Just because you were lucky doesn't mean that such mods are always troublefree. In fact, it might well be that your mod has other side effects you just didn't notice (yet). Just because something looks ok doesn't necessarily mean it is. Also, do you know how many different PCI 1Gbps network adapters exist? And just because you didn't see side effects with one makes you think it will always be allright? Hopefully not.
Data is data. Better than dealing with how someone feels it's going to work. I provided info on the board I am currently using. Also tested with a bottom end Star tech card. Saw no problems with it.
The simple fact is that these scopes are not designed as expandable systems, and just because you can plug in some PCI card doesn't mean it can be expanded like a standard PC. The scope as sold is the only supported (i.e. guranteed to work) configuration, aside from a few upgrades offered by LeCroy like CPU and RAM (which even if done with generic parts should be pretty painless). And really, it should be pretty obvious to an EE why on a single PCI bus with a theoretical max transfer rate of 133MB/s a 1Gbps network adapter (which in a good environment transfers between 90-100MB/s) doesn't leave much room for anything else. And something like 33MB/s isn't much for an acquisition system which captures over 20GB data per second, and while not everything in the sample memory goes to the CPU, everything that you want to see on the screen or that you want to process in any way does. Well, you do the math.
In addition, the acquisition system in these LeCroy scopes definitely *is* timing sensitive. I've been bitten by this myself when I upgraded my CPU (hint: never enable Hyperthreading on a WP7k(A) or WM8k(A), unless you want to reinstall your OS).
This aside, "just works" isn't really good enough if you want to use your test kit professionally, where people generally want to have something that is supported by the manufacturer and where problems are solved by their support. If you modded your scope most manufacturers simply tell you to piss off, and rightfully so.
Maybe these EE's you were talking about weren't such 'noobs' at all.
I'm not going to ask why you need a 1Gbps network adapter in your scope. The standard intel 100Mbps Ethernet port should be more than enough for transferring data or remote controlling it.
Certainly if I worked for Teledyne, I would see making a general statement about EE's in this manner in a public forum as pissing my job down the toilet.
I data I presented in the video shows a point to point running 400Mb, no problem. Not sure why your thinking 100Mb on a Gig connection.
Looking at this particular DSO's dead time:
10GS/s, collecting 5Ms requires 640ms. If the PCI bus could handle 60MB sustained, it would require 83ms to move the data or about 13% of the bus BW. Say the Ethernet can move the data at 50Mb/s which is about what I was getting with the built in board. So about 6.25MB/second. Moving 5Ms will require about 800ms.
If we want to handle the data and not miss any of the little data the DSO does happen to collect, the 100Mb won't cut it. At 400Mb/s with the 1G Ethernet, this time drops to 100mS. Maybe enough time to move the data to the modern PC, post process and display it.
At 10GS/s and collecting 200Ks requires 35ms. Staying with 60MB on the PCI bus, it would require 3.33ms or about 9.5% of the bus. The Ethernet transfer would be about 32ms using 100Gb.
The one video I posted showed some of the longer collections. Dead times were several seconds. It's not a bad DSO but you can miss a lot of information with it. It's a pretty common complaint. I have no idea if their new products are better. Where I work we switched to Agilent.
I suspect there are other bottlenecks in this system causing the poor dead times beyond the PCI bus. May put a probe on it at some point to see what is going on.
I can't see calling Teledyne and ask for support on a 14 year old system. I bought this one for home use, not for anything "professional" but I appreciate your concerns.
BTW, the Yahoo LeCroy forum is operated by a guy who has nothing to do with LeCroy other than using their scopes (and helping members). In fact, there are only two LeCroy affiliated member I know of, and they certainly don't use the forum as a marketing vehicle. But generally you can expect that the familiars there pretty well know know what they're talking about.
After posting about the VNA in that forum, I had Teledyne sales contact me using my work email wanting to know who he could contact. Don't kid yourself. They use it for marketing. No big deal. I would expect them to.