Slashdot front page says I don't need a scope...

[Smokey]

http://ask.slashdot.org/story/13/11/20/2248237/ask-slashdot-whats-on-your-hardware-lab-bench

Slow news day?

[ElectroIrradiator]

 

Must be a question from an inexperienced beginner.

[NiHaoMike]

There's really no substitute for a good scope when it comes to checking signal integrity.

[mrflibble]

Slashdot says a lot of things. Long gone are the days that reading the comments was worthwhile. Nowadays it's just check the linked articles, and leave the argumentative monkeys to their      routine. It's not as bad as youtube comments, but give it some time...

Did a quick check of that link. So you substitute "the scope is dead" with "dude that wrote comment doesn't use a scope much these days", and we're done. Neeeext.

[c4757p]

Anything on Slashdot related to electronics can be boiled down to this:

Will it make my computer faster?
No: Then why the hell does it still exist? Luddites...
Yes: Go DIAF, my computer's fast enough as it is!



Empty shell of what it used to be.

[xrunner]

Why do I still want one after reading that blurb? 

[Six_Shooter]

Let's see here...

They say:
<snip>" a frequency counter, a USB logic analyzer, a USB I2C/SPI master,"</snip>

Hmmm, all things that an o'scope can do, ok the I2C/SPI decoding might be only on some newer DSOs, but it is possible, but anyway, all of those can be reduced down to one device, if you understand how to use it, and it can tell you so much more.

They go onto say:
<snip>"I have two oscilloscopes, a 100MHz two-channel stand-alone USB unit and a 1960s analog plug-in-based mainframe that is a '70s hacker dream scope."</snip>

Hmm, the PC based scope is probably not that great, if my experience with them is any indication, and from what I read of other's experiences, and an old analog scope that is likely large and takes half an hour to warm up before it's useful. Of course one would use those scopes less and less.

Whoever wrote that is under the misconception that digital signals are truly on and off signals, with instant rise and fall times or that they can't be effected by other signals, which a logic analyzer is very unlikely to pick up on.

If O'scopes were becoming less useful, there wouldn't be ever increasing development of them, that still retains their original design of capturing and displaying the measured waveform(s)...

[EEVblog]

Whoever wrote that is under the misconception that digital signals are truly on and off signals, with instant rise and fall times or that they can't be effected by other signals, which a logic analyzer is very unlikely to pick up on.

and that all power supplies are always DC, and no useful signal of any kind exist in the analog domain any more 

[Fsck]

Whoever wrote that is under the misconception that digital signals are truly on and off signals, with instant rise and fall times or that they can't be effected by other signals, which a logic analyzer is very unlikely to pick up on.

and that all power supplies are always DC, and no useful signal of any kind exist in the analog domain any more 

all you need is a DMM right?! 

[Smokey]

Whoever wrote that is under the misconception that digital signals are truly on and off signals, with instant rise and fall times or that they can't be effected by other signals, which a logic analyzer is very unlikely to pick up on.

and that all power supplies are always DC, and no useful signal of any kind exist in the analog domain any more 

all you need is a DMM right?! 

yup..  one of these...

[vk6zgo]

Let's see here...

They say:
<snip>" a frequency counter, a USB logic analyzer, a USB I2C/SPI master,"</snip>

Hmmm, all things that an o'scope can do, ok the I2C/SPI decoding might be only on some newer DSOs, but it is possible, but anyway, all of those can be reduced down to one device, if you understand how to use it, and it can tell you so much more.

They go onto say:
<snip>"I have two oscilloscopes, a 100MHz two-channel stand-alone USB unit and a 1960s analog plug-in-based mainframe that is a '70s hacker dream scope."</snip>

Hmm, the PC based scope is probably not that great, if my experience with them is any indication, and from what I read of other's experiences, and an old analog scope that is likely large and takes half an hour to warm up before it's useful. Of course one would use those scopes less and less.

Whoever wrote that is under the misconception that digital signals are truly on and off signals, with instant rise and fall times or that they can't be effected by other signals, which a logic analyzer is very unlikely to pick up on.

If O'scopes were becoming less useful, there wouldn't be ever increasing development of them, that still retains their original design of capturing and displaying the measured waveform(s)...

!960s 'scopes would warm up in around 2-3 minutes max.
Even when they haven't completely stabilised,they are still "useful".

[John Coloccia]

I not sure I understand the link between not using it that much and not needing it.  I don't use the huge tip on my soldering iron that much, but when I do I need it.  The little tip doesn't work just because I use that for 99% of my work.

Anyhow, I don't see how anyone would function in a real lab with a scope.  I don't use one much anymore because of the work I do, but I used to have one on pretty much all the time, and I used it, more or less, constantly.