Picoscope 6424E RoadTest – Historical perspective.

RE: Picoscope 6424E RoadTest – Historical perspective.

colporteur — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 20:02:53 GMT

I perceive a slight, in referencing PicoScope 6424E Oscilloscope + Accessories: Unboxing (Probe Positioning System) in this post. Before acting on my perception, I wanted to seek some clarification.

I believe but would like to confirm, you are one of the RoadTest Review successful applicants for the PicoScope review? RS [mention:55e535b498a841ed8f2949266bc56dc3:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] hasn't revealed the official results but I do recall reading your response after receiving the email notification that the wrong equipment for the RoadTest was shipped.

I'm not sure of what your capacity is in regards to Pico. Do you represent the company in any official capacity?

Your post suggests you have exposure to an extensive array of oscilloscope technology. The one scope I did purchase, I suspect would fit somewhere in between the timeline of the vintages of scopes you have detail, I traded my scope for a 500Mb hard drive in the middle 90's. After close to 20 years in technology my career was taking a more of a computer path than electronics. I seem to recall the scope had a 20Mhz bandwidth and weight in at close to fifty pounds.

The slight I perceive comes from the comment, "colporteur has posted a blog with his first impressions of the included Probe Positioning Kit so obviously that won’t do for me." that you make before you endorse GL [mention:ef601b47037147bfb9b0b4a3ab63026a:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] approach to RoadTests and what you hope to accomplish. What in my post are you referencing by "won't do for me"?

RE: Picoscope 6424E RoadTest – Historical perspective.

Jan Cumps — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 19:55:53 GMT

[mention:a5312e9762dd4699ba5d3876da34ffe5:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05], my oscilloscope from that same early digital era: a Philips PM3305

[View:/resized-image/__size/620x465/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-3ae61f24-24aa-49aa-918d-26100c51bb01/6433.contentimage_5F00_192278.png:620:465]

I've used it in some of my early e14 blogs. Limited digital capabilities of course, but 4 inputs. signal capture, one shot with data before the trigger, and all 4 channels could be stored to REF.

And extra to that (or should I say: the base of it?), a full 35 MHz 2 channel analog oscilloscope.

[View:/resized-image/__size/620x465/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-3ae61f24-24aa-49aa-918d-26100c51bb01/3302.contentimage_5F00_192279.png:620:465]

RE: Picoscope 6424E RoadTest – Historical perspective.

shabaz — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 19:18:10 GMT

Hi Michael,

Nice tour of scopes : ) Very cool seeing these instruments.

The maintenance issue resonates with me too, I would have thought a manufacturer that bases their 'scope platform around a PC would have understood the need for providing spares and service manuals. In different industries, I've seen customers getting stuck with consumer-grade PCs, a typical example is retail chains: the PCs in their stores can't be maintained for long and spares become difficult, e.g. when the industry moved from DDR3 to DDR4, memory sticks were impossible to find at a sensible price. In contrast the more 'business-grade' IT equipment would last longer, with fewer spares to be kept, until all the sites could be upgraded in a planned way some distance in the future. The consumer PCs definitely had a more reduced life although partly in that case it was due to basic things like fans getting clogged up and causing everything to run hotter than normal (retail stores don't have a lot of space for IT equipment, PCs can end up on the floor sucking up dust : ).

RE: Picoscope 6424E RoadTest – Historical perspective.

DAB — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 18:12:06 GMT

Nice post.

Back in 1983 I programmed what was probably the first digital oscilloscope, though none of us knew it at the time.

The actual device was designed for analyzing radar patterns. We digitized about 32,000 samples and then my software displayed the resulting pattern and allowed the user to select the area for analysis.

Once selected I calculated frequency, beam width and many other parameters.

It was a fun project and pales in comparison to what modern scopes provide, but it was a start.

I wish I could have patented the idea or better still, convince the company to create a product line.

Oh the many opportunities lost due to short sightedness.

DAB

RE: Picoscope 6424E RoadTest – Historical perspective.

jw0752 — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 18:10:17 GMT

Hi Michael,

I love the history lesson and will eagerly await your insights from your impressive foundations of knowledge on the new Picoscope 6424E.

John

RE: Picoscope 6424E RoadTest – Historical perspective.

hugohu — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 15:47:53 GMT

You have quite the collection, I'm impressed.