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| New EEVblog BM786 Multimeter |
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| bdunham7:
--- Quote from: rsjsouza on March 27, 2021, 01:34:35 am ---Fluke also does not allow this. --- End quote --- I'm not clear--Fluke does not allow what? |
| wizard69:
--- Quote from: bdunham7 on March 26, 2021, 07:07:53 pm --- --- Quote from: NoisyBoy on March 26, 2021, 06:45:08 pm ---compared to the old 34401A. They provide regular firmware update without the need to recalibrate. --- End quote --- I can't imagine what you would want to update on a 34401A. :) Adding features is a nice idea, but I'm not so thrilled about manufacturers shipping half-baked stuff knowing they can maybe fix it later if they have to--if they are still around and if they still care. --- End quote --- That is not the point and never has been the point of having upgradeable software. Are you seriously implying you want to be stuck with bugs forever. --- Quote --- --- Quote ---Dave, I like the meter, perhaps one thing you could communicate back to the manufacturer is the ability to do field firmware upgrade would have provided a great differentiation that all buyers would love to have, and helps to reduce their warranty cost. --- End quote --- I think the issue is that they want their code protected. --- End quote --- I don't doubt that one bit. However It would be nice to see somebody offer up an open sourced DMM. We need this as users because of the one problem that is rather huge in the test equipment industry, that is a lot of manufactures just don't last. That is a company will flop before its hardware has ran through a reasonable life span. Beyond that I'm still amazed that we don't have scriptable instruments from the big manufactures. |
| Kleinstein:
A DMM should have reliable software from the start. Wrong reading may pose a safety problem, so it needs some security measures. This would be a problem with a open source DMM, or even one with open access to the software. At least the basic functions of a handheld DMM are not that complicated and can be tested relatively easy. It gets more complicated only with more special functions like graphing, statistics and similar. If really wanted a suitable place for a connector to allow a SW update would be in the battery compartment. Not having the possibility to change the SW easy forces the manufacturers to get it right. For a limited SW complexity there is a chance to have bug free software. Getting intermediate numbers when changing the input signal is normal. The DMM reading is an average over some time and some intermedate number is correct - not random, just hard to control manually. The bench DMMs tend to be faster in the default settings and thus have the transients less visible. |
| 2N3055:
--- Quote from: wizard69 on March 27, 2021, 02:50:12 am ---I don't doubt that one bit. However It would be nice to see somebody offer up an open sourced DMM. We need this as users because of the one problem that is rather huge in the test equipment industry, that is a lot of manufactures just don't last. That is a company will flop before its hardware has ran through a reasonable life span. Beyond that I'm still amazed that we don't have scriptable instruments from the big manufactures. --- End quote --- There are literally hundreds of open source multimeters on the Internet. And they all went nowhere. Not to mention how safe is to make something you poke into dangerous voltages that Arduino maker will "hack and make better". And what's with "don't have scriptable instruments"? All of them are, if they have any kind of interface. You need Raspberry PI, small screen, and write Python scripts for days... Graphing, logging, everything. I have a network share mapped, so files are accessible from PCs too... Ethernet, serial, Bluetooth, GPIB connectivity, you name it. Also, DMM6500 from Keithley has built in scripting language and rather big screen. OTOH, unfortunately, it is also a living proof that Linux can also bluescreen all the time if you write crappy software... |
| wizard69:
--- Quote from: 2N3055 on March 27, 2021, 08:40:57 am --- --- Quote from: wizard69 on March 27, 2021, 02:50:12 am ---I don't doubt that one bit. However It would be nice to see somebody offer up an open sourced DMM. We need this as users because of the one problem that is rather huge in the test equipment industry, that is a lot of manufactures just don't last. That is a company will flop before its hardware has ran through a reasonable life span. Beyond that I'm still amazed that we don't have scriptable instruments from the big manufactures. --- End quote --- There are literally hundreds of open source multimeters on the Internet. And they all went nowhere. Not to mention how safe is to make something you poke into dangerous voltages that Arduino maker will "hack and make better". --- End quote --- That pretty much highlights that there are no true open source multimeters. Further there is a lot more to the world of open source and even open hardware than Arduino. I sometimes see Arduino as enablement for idiots but that doesn't mean everybody that put an Arduino to good use is an idiot. --- Quote ---And what's with "don't have scriptable instruments"? All of them are, if they have any kind of interface. --- End quote --- Having an interface doesn't make the meter itself scriptable. --- Quote --- You need Raspberry PI, small screen, and write Python scripts for days... Graphing, logging, everything. I have a network share mapped, so files are accessible from PCs too... Ethernet, serial, Bluetooth, GPIB connectivity, you name it. Also, DMM6500 from Keithley has built in scripting language and rather big screen. OTOH, unfortunately, it is also a living proof that Linux can also bluescreen all the time if you write crappy software... --- End quote --- So you have one high end meter to consider here. As for a blue screens you are right that crappy software is a problem, but even quality software will have bugs. That is why field up-gradable instruments makes lots of sense to me. It is almost impossible to ship reasonably complex software without bugs. What is interesting to me, with respect to Linux and much of the software that runs there, is just how good it has become. Yes there are crappy apps, that are delivered by rather poor programmers, but that stuff doesn't stay in circulation long. Either programmer (often the project leader) gets better at programming or something turns up to replace it. Contrast this with Windows when you can get stuck with a crappy app with no replacement in sight, nor a way to get it fixed. Is open source always the right answer, nope not saying that. However it has done really well in some case such as low end logic analyzers. The industry would benefit from more such successes. |
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