I’m doing some GPIB programming after not touching that interface for some 30 years. I currently have a Keithley 195A bench multimeter, and am relearning all I’ve forgotten.
So the 195A uses the “old style” IEEE 488.2 standard. I think it would be helpful for my reeducation to own an instrument with the more modern SCPI flavor of GPIB. It would be nice if the instrument was useful in the lab, too. But as the title says, I’m after something used and inexpensive.
My off-the-cuff hypothesis when I purchased the used Keithley 195A earlier the year was that perfectly functional test gear can be had for bargain prices if you don’t mind the 1980s look.
Can the same be said for slightly newer SCPI-equipped lab gear? Considering only remote-control-less equipment I’m missing from my lab, I’d be thrilled to get a SCPI power supply, function / pulse generator or pulse counter. But for the main goal, anything would do, even a sheep fart counter, as long as it had an SCPI interface.
BTW, in hindsight it seems I was lucky to have found a 195A with the AC volts/amps option. Despite this thing looking like a piece of gear from the lab at my first employer back in 1985, it works like a champ.