Interesting T&M gear on e-(b)pay

[Vgkid]

Post anything different unusual that would be interesting here.
starting off:
GenRad1616, part of the 1621 cap Bridge
eBay auction: #http://www.ebay.com/itm/IET-LABS-GEN-RAD-1616-PRECISION-CAPACITANCE-BRIDGE-/271837999737?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f4aceb279
rarer than a 3458A, much more unique as well.
specs:
http://www.ietlabs.com/pdf/Datasheets/1621.pdf

[timb]

Just picked this guy up. It's an IOtech Analyzer488; it acts as a GPIB analyzer, serial based GPIB interface and instrument simulator.



Got it for a song with the original carry case, manual, power supply and PC software on 360K 5 1/4" floppy.

In analyzer mode, the unit is controlled by the front panel keyboard and data read out on the 20 character dot VFD. You can setup specific triggers to record on, or record everything and search. You can also single step through bus transactions and manually place data onto the bus and control all the interface lines. It'll store up to 32K lines of data in the battery backed SRAM.

In serial controller mode you can use the unit as a serial based GPIB controller in high level (HP Basic style commands) or low level (direct control of bus management and data lines) modes. This lets you turn any PC  with a serial port into a GPIB controller (like the NI GPIB-232 boxes). You can also go the reverse direction and hook serial devices (printers, plotters, etc.) up to GPIB devices (again, like the NI boxes). Additionally you can control the aforementioned analyzer mode from a PC via serial.

Finally, there's an instrument simulator mode, where the unit simulates a variety of devices on the GPIB, even allowing you to define a custom instrument (and the data to go with it). This mode is useful if you're trying to setup some custom software to support an instrument you may not have access to.



The unit runs off the classic 68B09 MCU with a TMS9914A GPIB controller. It was in great shape, the only thing wrong with it was a dead backup battery, which was a soldered in coin cell. I simply added a CR2032 coin cell holder and she was back in business.



I couldn't find a copy of the PC software anywhere on the web, so I dug out my ancient Compaq Portable III and imaged the disks to upload to my website for archival purposes. I also pulled the ROM and made a copy of that as well.

Right now, I've got it connected to the RS-232 port of my BeagleBone Black, being used to develop a web based T&M controller package I plan to finally release this summer.




Sent from my Tablet