Minimum Specs for a OSCILLOSCOPE

I am a senior software engineer I have done assembly on IBM 370 to writing stored procedures for large database. I want to to go back and learn the hardware of how cpu's, ram and etc work. I bought a FPGA developer board and been having a blast with it. But I wan to look at the singles and such. I just not sure if a 100mhz scope with at least 2 channels is enough.  I have a budge of around $500. i can solder but not a big fan of it.

I want to add I need to look at composite video signles too from C64 - Atri - ti 99/4a.s

A mixed signal scope with 4 analogue and 16 digital channels would be ideal, that way you get the ability to look at a much larger set of digital signals.

You need at least 100Mhz bandwidth, more would better - I couldn't find anything new in your price range except from Hantek and Owon. (online reviews are not encouraging )

Rigol have a low cost MSO1104Z that would do but it's quite a long way out of your price range (check the local price if you can stretch) It now comes with the full set of decoding options included.

You could consider second hand but be careful that you get all the leads and probes.

If you must stay in budget go for  a 4 channel scope and maybe trade up to an MSO later or buy a separate logic analyzer.

MK

A mixed signal scope with 4 analogue and 16 digital channels would be ideal, that way you get the ability to look at a much larger set of digital signals.

You need at least 100Mhz bandwidth, more would better - I couldn't find anything new in your price range except from Hantek and Owon. (online reviews are not encouraging )

Rigol have a low cost MSO1104Z that would do but it's quite a long way out of your price range (check the local price if you can stretch) It now comes with the full set of decoding options included.

You could consider second hand but be careful that you get all the leads and probes.

If you must stay in budget go for  a 4 channel scope and maybe trade up to an MSO later or buy a separate logic analyzer.

MK

Alternative, elaborating on michaelkellett 's last sentence

High frequency requirements are mostly because you need them for the digital protocols (I2C, SPI, ...). The non-communication part can often be analysed with more moderate frequencies.

If you get a USB logic analyser (these can be purchased for less than 100 $/£/€) to deal with analysing the protocols, there's less  requirement to have a high frequency scope.