Why is all test equipement turning black?

[newbrain]

My first scope was, if not exactly black, dark bluish-gray.
I still think it looks nice.

A Fairchild 304-A (more known as Dumont), acquired for 30000 lire in 1979 (equivalent to about 100 € today).
Mine is much better shape than the one in the picture (from eBay) - but mothballed at my dad's hose.

[pdenisowski]

Somewhat apropos to the comments here. I bought this book thinking it would be useful to my photography hobby.
From the Designer's Dictionary of Color by Sean Adams.

Black is sophisticated, formal, and sleek. As the color of a tuxedo or the "little black dress," it communicates a mature confidence. Too much black in the wrong context, however, may become funereal.

Black ... related to Old High German blah...

Funny, I can't find that in my Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch and it doesn't appear to be attested anywhere either.  The only "reference" I could find is a very old Reddit post.  As far as I know, the only attested Old High German (Althochdeutsch) word for "black" is swarz (or swartz).

(Sorry, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to take what I'm sure is the only picture in existence of an HP48 and a Old High German dictionary  )

[madires]

In Althochdeutsch:
- swarz: dull black
- blach: luminous black
Basically like Middle English: swart and blaek

[armandine2]

..an excuse to post a picture of an old AVO seen in my local Oxfam window today.

[porter]

I love going down  amusing rabbit holes.

Here it states that black -> blah may come from Old High Saxon

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/482436/etymology-of-black

Posted by the Old High Graybeard

[pdenisowski]

In Althochdeutsch:
- swarz: dull black
- blach: luminous black
Basically like Middle English: swart and blaek

Source?  "Blach" doesn't exist in Mittelhochdeutsch either, so not sure the comparison with Middle English is valid.  If the word existed in both Old English and AHD, then maybe there would be something there, but without an attestation in the extant literature, it's all just conjecture 

[pdenisowski]

I love going down  amusing rabbit holes.

Here it states that black -> blah may come from Old High Saxon

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/482436/etymology-of-black

I "only" studied MHD, AHD, Old Norse, and Gothic , so I can't comment on Old High Saxon.  But regardless, the original reference claimed it came from Old High German, and there is -- as far as I can tell -- absolutely no evidence of that. 

I'm not normally this pedantic, but the opportunities to discuss AHD are pretty few and far between when you work as an engineer 

[KungFuJosh]

Everybody on this site enjoys a pedantic rabbit hole every now and then.

[madires]

Source?  "Blach" doesn't exist in Mittelhochdeutsch either, so not sure the comparison with Middle English is valid.  If the word existed in both Old English and AHD, then maybe there would be something there, but without an attestation in the extant literature, it's all just conjecture 

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarz#Etymologie (no reference given for 'blach')

[Anthocyanina]

I don't like black instruments with black buttons, but i did do a quick render of what a black 1102g would look like, with the light buttons, and i actually quite like it, but i still prefer the white-ish 1102 (it's also in my opinion the best looking small oscilloscope out there, with the black border around the display, and the curves around the labels, and that's why i'm keeping my 1102 forever because it's just too pleasing to look at)

[5U4GB]

I "only" studied MHD, AHD, Old Norse, and Gothic

Like my mother, only it was Modern Languages back then.

[5U4GB]

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarz#Etymologie (no reference given for 'blach')

I think the OP was talking blech.

[5U4GB]

I don't like black instruments with black buttons, but i did do a quick render of what a black 1102g would look like, with the light buttons, and i actually quite like it,

Problem is that the all-black-all-the-time brain rot means you can't do that, it has to look like this:



I wonder if it comes with a free torch that you can shine on it at an angle to try and figure out where the controls are?

[pdenisowski]

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarz#Etymologie (no reference given for 'blach')

There is so much wrong with that Wikipedia article that I don't even know where to start.  At least I now know where this "fact" came from:

Old High German also had two words for black: swartz for dull black and blach for a luminous black.

The German version of the article has authoritative references for "swartz" but .... mirabile dictu ... no reference for "blach*"  (note the very intentional asterisk)

„Ein ritter sô gelêret was / daz er an dem internete lass / waz er dar an geschriben vant ...

[tszaboo]

................
The only blame on graphic designers is if they put UI/UX in their CV but have no actual experience with it. Then I think it's fair to blame them. Especially if a company hires them based on them being both good at graphics and UI/UX.

No it's not.
Those that hire them is whom should bear the blame.

The person who hires them does bear some of the blame yes. They should be checking references and confirming skills. But someone who lies on their CV to get the job also bears blame for intentional deception.

We had the same person working here. She started by selecting a color that was somehow not printable. She selected a font that got me literally dyslexic. Like I couldn't read the text with it. Quite an achievement. Spent 100% of her time doing destructive things, and outsourcing the actual design work to outside consultants.
If you disagreed, it was because you are sexist. And got backchannel talks with the CEO.
I swear, that I've seen her arrive to work on a flying broom.

[tautech]

................
The only blame on graphic designers is if they put UI/UX in their CV but have no actual experience with it. Then I think it's fair to blame them. Especially if a company hires them based on them being both good at graphics and UI/UX.

No it's not.
Those that hire them is whom should bear the blame.

The person who hires them does bear some of the blame yes. They should be checking references and confirming skills. But someone who lies on their CV to get the job also bears blame for intentional deception.

We had the same person working here. She started by selecting a color that was somehow not printable. She selected a font that got me literally dyslexic. Like I couldn't read the text with it. Quite an achievement. Spent 100% of her time doing destructive things, and outsourcing the actual design work to outside consultants.
If you disagreed, it was because you are sexist. And got backchannel talks with the CEO.
I swear, that I've seen her arrive to work on a flying broom.

Her name isn't Florina by any chance ?

[Aldo22]

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarz#Etymologie (no reference given for 'blach')

There is so much wrong with that Wikipedia article that I don't even know where to start.  At least I now know where this "fact" came from:

Old High German also had two words for black: swartz for dull black and blach for a luminous black.

The German version of the article has authoritative references for "swartz" but .... mirabile dictu ... no reference for "blach*"  (note the very intentional asterisk)

„Ein ritter sô gelêret was / daz er an dem internete lass / waz er dar an geschriben vant ...

Yeah, it's a complicated matter. 
More of that!

https://christofspannhoff.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/uberlegungen-zur-etymologie-von-niederdeutsch-blaken-blacken-rusen-qualmend-brennen/
https://awb.saw-leipzig.de/?sigle=AWB&lemid=B02010

[David Hess]

My first scope was, if not exactly black, dark bluish-gray.
I still think it looks nice.

A Fairchild 304-A (more known as Dumont), acquired for 30000 lire in 1979 (equivalent to about 100 € today).
Mine is much better shape than the one in the picture (from eBay) - but mothballed at my dad's hose.

I have a Lavoie LA-265A with its not so "black" front, which is a clone of the Tektronix 545A.  I suspect Lavoie was trying to make their clone look as different as possible.  My Tektronix 547 with its bare aluminum front is easier to read.

(Sorry, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to take what I'm sure is the only picture in existence of an HP48 and a Old High German dictionary  )

The more recent replacement for the HP48, the HP50g, is also dark.  At least the writing is mostly bright against the dark background, except for the function labels.

[tooki]

I don't like black instruments with black buttons, but i did do a quick render of what a black 1102g would look like, with the light buttons, and i actually quite like it, but i still prefer the white-ish 1102 (it's also in my opinion the best looking small oscilloscope out there, with the black border around the display, and the curves around the labels, and that's why i'm keeping my 1102 forever because it's just too pleasing to look at)

While your render is expertly done, you could have saved yourself the work, since the 1102G’s successor, the 1202G, is in fact black.

[pdenisowski]

The more recent replacement for the HP48, the HP50g, is also dark.  At least the writing is mostly bright against the dark background, except for the function labels.

Yep, although personally I still prefer the HP48 to the HP38 and the HP50

Don't get me started about TI calculators and colors ....

[pdenisowski]

Yeah, it's a complicated matter. 
More of that!

https://christofspannhoff.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/uberlegungen-zur-etymologie-von-niederdeutsch-blaken-blacken-rusen-qualmend-brennen/
https://awb.saw-leipzig.de/?sigle=AWB&lemid=B02010

Wow ... thanks!  Had no idea those existed ... probably because they didn't exist when I studied AHD (more than 30 years ago )

[Anthocyanina]

I don't like black instruments with black buttons, but i did do a quick render of what a black 1102g would look like, with the light buttons, and i actually quite like it, but i still prefer the white-ish 1102 (it's also in my opinion the best looking small oscilloscope out there, with the black border around the display, and the curves around the labels, and that's why i'm keeping my 1102 forever because it's just too pleasing to look at)

While your render is expertly done, you could have saved yourself the work, since the 1102G’s successor, the 1202G, is in fact black.

But its buttons are dark mode as well! with the render i wanted to see if the light buttons would make the dark mode instrument more appealing, and it did that for me. black on black is too much, i don't know why

[KE5FX]

While your render is expertly done, you could have saved yourself the work, since the 1102G’s successor, the 1202G, is in fact black.

Mixture of light and jet-black buttons == "I have no idea what I'm doing, and don't care enough to ask someone who does." 

Honestly the Siglent SDS2104X+ that a colleague suggested has the best product design of any scope I've seen lately.  The UI has some specific rough edges but it's hard to fault the gestalt.

[David Hess]

The more recent replacement for the HP48, the HP50g, is also dark.  At least the writing is mostly bright against the dark background, except for the function labels.

Yep, although personally I still prefer the HP48 to the HP38 and the HP50

I like that the HP50 has a better screen and the feel of the buttons are acceptable.  Using 4xAAA is better than 3xAAA in the HP48, but battery life is weeks rather than months.  Unfortunately a hardware design mistake makes clock alarms fail on the HP50 because the interrupt gets lost.  I think they were on the right track with the HP50, but that is where the HP48 line ends.

Don't get me started about TI calculators and colors ....

I still have my TI-66 and prefer the brighter look, but I will never go back from a RPN calculator with multi-line display.

[Martin72]

I bought a Casio FX calculator back in the ’90s for high school.
It runs on a single AAA battery, and I’ve only had to replace it once to this day—no joke.
Then, for college, I got a TI-92plus, which eats up batteries like chives.
I still use both of them—yeah, I know, old man and all...