can change their unit over is no different to retuning a car engine, not supported by the factory, and generally needs adjustment specific to the unit.

The OP very specifically asked about the field upgrade being exposed to the customer:

--- Quote from: Maik on March 07, 2022, 01:14:38 pm ---I'm looking at scopes (and other gear as well) that are locked down by software to be later unlocked via a payed license code
--- End quote ---

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