Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

Should we mention the saltwater crocodiles....?

Ok, wrong continet but besides that ... 

What the actual fuck...?

Is this some alien mind-game turn on that old "the dog and the butterfly" meme...?

mnem
*toddles off to count his scales, just on GP...*

[mnementh]

Well done, you have now successfully stacked your 3468A  Plus in addition you have just shown the other thing that always pissed me of with my 3468A, it prefers to display resistances in as Mohms instead of Kohms 

A very temporary arrangement, while I was arranging the pics. It's fine if it only has 1 unit on top, but if it's near the bottom of the stack it could have 4 or 5, and the tilt would make a noticeable difference at that point. Also, until I can get a fuse-holder-socket for the current range, it's only partially functional.

It ranges up to MΩ at around 310kΩ which is above what some other meters flip ranges at. The Keithley 2000 ranges up at 120kΩ, the 197 at 220kΩ, TTi 1906 at 210kΩ. The Fluke 8840 goes all the way to 2000kΩ, but does range up from ***.***kΩ to ***.**kΩ at 200 counts. Amusingly, the Solartron 7075 doesn't have a MΩ range, topping out 14,000.000kΩ.
Looking back through these (empirically acquired) data it actually seems the 3468 has the highest count before it ranges up... you guys will find anything to complain about!   

Nerds + internet forum + show & tell... any of this ring a bell...? 

mnem
Welcome to the machine...

[mnementh]

I was thinking in terms of an unlabeled PSU connected to whatever bits on the bench; as most semi-informed people would normally expect such a PSU to output +12V and +5V...

much hilarity ensues...

mnem
smoke 'em if you got 'em...

Strikes me as possibly being a good supply to base one of those Chinesium regulator projects around.

I just ordered a single one, brand new for £20 shipped. The 52V output is ideal to feed the SynCor 0-60V 20A output DC-DC converter I picked up a while back. Plan is to stuck it under the bench and then have the DC-DC and a couple of meters in a small box on the bench. The converter even has variable current limit. I'll get 0-60V @ 850W  from what looks ike a box hardly big enough for the meters and controls. Trying to decide if I'll try to hack the connections or splash out another £20 or so on a rack. I'll probably spend the money.www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cisco-341-0232-Power-Supply-C3K-PWR-1150WAC-DPST-1150AB-PSU/154356234065    https://www.synqor.com/products/hvnq/nq60x60qgx20

I pulled the trigger on a Dual slot housing for the 1150W C3K PSU. As a bonus it comes wth a 750W PSU ready installed for £20 delivered. It should help with figuring out the connection and give me mating connectors too.www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cisco-Systems-PWR-RPS2300-Redundant-power-supply/114736484281

Mmmmm... juicy.   



But it's gonna look like this when you fill it up, not slim & trim like the fleaBay listing. You may need to get some of the interconnects; it looks like they have a custom pin ID pattern to those MOLEX Mini-Fit connectors.



mnem

[mnementh]

...I'll stay here with the beavers and moose, thank you 

   Ever see what happens when a car and moose meet? 

ahh yes, you need to avoid them on the highway 

Mmmmhmmm.... as opposed to certain regions of Florida, where it's alligators that'll land in your lap driving down the highway... 

mnem
Great place to move to if you have excess pets and small offspring tho...

[med6753]

All cleaned up. The only part I can't do is pull the bottom plate to inspect/clean. No way can I jackass this scope around in my current condition. I also want to perform a total re-cap but that's not in the cards either. Perhaps not for several months.

So in the meantime I'm going to build up a power cord and then do some resistance checks in the PSU. If everything seems OK give full beans power and stand back. Based upon results take it from there.

The seller was not to forthcoming about where the scope came from, does it power up, and if so does it have a trace. But once I looked it over and saw that it was in good shape and complete it really didn't matter. And the bargain $75 USD was just the icing on the cake. I've always wanted a Type 547.

The first Tektronix scope I ever saw and used was one of these Type 547's in college electronics lab in 1971. Exactly 50 years later I have one in my lab. To me this is my Holy Grail. If I never buy another piece of TE I'll be a happy boy. You know that won't happen. 




 

[bd139]

you need a spare one just in case now 

[mansaxel]

I was 2s behind the car in front at 50mph, when a fallow deer ran in front of me.

Small muntjac deer are also in the centres of major cities, e.g.



The former was in a "high rent" area, the latter in a very "low rent" area. If caught in either it might have been butchered, although for very different motivations!

We have lots of deer around here; twice I've been very close to mangling a flock. The islands used to be the King's hunting grounds, and the animals don't understand...

Once I've hit one. It lay in hiding in a ditch but changed its little mind just as I was passing by, and placed that little mind squarely in front of my bumper. THUD, and its neck was broken, and it was dead within one minute. Not even scratches on the car.

No butchery; it's illegal here and there was witnesses (If it'd been in the middle of the forest and no witnesses I've got a hunter friend who wouldn't mind helping out.). I left a flag on the closest street light, the very dead deer in the ditch and called the police.

Mostly cars survive deers. Wild boar, badger and moose are another story. We've got them all. Yes, 25 km from downtown Stockholm. The moose who've grown accustomed to people are the scariest. They go into gardens and get drunk on fermented apples. I've been 3m from one. They usually end up shot, because they're too unafraid to be shy.

[mansaxel]

Mmmmm... juicy.   

mnem

Today it was In The Office Day.  I  unpacked an office's worth of network gear, an ASR9K router, and perhaps 8 Cisco switches ranging from 4948 with 10GE down to 2960. It'll go on the "nice to have" shelf. Also, I accepted delivery of a bunch of Nexus 9K switches, 100G and 10/25G models. For the lab. And we decided to go forth with the purchase of perhaps 70 switches for the production network.

Also, we cobbled together a pair of 93180 switches with dual 100G link cables. That'll do.

I'll go out and pet my analog mixer for a while now. Perhaps set the fader gains with a Tek sine generator and my 400H.

[mnementh]

All cleaned up. The only part I can't do is pull the bottom plate to inspect/clean. No way can I jackass this scope around in my current condition. I also want to perform a total re-cap but that's not in the cards either. Perhaps not for several months.

So in the meantime I'm going to build up a power cord and then do some resistance checks in the PSU. If everything seems OK give full beans power and stand back. Based upon results take it from there.

The seller was not to forthcoming about where the scope came from, does it power up, and if so does it have a trace. But once I looked it over and saw that it was in good shape and complete it really didn't matter. And the bargain $75 USD was just the icing on the cake. I've always wanted a Type 547.

The first Tektronix scope I ever saw and used was one of these Type 547's in college electronics lab in 1971. Exactly 50 years later I have one in my lab. To me this is my Holy Grail. If I never buy another piece of TE I'll be a happy boy. You know that won't happen. 

It looks fab, med. nice work.

Those choobs are entirely too shiny tho... may have them rebel on you after removing the protective coating of dust they've enjoyed for decades... 

mnem
I'm with bd, BTW. It needs a twin brother. 

[mnementh]

Reality is what it is inside your head, but since the insides are different in every head, well ...

Yeah, you wouldn't like it in here. It's dark, and damp, and smells like wet dragon... 

mnem
oh, and sticky. very sticky.

[mnementh]

Apparently I am Linus where I work 

Bubbly babyface Linus, or shaggy-faced grunge Linus...? 

mnem
 

[bd139]

This one

[AVGresponding]

Just got back from having my first covid jab.

Now I need some sort of equipment to interface with the Bill Gates nano-machines...

[bd139]

Type A USB will fit up your arse 

[mnementh]

Type A USB will fit up your arse 

Yebbutt it makes yer KB do this shit. 

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

Just spotted:



It's a terrifying telco line that needs a telecom transformer with a 6A rating! 

[med6753]

This one

Who dat? 

[mnementh]

So... which of you psychos wants to fuck the tinkerdwagon's brain up with your favorite distro, and why should I let you...? 

The talk of "distribution" and such penguiny terms implies to the listener that there only is a selection between variants of Linux to be considered.

IMNSHO Linux is a toy compared to the BSD variants.

The UNIX userland in OS X is mostly based on FreeBSD userland. I'm running FreeBSD on metal and on most of my vm's (and I mix toys into that, frequently, so am not religious, just aware of the facts.) and it is a very consistent and high quality experience.  It does get my vote, but the others (NetBSD, OpenBSD) aren't bad either. (Open also is Canadian; Theo lives in Calgary.. )

If you decide to stoop so low that installing Linux (arguably better than Windows, somewhat.) is considered, the worst you can do is pure Lennartware like any of the DeadRat derivates or Ubuntu, also known as Debian/broken.

The least broken Linux is either SlackWare or Devuan. I've not run Slack for more than 15 years, and I installed Debian before their developers "decided" to use systemd. Now the reasonable model of apt-based packaging together with a working init that is only an init, makes Devuan least bad of all the Linuxen.

I'm sure I'll offend a bit with this, but having been inflicted with actual UNIX at Uni the first time thru, I consider them all to be offshoots of that same psychotic seed. Still better than all the CP/M deviant derivatives, however.

My personal desire would be as painless a install process as my last Ubuntu install on a PowerPC Macbook; that was actually less misery than Winblows. I don't know enough aboot what I need from it to sensibly pick the options for my own compile, so as plain vanilla as possible in a prebuilt iso. Essentially I want a machine that mostly works so I can just learn on it, rather than having to learn by fixxoring something that's fuxxored out of the box.

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

Okay... I think I've narrowed it down to 3 choices:

Mint: Mostly nostalgia; I used Ubuntu last time I dove in and Mint's Cinnamon desktop is supposed to be better polished with more maintenance automation for those not interested in constantly futzing around under the hood.

Elementary: Okay, still Ubuntu, but as it's going on a Mac, why not go for a sympathetic feel for my cheese grater? Also supposed to be highly likely to install with everything working from precomplied iso.

GhostBSD: It looks like the most noob-friendly BSD version with a polished desktop, and again... I'm coming at this as if I were a noob. As it's been over a decade since my last dalliance, I pretty much am. 

Opinions? 

mnem
 

[AVGresponding]

This one

Who dat? 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linus_Torvalds

[mnementh]

bd's long-lost step-poppa. 

mnem
"You're number one!!!"

[mansaxel]

Opinions? 

The only way to make a computer work, and to make it work good enough, is to futz. Or buy a Mac. (But that will break too, only kinder and better rendered, yet incomprehensible to the uninitiated.) It is a futile hope to believe that the low-maintenance point-and-click  computer exists.  And, dear dragon, you are a futzer and a tinkerer, all the way to the tip of your pointiest claw.  Embrace that, and you will be happy.

[mnementh]

Opinions? 

The only way to make a computer work, and to make it work good enough, is to futz. Or buy a Mac. (But that will break too, only kinder and better rendered, yet incomprehensible to the uninitiated.) It is a futile hope to believe that the low-maintenance point-and-click  computer exists.  And, dear dragon, you are a futzer and a tinkerer, all the way to the tip of your pointiest claw.  Embrace that, and you will be happy.

Okay... now we know what you think of the ol' tinkerdwagon... 

Yes, it is true... I enjoy tinkering. But in my old age, I want to at least get the fun of a test drive before I have to yank the motor out and rebuild it. I'm kindof the same way here. 

I want to start with something that mostly does work right off the truck, rather than something that mostly doesn't and requires not only wrench-twirling, but foundry work and welding heavy plate just to hear it turn over, and actually running under its own power is weeks of 16-hour days away.

mnem

[mnementh]

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

Also, I accepted delivery of a bunch of Nexus 9K switches, 100G and 10/25G models. For the lab. And we decided to go forth with the purchase of perhaps 70 switches for the production network.

That probably means you have an exciting future ahead of you re-discovering bugs in ACI. 

[factory]

Got a nice beginner's "opamp hands on learning course", a HP6824 Power-Supply/Amplifier für 100 Euro.

Manual and even more apllication note 82 might be quite educating for me as a beginner.
https://www.hpmemoryproject.org/an/pdf/an_82.pdf

After some IPA cleaning of the sticky surfaces, It's in preety good shape and seems to be fully functioning.

Now I have to look for the missing top cover screw. Seems to be some kind of US self tapping screw. Same for a missing screw on the side.

There should not be any self tapping crap for the covers of old HP TEA, the screws for the top & bottom covers are usually No. 6-32 UNC countersunk screws (or flat head screws if your in the US).

David