Beauty of old electrical and measuring things, etc.

[DaveE]

I was really surprised to see you can still buy it

I remember a pretty unpopular laser we (tried) to sell. After it had been out for a while and sales went to zero we just kept 1 in stock and mothballed manufacturing. Manufacturing and service became the engineer who designed it, which he hardly ever had to actually do. If there was a real problem, we'd probably just give them the better model. No one bought it, but it literally took years for the company to remove it from our "catalog".

I bet even if they do sell them that they don't actually make new ones. How would they get those knobs and such 45 years later?

 

[berkeman]

Yes. It was inevitable, and cost and feature wise essential. From the instrument designers perspective there is really no other way. Can you imagine a modern spectrum analyzer without menus, where every knob has a dedicated function? They'd look like an old 747 cockpit. It just doesn't work now that instruments are so much more flexible. Those knobs and buttons are a big labor cost and come with reliability problems too. There were lots of things that FRA just wouldn't do. It's a fair tradeoff IMO.

All fair points. But have you ever tried to use a 4034? Seriously, I can set every knob and switch on a curve tracer before turning on the trace (which is a good interview question for EEs, IMO), but that 4034 overloaded concentric ring control thing is a royal PITA, IMO. I guess I need to watch the Tek instruction videos or something. Never had to do that before...

 

[DaveE]

All fair points. But have you ever tried to use a 4034? Seriously, I can set every knob and switch on a curve tracer before turning on the trace (which is a good interview question for EEs, IMO), but that 4034 overloaded concentric ring control thing is a royal PITA, IMO. I guess I need to watch the Tek instruction videos or something. Never had to do that before...

um... nope. But there are good and bad UIs with any technology. I'm convinced that in my day the fact (yes, FACT) that everyone wanted Tek Scopes but HP Spectrum Analyzers was because of the UIs in each. It can be easily overlooked in instrument companies that are focused on the spec sheet.

 

[Rive]

But the latest generation of mixed signal oscilloscopes that we bought have a super-non-intuitive user interface with a main overloaded concentric ring control that still baffle me when I use them

I've been also completely baffled by some new scope recently, but then overcome the hurdle.
The key was to stick a mouse in the back of the thing and use the screen instead
Later on I've even added a keyboard to the mix.
I don't know if it would work with that Tek, though. But for some with that barely hidden Windows in them...

On the other hand it feels kind of like one of those Windows phones from way back
Windows is just not built for this

 

[berkeman]

The key was to stick a mouse in the back of the thing and use the screen instead

That's a good idea; I'll try it the next time I use that 'scope. Thanks.

 

[DaveE]

Look what I found stashed away in the top of my cabinet. Maybe not electrical, but it is old. Suitable for framing, I think.

Remember when an 8" floppy "diskette" with 360K was state of the art in portable storage? Remember CP/M, my first PC OS? No, y'all are probably too young for that flash in the tech pan.

 

[DaveE]

Look what I found stashed away in the top of my cabinet. Maybe not electrical, but it is old. Suitable for framing, I think.

Remember when an 8" floppy "diskette" with 360K was state of the art in portable storage? Remember CP/M, my first PC OS? No, y'all are probably too young for that flash in the tech pan.

View attachment 322323

In my case it went into a North Star Horizon. An S-100 buss computer. Maybe the last one with a wooden enclosure!

 

[collinsmark]

Look what I found stashed away in the top of my cabinet. Maybe not electrical, but it is old. Suitable for framing, I think.

Remember when an 8" floppy "diskette" with 360K was state of the art in portable storage? Remember CP/M, my first PC OS? No, y'all are probably too young for that flash in the tech pan.

View attachment 322323

I still have many dozens of floppy disks, even the 5 1/4 inch variety (when floppies were still floppy).

I keep meaning to pick up a usb floppy drive reader, but then I realize that I have a computer that will read them -- I just need to fix the computer.

I'm guessing it's something simple like needing to replace the CMOS battery. I might even have a fresh battery coin cell that will work (CR2032).

So then I keep meaning to look around for what can be used as a fresh CMOS battery. I'm sure there's at least one around here somewhere. It'll turn up.

Then I get distracted.

The cycle repeats.

 

[Tom.G]

So then I keep meaning to look around for what can be used as a fresh CMOS battery. I'm sure there's at least one around here somewhere. It'll turn up.

If the battery is soldered in, as many early ones were, you might want to read the old thread that the below quote came from.

And yes, you do have to clean afterwards. The flux residue absorbs moisture from the air and is partially conductive. As an example, one time I worked on a computer motherboard and failed to clean the flux off. The area was around the CMOS backup battery, a coin cell. They typically last a few to several years. Not this one, it lasted three weeks. So did its replacement. Had to remove the motherboard and wash off the flux!

Cheers,
Tom

 

[DaveE]

https://spectrum.ieee.org/open-circuits

 

[berkeman]

https://spectrum.ieee.org/open-circuits

Pretty cool, thanks Dave.

 

[dlgoff]

https://spectrum.ieee.org/open-circuits

Awesome. Perfect for this Beauty thread. And from their link, https://opencircuitsbook.com/, I see many things that I've used and probably still have today, somewhere.