Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff
Curve tracer designs?
0culus:
Which circuit are you talking about?
This is a book I might have to find a hard copy of.
That is a neat little subtlety, thanks for sharing!
rhb:
--- Quote from: 0culus on November 25, 2018, 06:13:43 am ---Which circuit are you talking about?
--- End quote ---
There are only two circuits in this discussion that I know of. The one you've been trying to get to work and the one on page 219. If you're asking about the reference to discretes, that was the counter chips.
This is what is commonly referred to as an R2R ladder DAC. A relevant concept from the same book is using a counter to index a memory and using the output of the memory to feed the R2R. That will let you correct for resistor tolerances by just modifying the contents of the memory. The JDS 6600 arbitrary waveform generator uses an R2R ladder driven by an FPGA.
--- Quote ---This is a book I might have to find a hard copy of.
--- End quote ---
As it happens I have a spare I got when someone was cleaning out there office. How about $4 plus media mail?
--- Quote ---That is a neat little subtlety, thanks for sharing!
--- End quote ---
Don's books are full of neat little circuits. I'd bet you would find a lot of them in Tek and HP gear of the era. The Tek 577 probably uses the circuit Don showed.
0culus:
--- Quote from: rhb on November 25, 2018, 01:15:19 pm ---
--- Quote from: 0culus on November 25, 2018, 06:13:43 am ---Which circuit are you talking about?
--- End quote ---
There are only two circuits in this discussion that I know of. The one you've been trying to get to work and the one on page 219. If you're asking about the reference to discretes, that was the counter chips.
This is what is commonly referred to as an R2R ladder DAC. A relevant concept from the same book is using a counter to index a memory and using the output of the memory to feed the R2R. That will let you correct for resistor tolerances by just modifying the contents of the memory. The JDS 6600 arbitrary waveform generator uses an R2R ladder driven by an FPGA.
--- Quote ---This is a book I might have to find a hard copy of.
--- End quote ---
As it happens I have a spare I got when someone was cleaning out there office. How about $4 plus media mail?
--- Quote ---That is a neat little subtlety, thanks for sharing!
--- End quote ---
Don's books are full of neat little circuits. I'd bet you would find a lot of them in Tek and HP gear of the era. The Tek 577 probably uses the circuit Don showed.
--- End quote ---
Turns out amazon has a number of books by him. :-+
rhb:
I asked Don. His best guess is that with foreign press runs the TTL CB sold about 1.4 million copies. That means that pretty much anyone with a strong interest in electronics in the 70's bought a copy.
Pretty heady stuff for a 30 something tech writer. It went through 3 printings in the first year!
The other books which are still very relevant are the CMOS CB and the Active Filter CB. The RTL CB might be useful if you need to build basic logic. Unfortunately, lots of the 7400 series devices are no longer available except at steep prices.
The schematics and service manuals for the gold standard, the Tek 577, are available. I suggest studying those. The Tek service manuals of that era include a detailed explanation of the theory of operation of *every* circuit in the instrument.
0culus:
--- Quote from: rhb on November 26, 2018, 02:22:24 pm ---I asked Don. His best guess is that with foreign press runs the TTL CB sold about 1.4 million copies. That means that pretty much anyone with a strong interest in electronics in the 70's bought a copy.
Pretty heady stuff for a 30 something tech writer. It went through 3 printings in the first year!
The other books which are still very relevant are the CMOS CB and the Active Filter CB. The RTL CB might be useful if you need to build basic logic. Unfortunately, lots of the 7400 series devices are no longer available except at steep prices.
The schematics and service manuals for the gold standard, the Tek 577, are available. I suggest studying those. The Tek service manuals of that era include a detailed explanation of the theory of operation of *every* circuit in the instrument.
--- End quote ---
Very cool. I've got the ones Amazon still has in my cart. I will grab those manuals too. I've always wanted a 577 but sadly I haven't the space in my current lab!
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