RGB Scope Probes ?

[Keysight DanielBogdanoff]

I think it's a cool idea! It almost certainly won't be a thing for the "lower end" passive probes, but the higher end stuff already communicates with the scope on some level so it's in the realm of possibility in the long run.

[tablatronix]

Your gonna need fairly large fiber, and a lot of light.

I would prototype this using off the shelf toslink cables, preferable with the standard 1/8" phono optical jacks (or the adapters) on them instead of toslink, it would be easy to make the light distribution box for these to plug into.

[Alex Eisenhut]

There should also be RGB on the scope itself, and a sensor on the probes. So when you get confused from all the probes, you just pick up a probe and the scope it's connected to can start flashing, either in soothing lava-lamp colors, or harsh 1990's industrial music club strobing.

[JohnPen]

Perhaps all new designs should include different wavelength LEDs for each test point!  Then use a wide band optical detector, using a suitable lens above the PCB, followed by selectable narrow band frequency resolution to enable the 'scope' to display each test point signal in the appropriate colour.  A simple colour selector switch on the 'scope' or s/w to automate the process for diagnostics to display the relevant signals.
 
 

[tooki]

I thought the primary point of the color rings on scope probes is that a particular probe has to be compensated for a particular input, and that if you use a probe on a different channel of the same scope (never mind on a different scope) you are supposed to compensate it again. So the rings ensure that you always use the same probe on the same channel input.  So unless you’re gonna also include software-controlled probe compensation, and include an EEPROM so that the probe saves its calibration constants for every input it’s used on, this whole exercise is for naught.