Products > Test Equipment
please dont purchase PC controlled test equipment
zrq:
Isn't a PC based embedded controller runing some Windows usually easier to service and replace than a customized digital board running some obscure long-dead RTOS? There isn't much one can do if such customized thing break for example because of storage card corruption.
At least one can always do the disk imaging in a relatively standard way and in case some software break, you know how to load the exe to IDA or GHIDRA. And it will be the better documented x86 rather than PPC or some weird shit.
m k:
Easier is relative, one is hobbying and other one is starving.
pdenisowski:
--- Quote from: Wolfgang on March 06, 2023, 10:05:08 am ---Disagree again.
Almost all "renowned" manufacturers offer SCPI-enabled instruments.
For DMMs: Keysight/HP/Agilent, Rohde&Schwarz, Siglent, Rigol, Keithley, Tektronix, ...
For Scopes: Keysight/HP/Agilent, Rohde&Schwarz, Siglent, Rigol, Keithley, Tektronix, LeCroy, ...
For Signal Generators: Keysight/HP/Agilent, Rohde&Schwarz, Siglent, Rigol, Keithley, Tektronix, ...
--- End quote ---
Yes - almost all of our instruments are controllable via SCPI, and many of them have remote GUI interfaces that only require a web browser or a standard VNC / RDP client.
I've worked for test and measurement equipment manufacturers for over 25 years, and the trend has very definitely been to move away from "proprietary" solutions for controlling instruments remotely. In the old days, working as a field applications engineer in T&M meant having dozens of programs installed on your laptop for all the products you supported. There was nothing quite like being on site and finding out that you didn't have the right software package to talk to an instrument.
That said, there are a lot of both "professional" and "hobbyist" instruments that come with a proprietary remote control software package, but I agree strongly with the OP that these should not be the ONLY way to communicate with or use a modern test and measurement instrument.
zrq:
Really liked the official built-in VNC server of many recent R&S gears :-+ .
We are also using R&S SGMA series compact generators without front panel, which works nicely for us.
JPortici:
--- Quote from: zrq on March 06, 2023, 04:50:48 pm ---Isn't a PC based embedded controller runing some Windows usually easier to service and replace than a customized digital board running some obscure long-dead RTOS? There isn't much one can do if such customized thing break for example because of storage card corruption.
At least one can always do the disk imaging in a relatively standard way and in case some software break, you know how to load the exe to IDA or GHIDRA. And it will be the better documented x86 rather than PPC or some weird shit.
--- End quote ---
It then depends on what the custom application requires, and what the custom driver for the custom hardware card requires.
It maybe easier to reverse engineer but it still will cost a lot in term of time/money
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