> > j...@quikus.com said: >> Going through layer after layer of ever more obtuse menus is just not >> 'user >> friendly' to me. Maybe it is to the designers, because they are used to >> a >> 10,000+ character alphabet? > > How much of that is because you want to use fancy features that didn't > even exist on older scopes?
Older 'scopes didn't NEED to re-allocate memory, or use "peak" modes to avoid sampling artifacts. > Here is an example: The switch from small/fast to big/slow memory is > buried > deep in a menu. That's better than cluttering up the box with another > button. > > > My Rigol DS1102E has 6 knobs, 17 dedicated push buttons, and 5 menu > buttons. > > One of the knobs is trigger level. 2 are horizontal scale and position. > 2 > are vertical scale and position. The 6th knob is for the current menu > item. > > The vertical knobs are shared by both input channels. If you want to > adjust > the other channel you have to poke a button first. Sure, I'd prefer 2 > more > knobs. I can live with this. It's not obvious how to fit in 2 more knobs if you did decide that was important. Making the box an inch wider looks like the obvious way. > > Glancing at my old Tek 465, the thing that I think I would miss most is > the > AC/DC coupling switch on the input. I won't miss the Focus knob. :) > > Neither scope has an optional 50 ohm terminator on the inputs. All Tek 'scopes have AC/DC/GND,and some have trace identify. 50 Ohm is easy with a throughy terminator. -John =============== > > ----------- > > I think there are 2 patterns for using a scope. One is chasing a glitch. > The other is collecting data. > > When I'm chasing a glitch, I occasionally have to wander around in the > menus. > Yes, it's annoying. Part of the problem is that I sometimes don't > remember > how to get where I want to go so I make a few false starts. Overall, it's > not a lot more time than it took me to setup the hardware. (I remember > having to find a pair of coax cables with matched length.) > > It would be fun to hack the firmware to record all the button/knob > actions. > > Once I have things setup, collecting more data is as simple as watching > the > screen or poking Enter on my PC. > > ---------- > > If you want to be critical, I see two weak areas. > > One is the documentation and/or firmware for remote control. It's good > enough, at least if you are stubborn, but far from good. (I haven't tried > their software: no Windows boxes here.) > > > The other is the probes. Good probes are still expensive. The Rigol unit > came with old big/clunky probes. Why would anybody want a 1x/10x switch > on > their probe? (I guess it might be interesting if you were working on > small, > slow signals, but I haven't done that in a long time.) > > For probes, there is a knee in the curve somewhere around 200 MHz. With a > bit of care, you can get reasonable pictures up through 100 MHz. Beyond > that, you have to really pay attention and good/small probes help. They > also > help with modern surface mount parts. > > > -- > These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.