Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tggzzz]

The grandboy was here the other day and smart little poo he is too but no idea about things rural ....scared of mud, cow poo and dogs FFS but wanted to know about floppies FFS .....what on earth is his mutha teaching him ?

I presume he wanted to know why people made something that looks like the "save file" icon.

Not sure what drove it and only heard the Mutha say to ask poppa if he had one....it probably stemmed from a discussion with his Farta the day before at home. He's a real smart little fart and although he don't get to see us much, now at just about 4 he's starting to really come outta his skin.
There's every likelihood he'll be an airline captain just like both his parents.

At that age they don't know what they aren't supposed to be able to do - and so do surprisingly "advanced" things.

One of my earliest three memories is asking my father to teach me to read. He did, and family lore has it that I could read The Guardian before I went to school. God, school was so boring - all play and no learning.

[tautech]

All it takes is one fucker with a hedge trimmer to ruin your day. Doesn't matter where you live.

Not with a 250MB/s P-P wireless connection and your ISP's UPS in the house keeping your connection up ! 

The Pop part of Mom& Pop was here today for a coffee and checked our connection speed ....as just reported and also dropped off a new 3 blade 24V wind gen to go up the hill on our backhaul site as this winter the PV panels have struggled to keep the batteries full which has pissed us off some needing to keep an eye on the bloody things every time we have a session of dull weather......then a few days back it became obvious why, apparently at high altitudes the southern hemisphere still has a lot of fine ash aloft from the big Tonga eruption a few months back.

Anyways, one of these suckers:
http://www.primuswindpower.com/wind-power-products/air-30-turbine-2/
Wonder how long it will last 200m ABSL where there are unrestricted views between Aussie and Chile....translation = blows like a real SOB !
Pics to follow when installed.

In that case, all it takes is a stray cow to scratch it's ass on the pole 

The wind gen site is already up and running with an 8' galv pipe mast bolted to one of the posts on the post and rail around the control cabinet and 6M timber pole but with a vertical helical POS generator that's only good for landfill !

That helical thing has been a real disappointment so it must go and be replaced with something designed in the US of A that might actually work ! 

[m k]

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.

Note I’m so high tech I had to go round someone’s house the other day and borrow their PC to put a CD-ROM contents on a USB stick. I don’t even have a CD drive now.

In fact I didn’t even use floppy disks back in the 90s. Had moved to Zip disks and CDRs.

Floppies are absolutely marvelous, I much prefer them to punch cards, sorry 

It's really difficult to write a shopping list or a quick schematic on the back of a floppy disk. 

Just use a sharpie 

Rotring 0.25

I haven't used one of those in years 

I checked and now they have at least 0.1 available.
That's a quite fine line for regular paper.

[bd139]

I have 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 isographs. You don't want the 0.1. They are stupid fragile and unreliable as hell.

I actually did my A-level exams with a 0.35 rapidograph years ago. I know you're not supposed to write with them like that but it worked for me

[m k]

Cat is clearly the star of the show, for it's him being in focus, the scope's screen is completely out of focus ! 

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 ! 

Gilmore is quite the character.  He’s one of seven that currently reside here.

(Shame he wasn’t doing this when things were turned on…)

-Pat

You may have a different criteria for low interference.

[m k]

I have 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 isographs. You don't want the 0.1. They are stupid fragile and unreliable as hell.

I actually did my A-level exams with a 0.35 rapidograph years ago. I know you're not supposed to write with them like that but it worked for me

I may have had 0.2 and it already was do-not-remove-the-piston category.
Of course I was better, or not.

[Vince]

(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 )

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 ?! 
Did I read that right ?! 
So if I can't find a HDD option for my future 784D, no big deal then, I can use a ZIP Drive instead ?! 

Definitely want a 'D' then, none of the 784C rubbish !     

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 ! 

Yeah, let's find a ZIP Drive again, will bring back memories !! 

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 ! 

You really made my day Terra, thanks for the info, I am very surprised but overjoyed by it !! 

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.

A HDD would still be good 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...

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....

Oh yes please keep a HDD option for me, and build a nice 784D for me as well with a not yellowed front plastic !
I will try to buy it before you forget about me, will make it a priority... I can sell my TDS544A to help pay for the 784...
Once COVID and Ukraine disaster are over and the world hopefully recovers to its previous magnitude of shittiness, hopefully shipping prices will come down and there might be a way to ship this scope by slow boat for an affordable / reasonable amount of money.

Yes do get a ZIP drive and experiment with it and report here ! 

Thanks for the 700D datasheet, now downloaded / saved.

[Specmaster]

Cat is clearly the star of the show, for it's him being in focus, the scope's screen is completely out of focus ! 

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 ! 

Gilmore is quite the character.  He’s one of seven that currently reside here.

(Shame he wasn’t doing this when things were turned on…)

-Pat

My 2 cats are similar to this, when the mood takes them that is, but these days that is less and less as they are now 12 years old, but both of them still have this strange attraction to plastic bags, love to chew and lick them  and one loves to sit watch TV or the computer screen, especially loves to watch videos of aircraft with their engines running.

[Specmaster]

I'm hoping for a fine sunny day on Sunday, my son is treating me to a day at Shuttleworth Fly Navy air show, the first air show we will have attended in 3 years. For those interested, here is the proposed line assuming nothing goes wrong on the day, which usually at least 1 or 2 go Tech and don't show.

https://www.shuttleworth.org/fly-navy-aircraft-line-up/

[Brumby]

Gilmore is quite the character.  He’s one of seven that currently reside here.

(Shame he wasn’t doing this when things were turned on…)

Suggestion .... Turn on the gear and take a photo from the same position as the above, then post it here and I'll try to overlay the displays from that photo onto this one with Gilmore.

[Specmaster]

With all the chatter regarding floppy discs, reminded me of my first "proper" computer which was the Amstrad PC1512. Yes I had others before that one, but they were not proper in my mind. Before that, I had a pocket Sharp PC-1211 (which I still have somewhere and still works) and then I progressed onto a Sinclair ZX Spectrum and upgraded it with a Rotronics Wafadrive and later on Miles Gordon Technologies of Cambridge introduced an interface to accept a 3.5" floppy drive, which I then adopted. When I had the PC1512, I then later upgraded it to have a 20Mb hard card (20Mb hard drive and interface all in one to fit into one of the internal expansion slots), my fate was sealed there and then, I have been a great PC fan ever since.

http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/1288/Amstrad-PC1512-DD/

[GreyWoolfe]

Not women... I prefer one woman. Who puts this thing to shame; she can suck a golf-ball through 10 feet of garden hose.

mnem
But this was mostly just me being a tool-dwagon; letting my friends over here in the States know so they can try and get one themselves before they're all gone.

AMEN brother on the first statement, epic fail on the second.  No availability at any store near me.  I would have liked one even though I have a big Rigid shop vac.

[TERRA Operative]

Awwww geez. I just bought another scope. A TDS644A for equal to about US$25 shipped.    (My rule now I have the good versions of these 700 series scopes is to not pay over 10,000yen (US$75) for one in working condition. Less if it needs repairs).
It has a problem (or missing?...) CRT board, the translation wasn't clear, but the rest of the unit is complete, so I'll have to scavenge around my parts boxes to see if I have a spare black and white CRT board. I'm sure I did have one somewhere...

@Vince, I'm sure I can hold onto a spare TDS754D, upgraded to a TDS784D and stick that HDD option in. I got enough crap to sell before its turn on the auction table, so I'll put it at the back of the queue to give you a decade or two to get around to buying it. haha.

[Vince]

Thank you so very much Terra, I truly really very much immensely enormously gigantically appreciate you help ! 

I can't believe how cheap you can find these scopes in Japan, I really makes no sense, it's cheaper than a glowing Tek boat anchor, it's ridiculous !

Last I looked here, TDS784D prices depending on condition, options, and how fishy the ad looked, would go anywhere from 1,500 Euros bare minimum, to 2500 or even 4000 Euros.
I guess that's about a trillion worth, in Japanese money.
No, I can't put that much in it obviously... however now knowing how cheap you get them, I think it should not  be too difficult to find a middle ground that satisfies the both of us and makes for a win-win deal ! 

[TERRA Operative]

All I want is.....

ONE MILLION DOLLARS! 

But yeah, I've seen what people ask for these things in Europe! Thousands is toooo much! I got a TDS794D for $350, just needed some new RAM chips, and a TDS784C with pouch and 4 P6425 1.5GHZ probes for about the same price, fully working. Those accessories are now on my TDS784D, that I got for a few hundred bucks too.

Once shipping ain't so ridiculous, I'd send one to you for an order of magnitude less than Euro prices.... Hurry up and find that highly paid but cushy work-from-home job so you can buy all my stuff! 

[Vince]

With all the chatter regarding floppy discs, reminded me of my first "proper" computer which was the Amstrad PC1512. Yes I had others before that one, but they were not proper in my mind. Before that, I had a pocket Sharp PC-1211 (which I still have somewhere and still works) and then I progressed onto a Sinclair ZX Spectrum and upgraded it with a Rotronics Wafadrive and later on Miles Gordon Technologies of Cambridge introduced an interface to accept a 3.5" floppy drive, which I then adopted. When I had the PC1512, I then later upgraded it to have a 20Mb hard card (20Mb hard drive and interface all in one to fit into one of the internal expansion slots), my fate was sealed there and then, I have been a great PC fan ever since.

http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/1288/Amstrad-PC1512-DD/

I am quite fond of these old calculetty - computery things. The good thing is, they don't take much space compare to boat anchors TE, so I could get a few of them without having to dig into the ground to find space to build an extra storage room to my house, which is good. So I might at some point see what's available out there. IF there is some coll stuff you can find for a reasonable amount of money, might go for it. However If all the greedy vintage-anything speculators have already invaded that scene and it's a shit show, then well that will be without me 

I remember a cool one. was in 1997, was doing a one month placement for school. Was in a small company that designed and built machines that had a PLC in them. I would of course work on the PLC programming side of things. The machines they were still designing them on drawing boards pen and paper style (came back to visit just 4 years later and they had all switched to CAD/ computers instead...)
Anyway, so the guys drawing had what looked like a calculator with the same aspect ratio/form factor that you show here, but it had a little pen mounted on it ! 
Guy would type text and numbers on the calculators, and it would move the pen attached to the calculator, to draw the text onto the paper, I was stunned !!!!   

[Vince]

All I want is.....

ONE MILLION DOLLARS! 

But yeah, I've seen what people ask for these things in Europe! Thousands is toooo much! I got a TDS794D for $350, just needed some new RAM chips, and a TDS784C with pouch and 4 P6425 1.5GHZ probes for about the same price, fully working. Those accessories are now on my TDS784D, that I got for a few hundred bucks too.

Once shipping ain't so ridiculous, I'd send one to you for an order of magnitude less than Euro prices.... Hurry up and find that highly paid but cushy work-from-home job so you can buy all my stuff! 

One million Dollars ?: No worries, lemme dig out my Monopoly board game ! 

High paid job no, not happening in France, unless you work in finance/banking/insurances/politics. Industry/technical jobs don't pay. Nothing pays. Even with the silly inflation we are having here, and every worker going on strike for a raise, they won't cough the money, or for the lucky ones, just a bag of crisps, like 50 Euros GROSS not net, which doesn't even remotely covers for the inflation we are having right now, never mind what will come next year and the year after that...

I don't care, I will get my scope anyway, I will just save on food and sell my TDS544A. Bought it for 500 Euros 5 years ago, which was a good / very fair price here (working / fixed, leaky caps and corrosion already attended to). That's 500 USD today, but would have been 600 USD before the war, so might be worth 600 again once the war is over...
The tricky bit is finding someone to actually buy at that price nowadays.. seeing how people have lost so much buying power because of COVID and now the war.

Hopefully in a year or two I can sell it for a decent price.

Stay tuned !!! 

[Specmaster]

@Vince, yes I remember those printer/plotters that draughtsmen used on their drawings and quite liked one myself, however they were frightfully expensive at the time, so on my drawings I had to make to do with some far cheaper plastic stencils, but of course the real breakthrough was the development of CAD, I enjoyed doing drawings and schematics on my CAD.

[nixiefreqq]

almost never carry a phone around with me.......so i was having trouble keeping track of the time.

bought this pocket clock that you assemble as a kit.  it took about an hour and a half to build.

it keeps good time but does not seem to be much use for anything else.  could probably use it as a calculator, but they forgot to include an = key.

[mnementh]

Good morning TEA !!!

Overcast and rainy here, just woke up.

Let's see what's been going on while I was sleeping...

Oh, networks again  ! 

Networks will never exterminate removable media, doesn't make sense...      Have a good day all ! 

I have to agree with you.   All it takes is one fucker with a hedge trimmer to ruin your day. Doesn't matter where you live.

*yawwwwwwwwwwwwnnn...*

*scritch-scritch-blep*

You called...? 

mnem
Be careful what you wish for; you might just get it.

[mnementh]

...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
 

Well that was a short lay down 

Yeaaaaaaah... there's something about being "the first to market" with deals like this... 

I'm old and tore up from the floor up and slow, so things don't often fall out so that I can be first at much of anything any more. Last night I decided to cowboy up for another half-hour so I could have my turn.

mnem
Of course, I am paying for that choice now...

[mnementh]

TinkerDwagon SQUEEEEE!!!! 

   I hopped on fleaBay to see if my 54621D had shipped yet... and my dashboard thwapped me upside the head with this alert!!!   w00t!

mnem
*toddles off to stalk the wily UPS driver*

Nice, was a good deal     Mine was apparently shipped today. But I don't see a tracking number so it's a little bit suspect.

Did you get valid tracking yet? I have no doubt you will, as you said, your paperwork all went through.

Also, I forgot to say thanks last night; that was purely exhaustion, I promise. 

Thanks Kosmic for being all that TEA is supposed to be, and sharing a good deal when you find it. 

mnem
Now I don't mind that OWON from ARROW I let slip through my claws nearly as much.

[Kosmic]

TinkerDwagon SQUEEEEE!!!! 

   I hopped on fleaBay to see if my 54621D had shipped yet... and my dashboard thwapped me upside the head with this alert!!!   w00t!

mnem
*toddles off to stalk the wily UPS driver*

Nice, was a good deal     Mine was apparently shipped today. But I don't see a tracking number so it's a little bit suspect.

Did you get valid tracking yet? I have no doubt you will, as you said, your paperwork all went through.

Also, I forgot to say thanks last night; that was purely exhaustion, I promise. 

Thanks Kosmic for being all that TEA is supposed to be, and sharing a good deal when you find it. 

mnem
Now I don't mind that OWON from ARROW I let slip through my claws nearly as much.

No tracking #. Just marked as shipped. And they are still not answering emails nor ebay messages 

They have good deals but look like they are a pain to deal with.

[Robert763]

I have 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 isographs. You don't want the 0.1. They are stupid fragile and unreliable as hell.

I actually did my A-level exams with a 0.35 rapidograph years ago. I know you're not supposed to write with them like that but it worked for me

At my first aircraft design job we still used ink on fiilm. You thought about what you were doing before drawing a line. It's a LOT harder to change than on CAD.
Yongsters don't seem to think at all. I was talking to a "design engineer" a couple of weeks ago and despite have a Beng and masters in engineering they didn't know the difference between a machine screw and a bolt 

[mnementh]

The screen is effing huge and scary Hi-Res; feels the same as going to my 1054Zed after using a TDS210 for years.

LOL but these are just 8", you wait until you get in front of the later 10" models with touch and mouse control.

Did you get a A4 paper Cal cert with it ?   FYI the rear case on these was used on the later X-Plus models also.

Looking forward to more of your 1st impressions..... 

LOL... more first impressions? Let's start with the impression the manuals left on my desktop... "WHUMMMMMMP!!!"

Even the PDFs are heavy; 800+ pages between the User and Programming manuals.



Yup, I got the ISO DOC and a Cal Cert; now we know a lot more of this unit's story.

It looks like they obsoleted the 2CH model and now only carry the 4CH model, and these have been languishing in some warehouse since before COVID. I'd guess the "two weeks to build the unit" is more like "we need to open up these NOS units and do at least a quick hands-on to make sure they're not made of fire after sitting in a warehouse for 4 years"... 

Before I do anything else with it, I need to at least skim the manuals. This thing is smarter than I am. 

Oh, fuck me... even the Quick Start guide is 44 pages thick...   

mnem
   
RTFM, yo.