Author Topic: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread  (Read 14407924 times)

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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16150 on: September 10, 2018, 10:55:36 pm »
Software gets heavier over time. Go install Windows NT on a modern PC. It boots in 4 seconds and everything is instant.

Agreed, but in the case on my HTC phones, they never had an upgrade in the OS. Apps that came preinstalled on the phone, still work fine, its the updates to those apps etc that will not work because they are written for the newer versions of Android.


Service / Maintenance Manual

Yes there is a service manual such as it is, basic at best describes how to strip it down and reassemble in the main, no schematics etc at all and there is no service on these machines now, we are reliant on finding donor machines or any NOS of assemblies to swop out with.

With other makes like Fluke, HP etc, you get the service manuals that are run to 10's or even 100's of pages and also include full schematics for equipment of the same vintage.


« Last Edit: September 10, 2018, 10:58:21 pm by Specmaster »
Who let Murphy in?

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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16151 on: September 11, 2018, 12:28:24 am »
I don't hate Apple at all, but there's no smoke without fire so they say, but let's take Rossmann out of the equation here is another video without an axe to grind as there is no service on offer from Linus Tech Tips.

[Rant mode: on] Please, "no smoke without fire"? Never heard of a smoke machine, an e-cigarette? Sorry, but that's a trite phrase that always annoys me and suggests that the speaker hasn't thought it through and is relying on a folksy truism in lieu of a substantive argument. [Rant mode: off]

I could just as easily use anecdote in place of evidence and point out that this is being typed on a 2006 Mac Pro, with a couple of 2006 Mac Cinema displays on it, on an older version of OS X which is still getting security patches. Twelve years old and still working fine. The flaw in that argument might well be survivor bias, but experience with older Mac kit tell me that's probably not the case.

Any company with as many customers as Apple has is going to fall short from time to time, in an imperfect world it's statistically inevitable. Apple has its faults, as does any massive monolithic corporation but my experience has been that they are no systematically worse, from their customer's point of view, than any other similarly sized corporation and are probably better than the majority of them. For some reason Apple seem to attract both detractors and supporters who hold almost religious positions for or against them.

One fault they do have is that Apple, as a corporation, is wildly intolerant of criticism; just ask any journalist who has got on their wrong side and suddenly finds that Apple's press office just won't talk to them at all any more, like some sulking child.

Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16152 on: September 11, 2018, 12:37:29 am »
Software gets heavier over time. Go install Windows NT on a modern PC. It boots in 4 seconds and everything is instant.

Literally yesterday (Sunday) I did a fresh install of Windows 2K in Virtual Box VM on my 2006 vintage Mac Pro. This was to get my old film scanner running — which won't run on anything modern — so I can scan some freshly shot negatives, so I can sell an old point and shoot Yashica T5, a model that's suddenly attracting nearly £300 sales on ebay, so I can feed my TEA. Anyway, that Win2K, in a VM, on a 12 year old machine, still runs at least twice as fast as it did on the bare metal available when Win2K was current.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2018, 12:40:00 am by Cerebus »
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 

Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16153 on: September 11, 2018, 01:48:27 am »
You SCSI bastard, you.  :-DD

mnem
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Offline xrunner

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16154 on: September 11, 2018, 01:54:04 am »
I'm thinking about getting one of these Agilent E4406A Vector/Spectrum Signal Analyzer with Rear Output -

E4406A

I think it'd be a nice addition for testing ham radio transmitters. They're only $429 with free shipping. Does anyone know if the rear output can be moved to the front easily? Even if it can't the price of these is really low now.
I told my friends I could teach them to be funny, but they all just laughed at me.
 

Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16155 on: September 11, 2018, 02:04:20 am »
I recommend you look at his feedback... evidently repeated attempts to get buyers to pay outside eBay.  :o

I wouldn't take a chance with this seller unless it was PP and I was desperate for the item at the price offered.

Quote from: mnemennth
When you're traversing the sea of auction goods, the natural self-protective reaction is to be afraid. Fear is good, keep that; but travel light. Forget the hate.

Listen to your wary inner voice, but don't succumb to panic. Use it to fuel a healthy cynicism; be critical of every aspect of a listing. THAT is how you can minimize the risk. As important as the item in particular is the seller's past history on fleaBay; you need to make sure you've first been sold on the SELLER, then the item they're selling... not the other way around.


Used Equipment 101: Taking the Gamble on fleaBay

mnem
« Last Edit: September 11, 2018, 02:25:09 am by mnementh »
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16156 on: September 11, 2018, 02:47:35 am »
You SCSI bastard, you.  :-DD

mnem
 ;)

Sadly nothing so exotic. A 12 Mb/s USB Canon film scanner that takes an age to scan a 35mm negative. Its advantage, in its day, was that it will take up to a 5x4in transparency (or negative) and scans at a quite reasonable 2400 dpi. I do still have a SCSI CD drive and DAT drive that are both currently gathering dust in the box room.

Does a fair job actually, you can actually see the grain in this neg that I scanned on Sunday to get it set up. Taken while travelling down Glencoe, having enjoyed a few pints of Heather Ale at the Clachaig Inn the night before, and contemplating the treachery of the Campbells (it was about a mile from where the massacre of the McDonalds happened)  on the 11th September 2001. Then I got into the car and turned the radio on...

« Last Edit: September 11, 2018, 02:51:22 am by Cerebus »
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Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16157 on: September 11, 2018, 03:20:18 am »
We've been over this ground ad-nauseum; both points are patently false. Apple does in fact spend a lot of time developing new and exciting products, and even Rossman admits their stuff is well-made in terms of initial quality. It's the fact that they've institutionalized the "disposable economy" that Americans take for granted by way of deliberately sealing up their products and making them easy to exchange but hard to repair that he has issue with. Fair dinkum, says I.

Overpriced? No. What they're selling is TIME; time not wasted in messing with it. 

Time is a man's most precious resource; the one thing that money cannot buy. The best you can do is to buy the privilege of not wasting the time you do have. Set a price on that; go ahead. Yeah... Apple is CHEAP by that standard.

If you buy into their ecology, all any failure costs you is the time to trade it out/trade it up at the fApple bar. They'll restore it from your automagic backups to the new machine while you eat dinner or shop and at worst you're out a day or two of your e-life. But you HAVE TO buy into the ecology for that to work.

These guys are by definition the opposite of that; they are DIYers. They did NOT buy into the ecology, so they're getting the WORST of both worlds. They deserve what they get; it's like being pissed off that a Testarossa is no good at hauling concrete or that no matter how fast it goes, it still can't drive on open water.

Personally, I think Rossman is a bit of a jackhole. BUTT... he is taking point on the very important issue of Right-to-Repair. For that, we should all be thankful. Hopefully with the help of noisy jackholes like him we the consumer can force manufacturers to return to some sane middle ground on this issue.

mnem
*Un-holey*
You need to mess with Apple kit as much as you do with other stuff. If it works its great, but if it doesn't it can be a pain. The initial quality regularly has issues too. Thermal throttling, sketchy hinges, poor electrical design et cetera. There somehow is this myth that Apple "just works". Reality has set me straight on that one.

Note that this isn't an anti Apple rant. They generally make slick kit and the holistic approach allows them to do nifty things. I like the spitshine. In the end it's just a manufacturer.
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16158 on: September 11, 2018, 07:59:17 am »
[Rant mode: on] Please, "no smoke without fire"? Never heard of a smoke machine, an e-cigarette? Sorry, but that's a trite phrase that always annoys me and suggests that the speaker hasn't thought it through and is relying on a folksy truism in lieu of a substantive argument. [Rant mode: off]

I hope that you were joking  :-DD, smoke machine and e-cigarettes contrary to popular belief actually do not generate any smoke, they generate vapor that has the appearance of smoke, it contains no carbon which is what proper smoke is largely made up of, remember google is your friend.  :-+   
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 

Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16159 on: September 11, 2018, 08:27:37 am »
Not strictly true  :-DD

 

Offline med6753

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16160 on: September 11, 2018, 09:45:41 am »
Not strictly true  :-DD



Never trust a fart!  :-DD
An old gray beard with an attitude.
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16161 on: September 11, 2018, 10:11:09 am »
Not strictly true  :-DD


Fucking idiot, put a rocket up your arse was a figure of speech, not an instruction! :palm:
Who let Murphy in?

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Offline tggzzz

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16162 on: September 11, 2018, 11:04:16 am »
Sufferers in  Europe should note
Quote
Little reminder for those close to Hannover (Germany):
PTB will be again at the Maker Fair 2018 in Hannover on 15.-16. September. (MAKER UNITeS)
Will be the 4. time, can we say traditionally ?
Our 5700 and other nice gear is freshly calibrated and waiting for you :)
(As always, no official tracability report, don't expect the last digits, expect FUN :D)
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/metrology/ptb-at-the-maker-faire-in-hannover/msg1815221/#msg1815221

Last year you could use their hp3458a, and see much more than just:




And they don't even frisk you when you leave the stand!
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
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Having fun doing more, with less
 

Offline mtdoc

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16163 on: September 11, 2018, 11:17:04 am »
Beauty!  What’s the top picture?
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16164 on: September 11, 2018, 11:19:51 am »
speaking of idiots, I had to share this clip.....

https://www.flickr.com/gp/158191416@N07/T87526
Who let Murphy in?

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Offline bd139

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16165 on: September 11, 2018, 11:27:43 am »
speaking of idiots, I had to share this clip.....

https://www.flickr.com/gp/158191416@N07/T87526

 :-DD At least it’s not Hermes. They’d just chuck it over even if the gate was open :)
 

Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16166 on: September 11, 2018, 11:56:06 am »
Reminds me of a Benny Hill sketch...  :-DD

mnem
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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16167 on: September 11, 2018, 12:09:51 pm »
Beauty!  What’s the top picture?



A single-serving container of this stuff...   :-DD

mnem
Red lives matter.  ;)
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Offline mnementh

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16168 on: September 11, 2018, 12:13:47 pm »
Fuuuuu**.

Now I have THAT stuck in my head...

https://youtu.be/ZnHmskwqCCQ

...nothing left for me to do but infect the rest of you with it.    :-DD

mnem
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Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16169 on: September 11, 2018, 12:33:19 pm »
Yeh, thanks for that, its stuck in my head now  |O
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16170 on: September 11, 2018, 12:37:25 pm »
Not strictly true  :-DD



That's reminded me that I have to go now and get my 1st cylinder glow plug checked over as I have the engine management indicator lit in the instrument cluster and my plug in unit says thats a fault in the circuit to number 1 glow plug  :palm:
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 

Offline tggzzz

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16171 on: September 11, 2018, 02:28:27 pm »
Beauty!  What’s the top picture?

1kg, +- much less than a gnat's cock :)
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 
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Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16172 on: September 11, 2018, 02:35:55 pm »
[Rant mode: on] Please, "no smoke without fire"? Never heard of a smoke machine, an e-cigarette? Sorry, but that's a trite phrase that always annoys me and suggests that the speaker hasn't thought it through and is relying on a folksy truism in lieu of a substantive argument. [Rant mode: off]

I hope that you were joking  :-DD, smoke machine and e-cigarettes contrary to popular belief actually do not generate any smoke, they generate vapor that has the appearance of smoke, it contains no carbon which is what proper smoke is largely made up of, remember google is your friend.  :-+   

It's called rhetoric dear boy. Don't make Cerebus get his conversational cutlery...
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16173 on: September 11, 2018, 02:40:24 pm »
Beauty!  What’s the top picture?

I'd imagine either 1 mol or 1 kg of silicon.
Anybody got a syringe I can use to squeeze the magic smoke back into this?
 

Offline Specmaster

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Re: Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread
« Reply #16174 on: September 11, 2018, 02:47:15 pm »
[Rant mode: on] Please, "no smoke without fire"? Never heard of a smoke machine, an e-cigarette? Sorry, but that's a trite phrase that always annoys me and suggests that the speaker hasn't thought it through and is relying on a folksy truism in lieu of a substantive argument. [Rant mode: off]

I hope that you were joking  :-DD, smoke machine and e-cigarettes contrary to popular belief actually do not generate any smoke, they generate vapor that has the appearance of smoke, it contains no carbon which is what proper smoke is largely made up of, remember google is your friend.  :-+   

It's called rhetoric dear boy. Don't make Cerebus get his conversational cutlery...
:-DD :-DD :-DD :-DD :-DD
« Last Edit: September 12, 2018, 12:54:42 pm by Specmaster »
Who let Murphy in?

Brymen-Fluke-HP-Thurlby-Thander-Tek-Extech-Black Star-GW-Avo-Kyoritsu-Amprobe-ITT-Robin-TTi
 


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