Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[factory]

Here is the catalog description from the oldest one I could find the 10020A probe kit in (1969).


David

[Specmaster]

Off topic question, can anyone remember that one early PC's it was possible to get a live desktop that showed the world map with a scrolling sine wave that was a clock and showed the day and night zones as highlighted or shaded zones on the map? I'm trying to find aversion of that which will run on Windows 10 as a clock interface thingy, does anyone know what I'm about and why I might find one?

[tautech]

Off topic question, can anyone remember that one early PC's it was possible to get a live desktop that showed the world map with a scrolling sine wave that was a clock and showed the day and night zones as highlighted or shaded zones on the map? I'm trying to find aversion of that which will run on Windows 10 as a clock interface thingy, does anyone know what I'm about and why I might find one?

Yeah they broke some stuff in W10 like all the little apps you could add to the edge of your desktop....still miss them. 
iPad do a nice world clock that you can add as many cities as flag points to.

Back to carpentry on the house........

[bd139]

They removed the desktop gadgets because quite frankly they were a shit show: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/security-updates/SecurityAdvisories/2013/2719662

Got these on the other side of the fence 

[beanflying]

   Having a coffeebreak in the shack so I fired up the 6632B to max current and voltage (20V/5A) and fitted the heavy gauge leads to the cheap and cheerful Electronic load for 15 minutes. Max Temp as indicated 54C and the underside of the board was only just 'warm'. Measurements across the range when checked in the past are fairly close to the DUT with the heavy leads but I might look at the board and see if I can add four wire measurement to it without to much hacking and chopping.

I see readings on this panel that suggest firmware is designed to be able to do load-testing on Li-xx, etc cells and packs. Does this one have capability to automatically cut off at a settable minimum discharge voltage?

While it seems like that should be a "minimum requirement" given the other battery characterization features on the thing... I've just recently been reminded to never take anything for granted on any of this kind of gadget with that calc kit that has only 7-digit registers.

mnem
 

Yep is does have a voltage cut off but adjusting it is a bit clunky with only a single programming button. Not sure I would 'trust' it without being around to discharge LiPos and I have R/C chargers to do that already if needed.

[med6753]

Off topic question, can anyone remember that one early PC's it was possible to get a live desktop that showed the world map with a scrolling sine wave that was a clock and showed the day and night zones as highlighted or shaded zones on the map? I'm trying to find aversion of that which will run on Windows 10 as a clock interface thingy, does anyone know what I'm about and why I might find one?

8gadgetpack. Just be careful with what you install.

[beanflying]

You really need 500MHz capability? $83 USD is kinda steep plus shipping to Oz.

Currently I have an offer from them at $70USD and I have another few % of ebayplus discount. Anything secondhand seems to be tracking more than that.

I don't NEED the 500Meg Scope so why would I let NEED determine if I buy a Probe 

I do wonder what the performance of the scope will be like up at 500MHz, given the sample rate is 500MS/s...

I am hoping/thinking it will be better than my current Micsig  I do have a HP Pulse generator and a high frequency SigGen to play with when it arrives so some testing and playing will be in order. It also seems the memory can still be populated with a bit of fussing.

Ordered the probe too $97 USD to my door with freight and local tax/duties.

[bd139]

Looking ahead to my next project. I know where there is one of these for sale for only $50 USD. It's a local CL seller who I have bought from before. He's a ham but disabled and not as active as he once was......and at least doesn't look or smell like a hobo. 

Tek 321. First almost all transistor scope. But it uses troublesome Germanium transistors. But yea, in most cases sillycon can be substituted. The one he has for sale is shown powered up but a huge blob on the screen so it definitely has issues.

I think next week I'm gonna pay him a visit. About an hour away.

Dang it. Didn’t see that.

One of them is on my want list. Thing of beauty inside even if the outside has the appeal of a cat’s arsehole.

[vk6zgo]

You really need 500MHz capability? $83 USD is kinda steep plus shipping to Oz.

Currently I have an offer from them at $70USD and I have another few % of ebayplus discount. Anything secondhand seems to be tracking more than that.

I don't NEED the 500Meg Scope so why would I let NEED determine if I buy a Probe 

I don't NEED a 500MHz scope either. But it just so happens that I have one sitting around. 

But that's a real one!

[mnementh]

     

Huh...? Weather Service has been warning us that another 4-6 inches was coming since before the last one (when I posted aboot my morning cardio) was done falling. We just finished clearing this one out after lunch. 

I mean yeah, it sux... but was expected.

Or are you grumping indirectly aboot delivery delays...?

mnem
 

[vk6zgo]

Off topic question, can anyone remember that one early PC's it was possible to get a live desktop that showed the world map with a scrolling sine wave that was a clock and showed the day and night zones as highlighted or shaded zones on the map? I'm trying to find aversion of that which will run on Windows 10 as a clock interface thingy, does anyone know what I'm about and why I might find one?

Yeah they broke some stuff in W10 like all the little apps you could add to the edge of your desktop....still miss them. 
iPad do a nice world clock that you can add as many cities as flag points to.

Back to carpentry on the house........

Yes, that iPad clock is one of the few things I like about the horrible things!
If it wasn't for the way most laptops fall apart mechanically, I would still be using my old Toshiba C650, & never had to learn how to "finger-paint on glass"*.

*Clever comment stolen from a ham on another forum.-----thanks, Onno!

[med6753]

     

Huh...? Weather Service has been warning us that another 4-6 inches was coming since before the last one (when I posted aboot my morning cardio) was done falling. We just finished clearing this one out after lunch. 

I mean yeah, it sux... but was expected.

Or are you grumping indirectly aboot delivery delays...?

mnem
 

No, just fed up with the snow. 

[mnementh]

   Having a coffeebreak in the shack so I fired up the 6632B to max current and voltage (20V/5A) and fitted the heavy gauge leads to the cheap and cheerful Electronic load for 15 minutes. Max Temp as indicated 54C and the underside of the board was only just 'warm'. Measurements across the range when checked in the past are fairly close to the DUT with the heavy leads but I might look at the board and see if I can add four wire measurement to it without to much hacking and chopping.

I see readings on this panel that suggest firmware is designed to be able to do load-testing on Li-xx, etc cells and packs. Does this one have capability to automatically cut off at a settable minimum discharge voltage?

While it seems like that should be a "minimum requirement" given the other battery characterization features on the thing... I've just recently been reminded to never take anything for granted on any of this kind of gadget with that calc kit that has only 7-digit registers.

Yep is does have a voltage cut off but adjusting it is a bit clunky with only a single programming button. Not sure I would 'trust' it without being around to discharge LiPos and I have R/C chargers to do that already if needed.

Yeah, I have ONE such charger. I was thinking more in terms of high-current discharge of my bigger packs to exercise them; I don't have anything to do that with. Even if I only discharge them down to storage voltage, it would be a really good excuse to get a new toy. 

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Went to work early in the morning, met Boss, told him about fever on Friday and was told to take the day off. Tried, but had to fix the disaster that our patching crew from india left behind.Spent almost 4 hours to repair the damage done by uncalled for cluster node reboots, etc and was quite aggravated.

mmmhmmm... hazardous duty pay. KA-CHINNNNGGG!!! 

mnem
Or concurrent onsite tech/consultant pay. whatevs.

[mnementh]

You really need 500MHz capability? $83 USD is kinda steep plus shipping to Oz.

Currently I have an offer from them at $70USD and I have another few % of ebayplus discount. Anything secondhand seems to be tracking more than that.

I don't NEED the 500Meg Scope so why would I let NEED determine if I buy a Probe 

I do wonder what the performance of the scope will be like up at 500MHz, given the sample rate is 500MS/s...

I am hoping/thinking it will be better than my current Micsig  I do have a HP Pulse generator and a high frequency SigGen to play with when it arrives so some testing and playing will be in order. It also seems the memory can still be populated with a bit of fussing.

Ordered the probe too $97 USD to my door with freight and local tax/duties.

Yeah, sometimes you just wanna have at least one example of "the one that's aspoda be there", right?

mnem
 

[Saskia]

Nope, just genuine unpaid overtime. I could see though that we had a rate of 13 translations per second in my mt system. And that those bozos had brought the computer load up to 470 on my backend systems by killing off my broker agent and the message queueing system. And then send me a ticket about high load ...

[mnementh]

     

Huh...? Weather Service has been warning us that another 4-6 inches was coming since before the last one (when I posted aboot my morning cardio) was done falling. We just finished clearing this one out after lunch. 

I mean yeah, it sux... but was expected.

Or are you grumping indirectly aboot delivery delays...?

mnem
 

No, just fed up with the snow. 

Ehhh... it's not like I can't use the exercise. Speaking of which... my son and I just survived our first workout together; a couple of the more popular upper body dumbbell workout vids with me coaching and spotting him as needed while I did the exercises I could physically handle.

"Yeah; that actally didn't suck, dad." was the answer when I suggested we should keep doing it.

mnem
he hates the Spider-man crunches as bad as I do.

[mnementh]

Nope, just genuine unpaid overtime. I could see though that we had a rate of 13 translations per second in my mt system. And that those bozos had brought the computer load up to 470 on my backend systems by killing off my broker agent and the message queueing system. And then send me a ticket about high load ...

Uggghhh... yeah. "Salaried position" is the new age way to rape employees.   

mnem
and they usually make you give up the benefits package for that "promotion"...

[Saskia]

Spider man crunch ? Is that the equivalent to a spider shrivelling up when treating it with the acetylene torch ?

[Saskia]

Nope, just genuine unpaid overtime. I could see though that we had a rate of 13 translations per second in my mt system. And that those bozos had brought the computer load up to 470 on my backend systems by killing off my broker agent and the message queueing system. And then send me a ticket about high load ...

Uggghhh... yeah. "Salaried position" is the new age way to rape employees.   

mnem
and they usually make you give up the benefits package for that "promotion"...

6 figure. Can't complain too much. For a corporate critter job over here with the benefits package I cannot really complain.

[mnementh]

I hope they actually do make it worth the misery. You'll be the one-in-a-million.

Spider man crunch ? Is that the equivalent to a spider shrivelling up when treating it with the acetylene torch ?

It's evil. You get down on all fours, on toe and fingertips, like Spider-Man walking up a wall. Then you bring your knee up to the back of you your elbow without falling over, alternating legs. Then you do another set left knee to right elbow, and alternate.

It's also literally one of the best exercises you can do for a thick gut and/or to tighten up stomach muscles to reinforce a injured back. As many as you can bear to do.

mnem
you are the burn...

[Brumby]

Went to work early in the morning, met Boss, told him about fever on Friday and was told to take the day off. Tried, but had to fix the disaster that our patching crew from india left behind.Spent almost 4 hours to repair the damage done by uncalled for cluster node reboots, etc and was quite aggravated.

Ah - a true "clusterfuck".

Nope, just genuine unpaid overtime. I could see though that we had a rate of 13 translations per second in my mt system. And that those bozos had brought the computer load up to 470 on my backend systems by killing off my broker agent and the message queueing system. And then send me a ticket about high load ...

... you were expecting something else?



How's the head/neck?

[tautech]

Off topic question, can anyone remember that one early PC's it was possible to get a live desktop that showed the world map with a scrolling sine wave that was a clock and showed the day and night zones as highlighted or shaded zones on the map? I'm trying to find aversion of that which will run on Windows 10 as a clock interface thingy, does anyone know what I'm about and why I might find one?

Yeah they broke some stuff in W10 like all the little apps you could add to the edge of your desktop....still miss them. 
iPad do a nice world clock that you can add as many cities as flag points to.

Back to carpentry on the house........

Yes, that iPad clock is one of the few things I like about the horrible things!
If it wasn't for the way most laptops fall apart mechanically, I would still be using my old Toshiba C650, & never had to learn how to "finger-paint on glass"*.

If it wasn't for the time we were 1/2 way to the airport going to Perth for Xmas and left laptop sitting on the bed I'd still be using it as my portable device. The wife's had an iPad for years and used it a little so the only resistance to having to get something when we were to be away for a fortnight was the cost but that's where the business credit card comes in handy like Duty Free at the airport. 
Still I don't much like the thing when trying to business on it other than for its lightweight convenience.

[tautech]

Went to work early in the morning, met Boss, told him about fever on Friday and was told to take the day off. Tried, but had to fix the disaster that our patching crew from india left behind.Spent almost 4 hours to repair the damage done by uncalled for cluster node reboots, etc and was quite aggravated.

Ah - a true "clusterfuck".

Nope, just genuine unpaid overtime. I could see though that we had a rate of 13 translations per second in my mt system. And that those bozos had brought the computer load up to 470 on my backend systems by killing off my broker agent and the message queueing system. And then send me a ticket about high load ...

... you were expecting something else?



How's the head/neck?

Whaddabout you ?

[mnementh]

Off topic question, can anyone remember that one early PC's it was possible to get a live desktop that showed the world map with a scrolling sine wave that was a clock and showed the day and night zones as highlighted or shaded zones on the map? I'm trying to find aversion of that which will run on Windows 10 as a clock interface thingy, does anyone know what I'm about and why I might find one?

8gadgetpack. Just be careful with what you install.

Widget HD/Widget Launcher...? Supposedly actually safe for a computer connected to the intardnet...?

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/p/widget-launcher/9wzdncrdqfbt

mnem