new killer scope in town - a true game changer from R&S - RTB2002 & RTB2004

[coppice]

Most of the wireless dongles are a composite HID device (keyboard and mouse)

Many recent Logitech dongles follow their unify protocol and work with a both a keyboard and a mouse. Still, many Logitech mice come with a mouse only dongle, and most dongles from other makers are mouse or keyboard only.

[LaurentR]

In addition to the proprietary dongles like the Unifying stuff from Logitech, which tend to work out of the box, there is substantial resurgence of Bluetooth keyboards because of iPhone/iPad/Android connectivity and there is very little chance these will work as they need a proprietary driver and a full sw bluetooth stack to present a keyboard device to the OS.

It's hard enough to make those work on PCs (bluetooth stack...) and 99% of PCs can't use bluetooth keybords at boot (no bluetooth stack in the BIOS).

[Robaroni]

That's interesting. I just grabbed my wireless USB keyboard/mouse pad to try. It did something, cursor moved up and down screen but not horizontally. Mouse click made the cursor move to the right. So trying to do something but nothing usable or sensible. I then tried my logitech mouse, but no action at all. It's one of the unified USB setups, so that doesn't surprise me. If we can use a USB mouse and/or keyboard, it would have been nice to have a second USB on the rear for it so the front stays free for storage.

Joel,
My Logitech mice did just about the same thing. There is another usb on the back, a type 'B'.

[Joel_l]

Type B is generally not for being a USB host. If you could get the right adapter, dont think it would work. Something to look into.

[JoHr]

That's interesting. I just grabbed my wireless USB keyboard/mouse pad to try. It did something, cursor moved up and down screen but not horizontally. Mouse click made the cursor move to the right. So trying to do something but nothing usable or sensible. I then tried my logitech mouse, but no action at all. It's one of the unified USB setups, so that doesn't surprise me. If we can use a USB mouse and/or keyboard, it would have been nice to have a second USB on the rear for it so the front stays free for storage.

Joel,
My Logitech mice did just about the same thing. There is another usb on the back, a type 'B'.

This one used for connecting the scope to computer. Via MTP protocol or remote control via TMC.

[Robaroni]

Type B is generally not for being a USB host. If you could get the right adapter, dont think it would work. Something to look into.

Right, I checked it - no +5V -.

OK, my suggestion to R&S is to run two usb ports.

[JoHr]

Type B is generally not for being a USB host. If you could get the right adapter, dont think it would work. Something to look into.

Right, I checked it - no +5V -.

OK, my suggestion to R&S is to run two usb ports.

The HMO3000 series had two USB device ports. Buts it has a plugable interface card as well which provides USB/Ethernet connectivity.
The HMO1202 has already USB/Ethernet interfaces on board. But only one USB port for a thumb drive.
R&S might just have put the interfaces on board ... thats it.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Type B is generally not for being a USB host. If you could get the right adapter, dont think it would work. Something to look into.

Right, I checked it - no +5V -.

OK, my suggestion to R&S is to run two usb ports.

Not a huge deal, as you have the fast network and USB device functionality to get data out.
have you tried a hub ?

[masto]

It would be cool to press the save button on the scope and have it send the screenshot or data somewhere over the network. The existing options of plugging in a USB device and then moving it to a computer to copy the files off, or using the remote web interface to grab the data, are not terrible, but the convenience of just dropping it into a folder on my computer straight from the scope would be awesome.

(Unless it already does this and I missed it in my ~1 day of playing around)

I'm a total newbie when it comes to higher-end test equipment, so I got really excited by the remote UI and recorded a video last night (https://youtu.be/Nd2Sb_5vJF8). Looking at it now, it's a bit embarrassing, especially as I'm probably going on and on about something that has been around on other products for a while. I guess we all remember our first.

[mikeselectricstuff]

It would be cool to press the save button on the scope and have it send the screenshot or data somewhere over the network. The existing options of plugging in a USB device and then moving it to a computer to copy the files off, or using the remote web interface to grab the data, are not terrible, but the convenience of just dropping it into a folder on my computer straight from the scope would be awesome.

You can do almost that using the USB MTP mode - scope appears as a drive on your PC, and you can drag out a file containing a PNG of the current screen image or other data. You don't need to touch the scope.

[grouchobyte]

@masto

Thanks for the short video. I have a keysight DSOX3104 and have the web UI which is quite useful plus the ability to save files on my network in a variety of formats including matlab

I do lots of precision analog design and have tons of test gear including a dozen or so scopes of varying vintages ranging from real time analog to 10 GS sampling scopes.

Being an ex tektronix hardware engineer I obviously lean towards Tek gear. However, in recent years it seems TEK have given the lead to RS and HP.....er  keysight in the midrange market

I evaluated a demo RTE series box last week and was impressed with the hardware and performance but hated the UI and the windows 7 OS  uggg that goes with that. It crashed several times to a windows exception error. Not acceptable for a $14k box

However, I like the 10 bit FE end on this RTB scope and the modern implementation with the fluid web UI.
I would pick one up for some of my low end work and recycle some of my TDS boxes. For higher end work, i would still rely on my Keysight box. The local rep is fedxing an RTB to me so I guess I will see for myself what the excitment is all about

Question: do you know if this scope can easily export or save to matlab format for offline analysis. That would very useful for me.

Thanks
@grouchobyte

[Robaroni]

Mike,
I just dug out an old hub, I have to make an adapter, I'll let everyone know if it works.
Rob

[mikeselectricstuff]

Question: do you know if this scope can easily export or save to matlab format for offline analysis. That would very useful for me.

I think the available formats (via USB MTP) are raw binary and CSV.
If the PC application supports it, I believe it can do some sort of 'live update' by refreshing the file.
More info here :
https://cdn.rohde-schwarz.com/pws/dl_downloads/dl_common_library/dl_brochures_and_datasheets/pdf_1/RTB2000_Import_ac_en_3607-0446-92_v0100.pdf

[Myrv]

Well my scope finally arrived yesterday (introductory offer).  Unfortunately it has to go back today 

Annoyingly it showed up with (at best) a dead Real Time Clock battery or (at worst) something more fundamentally wrong.

The very first time I turned it on I was met with the following screen:



This then lead to:



and




Interesting that a dead RTC battery will cause the scope to disable features.

The battery does appear to physically be there:




Unfortunately to get to it I have to remove the rear cover which involves breaking the "Calibration Void if Broken" seal.   Ya, I know, just a sticker but I don't have anything else to compare against in case something does go wrong and  I don't want any hassles if the problem turns out to be bigger than a dodgy battery.   

I was hoping to be able to simply get an exchange from Testforce but they do not have any units to swap. They've just forwarded me to R&S warranty.  Not an auspicious start.

[grouchobyte]

Question: do you know if this scope can easily export or save to matlab format for offline analysis. That would very useful for me.

I think the available formats (via USB MTP) are raw binary and CSV.
If the PC application supports it, I believe it can do some sort of 'live update' by refreshing the file.
More info here :
https://cdn.rohde-schwarz.com/pws/dl_downloads/dl_common_library/dl_brochures_and_datasheets/pdf_1/RTB2000_Import_ac_en_3607-0446-92_v0100.pdf

Thanks Mike!

[nctnico]

So your software options get disabled due to a bad/empty battery?  Good to know... I don't want test equipment to fail for such a minor error so R&S exit....

[masto]

That would suck marginally less if the options are reenabled after fixing the battery/clock. Fingers crossed?

[JoHr]

That would suck marginally less if the options are reenabled after fixing the battery/clock. Fingers crossed?

I´d expect that too.

[grouchobyte]

I would assume RS are not stupid enough to reset or disable the option licence keys permanently when the
RT clock battery is dead. It would make sense to temporarily disable certain options from working but after the battery is replaced, all options should continue to work since the licence keys reside in FLASH and need the date and time to validate and enable the license

[mikeselectricstuff]

You should be able to measure the battery - use long monkey-arse probe onto the clip, which will be positive and ground to the BNC.

Might also be interesting to force 3v onto the battery, reset the clock and see if the options restore.
 

[ws2812b]

I would somehow expect that a clock changing deactivates options. How else should they ensure that timed licenses work? They probably have some fancy crypto ongoing as well. That's not like shareware in the nineties.

[Myrv]

That would suck marginally less if the options are reenabled after fixing the battery/clock. Fingers crossed?

Sorry, should have mentioned after resetting the date and going to the setup page it appeared the options were all (re)enabled (although in my confusion I didn't actually check the options page before setting the date to see what it said, had a bit of trouble finding it at first).  Even stranger is all the options were listed as permanent so I don't know why any would be disabled due to clock manipulation anyway.   Unfortunately I didn't have time to actually try any of the options.    Power cycling the scope after setting the date resulted in the exact same error messages though (and a cleared clock).  I will have a closer look at the setup page (before setting the date)  when I get back from work.  It is frustrating.

[mikeselectricstuff]

I would assume RS are not stupid enough to reset or disable the option licence keys permanently when the
RT clock battery is dead. It would make sense to temporarily disable certain options from working but after the battery is replaced, all options should continue to work since the licence keys reside in FLASH and need the date and time to validate and enable the license

One would hope that it's simply a case of being outside the current time window. maybe you could test this by resetting the time, and power-cycling briefly - there may be a cap that will hold the time for a short time.

[mikeselectricstuff]

That would suck marginally less if the options are reenabled after fixing the battery/clock. Fingers crossed?

Sorry, should have mentioned after resetting the date and going to the setup page it appeared the options were all (re)enabled (although in my confusion I didn't actually check the options page before setting the date to see what it said, had a bit of trouble finding it at first).  Even stranger is all the options were listed as permanent so I don't know why any would be disabled due to clock manipulation anyway.   Unfortunately I didn't have time to actually try any of the options.    Power cycling the scope after setting the date resulted in the exact same error messages though (and a cleared clock).  I will have a closer look at the setup page (before setting the date)  when I get back from work.  It is frustrating.

My guess is though options are permanent it's borking due to date preceding the option start date.
May be worth trying a long screwdriver to give the battery a slight wiggle.

[JoHr]

There is a point in the manual
https://cdn.rohde-schwarz.com/pws/dl_downloads/dl_common_library/dl_manuals/gb_1/r/rtb_1/RTB_UserManual_en_02.pdf
... Chapter 7.8.1.

you received a key in written form, tap "Input option key manually". Enter the key.
If you received a key in digital form as a file, tap "Read option key from file".
Select path  /USB_FRONT  and the option key file

At least there is a possibility to get the key codes on request. You should be one email away from that.
... in case setting the the time won´t recall them.