Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder8.news.weretis.net!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Bill Sloman Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design,sci.electronics.repair Subject: Re: Favourite Test Equipment Date: Sun, 7 Apr 2024 14:52:47 +1000 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 69 Message-ID: References: <9k7j0jlnbhs8qfg5m17pium0835meean83@4ax.com> <660ed343$0$1258343$882e4bbb@reader.netnews.com> <66105e8a$0$3711191$882e4bbb@reader.netnews.com> <97d11j55r5pbf4vk9rpatr6acu9sc0u53j@4ax.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Sun, 07 Apr 2024 04:52:48 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="120b70269337d7567619b3715e19a8fe"; logging-data="2741673"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+jwT6QBgq5h1SdjstyruM1vnI9Clf0IEc=" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Cancel-Lock: sha1:mwqbSx8qB41R5xIoBHLBPJo5jrg= In-Reply-To: Content-Language: en-US Bytes: 4336 On 7/04/2024 6:39 am, Cursitor Doom wrote: > On Fri, 05 Apr 2024 19:37:27 -0700, John Larkin > wrote: > >> On Sat, 6 Apr 2024 00:35:46 +0200, Klaus Vestergaard Kragelund >> wrote: >> >>> On 05-04-2024 23:22, john larkin wrote: >>>> On Fri, 5 Apr 2024 16:26:49 -0400, bitrex wrote: >>>> >>>>> On 4/5/2024 3:49 AM, Jan Panteltje wrote: >>>>>> On a sunny day (Thu, 4 Apr 2024 12:20:19 -0400) it happened bitrex >>>>>> wrote in <660ed343$0$1258343$882e4bbb@reader.netnews.com>: >>>>>> >>>>>>> My most useful old machine dollar for dollar is my 8012B pulse generator! >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Nice, real components... >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>> $50 "not working." It was just a burned-out pilot lamp and dirty controls. >>>>>> >>>>>> mm 50 dollars, >>>>>> even today with people using dollars for wallpaper, >>>>>> buys you a nice pulse generator on ebay.. >>>>> >>>>> It cost $1700 USD in the 1987 catalog, about $4500 equivalent today! >>>>> >>>>>> 555 timer works fine too >>>>>> Or use sox in Linux for all sort of audio, including sweeps: >>>>>> https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/howto-sox-audio-tool-as-a-signal-generator.4242/ >>>>>> or just use a Raspberry Pi as signal generator: >>>>>> https://panteltje.nl/panteltje/newsflex/download.html#freq_pi >>>> >>>> Our DDG is about $4K, addmittedly over the top for a home lab. >>>> >>>> http://highlandtechnology.com/DSS/P500DS.shtml >>>> >>>> I love my beat-up old unit on my bench. Timing and levels are >>>> brutally quantitative. >>>> >>> I bought a Siglent DDS SDG6022X for 1300USD, 200MHz thingie. I knew >>> forehand that it could be hacked to 500MHz, so "saved" 3000 USD for 1 >>> hours work :-) >>> >>> https://www.batronix.com/shop/waveform-generator/Siglent-SDG6022X.html >>> >>> EEVBLOG has hacking details if anyone is interested... >> >> We bought a few Rigol 300 MHz 4-chan scopes and insisted that they >> throw in the 500 MHz upgrade. >> >> I remember when FFT was an extra-cost feature. Now it's free. > > Excuse me for being a bit slow on the uptake here, but it seems to me > that there are a *lot* of products which are fundamentally all > manufactured to the same spec - but then deliberately crippled unless > you pay some sort of ransom to have them 'unlocked' as it were. Would > that be correct or am I being too cynical? Probably. You have got to run tests to be sure that the feature works before you can ship it to a customer, and the tests tkae time, cost money and don't always work. If only a few customers want it, it makes sense to sell to the cheaper spec and charge the customers who are prepared to pay for the extra performance. -- Bill Sloman, Sydney