Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

On other notes:

Happy Birthday Windows ME!

Never had the dis-pleasure of using it. I went directly from WIN95 to XP.

[Saskia]

Talking of art, has anyone else noticed that 'Nighthawks', painted by Edward Hopper in 1942:

....snip

has Jean Luke Picard and Beverley Crusher from one of Picard's holodeck recreations of a Dixon Hill story in it?

Never heard of Edward Hopper. But then my total knowledge of the art world wouldn't even fit on a thimble. 

And all I see is a batshit crazy red head. 

Yep.....uncivilized, un-PC, unapologetic. I guess we can add unsophisticated to the list. 

Whoa ! My man !!

[tautech]

On other notes:

Happy Birthday Windows ME!

Never had the dis-pleasure of using it. I went directly from WIN95 to XP.

Us too but first it was 3.11, 95, 95SE........

[med6753]

I suggest using it to keep the house warm post brexit.

MSDN library from that era is probably worth a few quid however.

Edit: I sold some MSDOS 6.22 media untested on floppy a couple of years back for £40 so there may be a market for such stuff.

I had to dig out a DOS 6.22 installation disk earlier this year to repair a R&S CRTU / CMU200. The software installer, specifically the boot manager, will only run if the disk boots to Dos 6.22 first. That also needed a PC with a 3.5" floppy and a PATA/IDE HDD intterface.

It goes back further than windows. Industries like aerospace have product life cycles many times longer than a operating system or even computer hardware platforms. There are still test rigs running PDP 11 / Q-Bus based interface cards and software. The cost of re-writing  and more importantly validating this software on modern computers, assuming suitable interface cards are available, is prohibitive even for aerospace. As a result there are companines selling replacement machines e.g. Logical https://logical-co.com/nupdpq/ . I know for sure that the A320 series fuel system rig is still running on Q-Bus interface cards and a VT-220 terminal.

Still have all the DOS books but the floppies went into the trash a long time ago. During Y2K had some tooling at IBM running DOS only on PC-AT's. They weren't network connected but still a concern that they would crash. That whole deal turned out to be a whole lot of nothing.     

[BU508A]

Talking of art, has anyone else noticed that 'Nighthawks', painted by Edward Hopper in 1942:

....snip

has Jean Luke Picard and Beverley Crusher from one of Picard's holodeck recreations of a Dixon Hill story in it?

Never heard of Edward Hopper. But then my total knowledge of the art world wouldn't even fit on a thimble.

And all I see is a batshit crazy red head. 

Yep.....uncivilized, un-PC, unapologetic. I guess we can add unsophisticated to the list. 

I think, I can help you with this   

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6190050/

I do really like it. And one can learn something about art. 

[med6753]

On other notes:

Happy Birthday Windows ME!

Never had the dis-pleasure of using it. I went directly from WIN95 to XP.

Us too but first it was 3.11, 95, 95SE........

Oh yes, going further back it was DOS, then 3.1, then 95. Still have 3.1 books too.

[med6753]

Whoa ! My man !!

Self portrait. 

[bd139]

OMG crawled onto the computer begrudgingly this Monday morning and am greeted with a reminder of the existence of Windows ME 

Edit: I will say that I never used the Win 9x line of OS. I went from RISC OS to NT as my daily driver. That was enough of a step back.

[med6753]

OMG crawled onto the computer begrudgingly this Monday morning and am greeted with a reminder of the existence of Windows ME 

Edit: I will say that I never used the Win 9x line of OS. I went from RISC OS to NT as my daily driver. That was enough of a step back.

I recall computer hardware was available with USB ports but the initial release of WIN95 did not support USB. And you had to BUY the upgrade to get USB support.   

[bd139]

Yeah Win 95 OSR 2.

I had a Compaq Workstation 5000 back then. Still one of the best machines I ever had. Dual Pentium Pro 200's, 128Mb of RAM and 4.3Gb of SCSI disk goodness. None of that new USB shit 

Edit: to keep it TE related, it ran Protel and PSpice 

Edit 2: was reading something the other day and found out an interesting comparison. Back then, the top notch supercomputer was ASCI Red. Amazed at the whole TFLOP output with only 850KW in and 104 full height 42U cabinets. Now my GPU is faster 

[BU508A]

Yeah Win 95 OSR 2.

I had a Compaq Workstation 5000 back then. Still one of the best machines I ever had. Dual Pentium Pro 200's, 128Mb of RAM and 4.3Gb of SCSI disk goodness. None of that new USB shit 

Edit: to keep it TE related, it ran Protel and PSpice 

Edit 2: was reading something the other day and found out an interesting comparison. Back then, the top notch supercomputer was ASCI Red. Amazed at the whole TFLOP output with only 850KW in and 104 full height 42U cabinets. Now my GPU is faster

Nvidia Quadro P6000?   

[tggzzz]

I suggest using it to keep the house warm post brexit.

MSDN library from that era is probably worth a few quid however.

Edit: I sold some MSDOS 6.22 media untested on floppy a couple of years back for £40 so there may be a market for such stuff.

I had to dig out a DOS 6.22 installation disk earlier this year to repair a R&S CRTU / CMU200. The software installer, specifically the boot manager, will only run if the disk boots to Dos 6.22 first. That also needed a PC with a 3.5" floppy and a PATA/IDE HDD intterface.

It goes back further than windows. Industries like aerospace have product life cycles many times longer than a operating system or even computer hardware platforms. There are still test rigs running PDP 11 / Q-Bus based interface cards and software. The cost of re-writing  and more importantly validating this software on modern computers, assuming suitable interface cards are available, is prohibitive even for aerospace. As a result there are companines selling replacement machines e.g. Logical https://logical-co.com/nupdpq/ . I know for sure that the A320 series fuel system rig is still running on Q-Bus interface cards and a VT-220 terminal.

A couple of years ago there were job ads for people to work on pdp11s in nuclear plants. Expected withdrawal date 2038,  which is either the Unix time rollover or the plants lifetime.

One of the tek 1502s (b?) was specified in aircraft repair manuals. Somebody has built something new which duplicates the functionality and interface, and is apparently regarded as a dropn in substitute.

[tonyalbus]

Now something different   

charge first..  

[Specmaster]

On other notes:

Happy Birthday Windows ME!

Never had the dis-pleasure of using it. I went directly from WIN95 to XP.

Us too but first it was 3.11, 95, 95SE........

My first GUI was Gem, then Win 3.11, 95, 98, XP, 7 and now 10 and possibly the best Windows was either XP or 7, they just worked right out of the box. Never had 2000/ME which, judging to report and opinions, was a right shit show.

[capt bullshot]

Todays most used feature: The mute button on skype / teams

Sitting @work in a telco that was initiated in skype then moved to teams for PEBKAC reasons, listening (and watching slides) to one of the greatest shit shows for the last 10 yrs.
Luckily the mute button exists, otherwise I'd most probably be banned forever

[bd139]

Yeah Win 95 OSR 2.

I had a Compaq Workstation 5000 back then. Still one of the best machines I ever had. Dual Pentium Pro 200's, 128Mb of RAM and 4.3Gb of SCSI disk goodness. None of that new USB shit 

Edit: to keep it TE related, it ran Protel and PSpice 

Edit 2: was reading something the other day and found out an interesting comparison. Back then, the top notch supercomputer was ASCI Red. Amazed at the whole TFLOP output with only 850KW in and 104 full height 42U cabinets. Now my GPU is faster

Nvidia Quadro P6000?   

Actually they do bigger ones now. 48GB RTX's are available (!)

Mines a 1660. Only  5 TFLOPS 

[mansaxel]

I know for sure that the A320 series fuel system rig is still running on Q-Bus interface cards and a VT-220 terminal.

I have a VT510 terminal in my machine room to do diagnostics on my (much newer) network hardware. Even the DEC MMJ serial port, while weird in so many ways, is standard protocol on top. The concept of talking to equipment through ASCII (and upgraded character set) serial terminals is way older than Airbus Industries, and, I assume, will survive them.

That is how you build longevity and avoid having to scrap systems and hardware. Use what is standard. REAL standard, not  something that people happen to have as a result of monopolistic business practices (ie. Windows).

[wolfy007]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/fnirsi-1013d-100mhz-tablet-oscilloscope/msg3230968/?topicseen#msg3230968

a brand new DSO 

Ya didn't. 
Really ?

50mV max sensitivity will take some getting used to compared to the old Tek gear you have.

But it wont beat the form factor...   

2ch DSO without physical controls half the size of a 4ch one......no surprises there.
  back at ya ! 

No need to carry an extra toolbox/bag either, but you still have a scope with you...

Im pretty sure a nicer front end and a better triggering solution in that form factor would be a proper winner (doesnt need massive bandwidth  nor 4ch). Just something to throw in to the usual toolbox and you have a scope for no real extra effort (for just  in case moments).

PS: the Miscsig TO1102 is two channels and no physical controls, yet more than twice the size also, but the screen not much bigger at all.

[mansaxel]

A couple of years ago there were job ads for people to work on pdp11s in nuclear plants. Expected withdrawal date 2038,  which is either the Unix time rollover or the plants lifetime.

One of the tek 1502s (b?) was specified in aircraft repair manuals. Somebody has built something new which duplicates the functionality and interface, and is apparently regarded as a dropn in substitute.

VMS, as such, does not have the 2038 problem (it does, however, have a Y10K problem..). Some applications ported into VMS might have issues if they're using Unixy (mostly related to C code) time_t routines.

[tautech]

PS: the Miscsig TO1102 is two channels and no physical controls, yet more than twice the size also, but the screen not much bigger at all.

Yeah I know, they want me to market their stuff here. 

[nfmax]

A couple of years ago there were job ads for people to work on pdp11s in nuclear plants. Expected withdrawal date 2038,  which is either the Unix time rollover or the plants lifetime.

One of the tek 1502s (b?) was specified in aircraft repair manuals. Somebody has built something new which duplicates the functionality and interface, and is apparently regarded as a dropn in substitute.

VMS, as such, does not have the 2038 problem (it does, however, have a Y10K problem..). Some applications ported into VMS might have issues if they're using Unixy (mostly related to C code) time_t routines.

PDP-11s don't run VMS. Probably RT-11 in this application. Memories!

[Fungus]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/fnirsi-1013d-100mhz-tablet-oscilloscope/msg3230968/?topicseen#msg3230968

a brand new DSO 

 

[Martin.M]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/fnirsi-1013d-100mhz-tablet-oscilloscope/msg3230968/?topicseen#msg3230968

a brand new DSO 

Ya didn't.  :oReally ?   50mV max sensitivity will take some getting used to compared to the old Tek gear you have.

Yeah, I saw that a few months ago; got excited by the price then saw the brand and went *blerk*

A week or two later I started seeing videos all saying pretty much the same thing: It was pretty much the same as its predecessor, only a repackaged into a larger screen.

Haven't given it a second thought since.

mnem
That one is  right outta the box.

Everyone wants to see squiggly lines for zero cost.
Sure the BW of that thing is what it is and yet could be enough for many basic tasks however its max sensitivity is entirely a big pile of poo when if you connect a 10x probe to it best is 500mV/div ! 
Entirely inadequate for most tasks you need a scope for. 
Yep 

that is what you can get for this money, nothing more.
The little scope is ok. I see no way to compare it with a 600$ unit

[tggzzz]

A couple of years ago there were job ads for people to work on pdp11s in nuclear plants. Expected withdrawal date 2038,  which is either the Unix time rollover or the plants lifetime.

One of the tek 1502s (b?) was specified in aircraft repair manuals. Somebody has built something new which duplicates the functionality and interface, and is apparently regarded as a dropn in substitute.

VMS, as such, does not have the 2038 problem (it does, however, have a Y10K problem..). Some applications ported into VMS might have issues if they're using Unixy (mostly related to C code) time_t routines.

PDP-11s don't run VMS. Probably RT-11 in this application. Memories!

Agreed.

[Robert763]

[/quote]

A couple of years ago there were job ads for people to work on pdp11s in nuclear plants. Expected withdrawal date 2038,  which is either the Unix time rollover or the plants lifetime.

One of the tek 1502s (b?) was specified in aircraft repair manuals. Somebody has built something new which duplicates the functionality and interface, and is apparently regarded as a dropn in substitute.
[/quote]

While 1502s were used on aircraft they are diagnostic rather than calibration / certification tools so I'm surprised that there was a compliance issue.
I've actuall done quite well over the years buy supplying or repairing special to type or just specified TE that is otherwise obsolete.
If the maintence / overhaul manual says make ABCD Model 1234 TE and does not have the magic words "or equivilent" you HAVE to use that bit of TE or justify an alternative. There is a reference published by ARINC (formally Aeronautical Radio Incorporated) on how to show equivilence, ARINC Report 668-1, 70 pages of it. First you need the specifications of the original TE, a whole problem in itself.

This is not just paperwork for paperworks sake. The Lion Air 737 MAX accident was in part caused by an American company using different test equipment than that specified to repair the Angle of Attack (AoA) sensor.  The company responsible lost it's FAA approval.
http://knkt.dephub.go.id/knkt/ntsc_aviation/baru/2018%20-%20035%20-%20PK-LQP%20Final%20Report.pdf