Products > Test Equipment
Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
Specmaster:
--- Quote from: mnementh on June 30, 2022, 03:34:36 am ---
In The Box: one NA 120V Power Cable, one +2 Spiked Mace, one +3 Spiked flail, and two PP510 100MHz probes. ;)
Back of unit: Hmmm... Cal sticker.
Obligatory Cal Signal pic. I hope I can choose larger fonts for some of these measurements. Large fan is barely noticeable, but I assume it is thermally controlled. The screen is effing huge and scary Hi-Res; feels the same as going to my 1054Zed after using a TDS210 for years.
mnem
:=\
--- End quote ---
Well that was a short lay down ;)
tggzzz:
--- Quote from: bd139 on June 29, 2022, 09:05:44 pm ---
--- Quote from: tggzzz on June 29, 2022, 08:57:06 pm ---
--- Quote from: bd139 on June 29, 2022, 07:25:48 pm ---Bought some junk.
Why? Well I went through the service manual and it is absolutely packed to the brim with rather expensive analogue and TTL bits and a metric ton of standard HP parts. Absolutely no use whatsoever in this day and age as it's all for testing Bell/CCITT 4KHz channel telecoms crap which is completely obsolete so it'll be used as an organ supply for other projects.
--- End quote ---
Sounds like I might need to take care to distinguish you from Vince.
In the late 70s, the GPO (pre BT) had to work how they could guarantee sending 2Mb/s between exchanges along cables specified at audio frequencies. They could have asked the cable manufacturers, but that would have given them the excuse to drastically increase the price of the same product.
It was of course the wrong question, since the answer didn't include the newfangled optical fibres.
--- End quote ---
Yep. That’s pretty much how ADSL works now. Channelised. Amazing how we can cram 80Mbits up some mouldy copper crud.
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Yes and no.
The signalling was alternate mark inversion, so voltages were +V, 0, -V and bit rate=baud rate, i.e. Mb/s. There were many twisted pairs in the cable, so crosstalk was the major issue which could only be determined by measuring [pairs in each cable, not by prediction.
ADSL and even 57kb/s modems use multi-level signalling to minimise the baud rate. Such processing power was decades in the future.
TERRA Operative:
--- Quote from: Vince on June 30, 2022, 09:32:53 am ---
--- Quote from: TERRA Operative on June 30, 2022, 09:21:04 am ---(I had a parallel Zip drive back in the day, I liked it. I should get one again as it's compatible with the D-series TDS 600 and 700 series scopes ;D )
--- End quote ---
Uh really ?! Wow...so you mean the // port can be used not only to print a screen capture, but also to access storage media like a ZIP ?! :o
Did I read that right ?! :o
So if I can't find a HDD option for my future 784D, no big deal then, I can use a ZIP Drive instead ?! :clap:
Definitely want a 'D' then, none of the 784C rubbish ! :-DD >:D
Money for the TDS won't be before a long while though, so I better start searching for ZIP drive ASAP, as they must be getting rare by now, and might not even be findable any more by the time I get the TDS ! :scared:
Yeah, let's find a ZIP Drive again, will bring back memories !! :D
Thank you so much for the info Terra ! All the crap we have been writing on TEA for the past 24 hours FINALLY turned out to lead to something actually useful ! :-DD
You really made my day Terra, thanks for the info, I am very surprised but overjoyed by it !! :-+
--- End quote ---
Yup, I learnt it when researching what the hell the TDS714L was when I bought it, it's sales brochure made note of the Zip drive compatibility.
Turned out that the D-series scopes do too.
Check this link, page 7 under the 'Storage' section.
https://w140.com/tekwiki/images/9/90/TDS700D_Datasheet_55W_11336_4.pdf
I assume it's plug and play, maybe detects it on boot, or maybe you can select it when you access the file menu as you would a floppy disk.
I'll have to go find a Zip drive on Yahoo Auctions to add to my TDS Scope Accessory collection. :D
--- Quote from: Vince on June 30, 2022, 09:32:53 am ---A HDD would still be goo though, as you said it contains not just data but also S/W that give you access to more features... and I doubt that S/W can be accessed/used by the scope if you put it on the // ZIP drive ? Probably not...
--- End quote ---
I don't think it would work to use a Zip drive as a HDD like that, I think the Zip is only able to be used just like a floppy but larger capacity.
If you want a HDD for your unit (and some software pre-loaded), I do have a spare HDD option, complete with all parts.... ;)
I plan to sell it 'one day' so you have basically forever to get around to buying it off me because 'some day' means I'll never get around to it.... :D
tggzzz:
--- Quote from: bd139 on June 29, 2022, 09:08:49 pm ---
--- Quote from: tggzzz on June 29, 2022, 09:04:43 pm ---
--- Quote from: bd139 on June 29, 2022, 08:30:05 pm ---Yeah quite frankly fuck floppy disks. They were shit when they came out. Corruption, speed problems, reliability problems, tiny storage. Add 30 years to the problem and now you have mechanical and magnetic degradation to contend with.
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And the available alternatives were 10MB hard disks the size of washing machines, or paper (tape or cards), or audio cassettes (remember CUTS at 300/1200 baud?).
Floppies were a significant advance, for those that could afford them.
--- End quote ---
Yes I remember loading tapes in via my BBC micro cassette interface. When I finally got a single 5 1/4” drive things were good. But that realistically lasted 4 years because i got a 20Mb hard disk. Every floppy interaction after that was a chore.
--- End quote ---
Indeed.
My university project was stored on paper tape which I carried around. There was insufficient space on the 10MB hard drive for undergrad projects.
Reading the paper tape at 1000cps was something I won't forget; health and safety would have a fit about the possibility of papercut injuries. Respooling the tape was more tedious.
Vince:
--- Quote from: Cubdriver on June 30, 2022, 04:33:26 am ---
--- Quote from: factory on June 29, 2022, 09:40:35 pm ---I thought you won one of the 180 series SA mainframes, in the last PP auction, it should work in the SA mainframe, just some of the later ones haven't got the scope cal outputs, as they were made long after the scope modules became obsolete.
I'm I the only one on here with some 180 scopes in my collection?
David
--- End quote ---
I have a 181 here.
Lab Cat looking none too pleased with the poor probe compensation:
-Pat
--- End quote ---
Cat is clearly the star of the show, for it's him being in focus, the scope's screen is completely out of focus ! :-DD
I would like a lab cat like your, he looks cool and smart, being interested in TE and electronics.
Unfortunately you can't recruit cats on their engineering skills, you just get what you get. I don't want to try then fire 25 cats until I find the right one, so I just don't have one.
But lucky you for having this one, you scored big time ! :-+
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