Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[TERRA Operative]

Hmm, thinking of a Simmconn Labs LCD upgrade for my scope. Tell me why it's a bad idea. Save me from myself!
(But I'll be able to use the old CRT to build another scope from parts... so yeah..)

[Kosmic]

Taking a look at the Data Sheet here...

"Imparts soft, velvety skin feel"

Count me sold on this stuff! 

But when used for....ahem....implants they do NOT impart a soft, velvety feel. Those puppies may be perky but they are as hard as rocks. No natural feeling at all. Trust me, I have personal experience here.   

You had my interest, now you have my undivided attention... 

Great to look at but they don't bounce. Nothing soft about them at all. Like 2 torpedoes strapped to her chest. There's a reason they call them "bolt ons"   

I concur. Tried it once but was definitely underwhelming. Never again.

[mnementh]

Linus likes it so much he invested $250K in the company.

mnem
*noshing on a bowl of steamed stir-fry veggies*

Modular high-volume electronics rarely work. It's even a huge challenge for high-margin stuff like T&M gear. I wouldn't sink a penny in that project.

I know time is short for most of us in here... but if you'd even skimmed the vid, you'd know that the modular ports are literally the least of the features. The core philosophy in this product is something we've all been bitching aboot in here for years: A manufacturer making a commitment to repairability and upgradability on a laptop.

As in, making a commitment to provide parts and documentation (including schematics), and designing to enable the end-user doing his own repairs/upgrades rather than sealing everything under glue stronger than the parent material so as to keep everybody out. As in all major components have a Qcode that translates to text instructions and complete tech specs on the component. As in they even give you some spare screws. And at prices which are actually sane, not low-volume artisan/boutique pricing.

Now... as to whether this small startup can actually turn this into a sustainable business model... well, that's a "Time will tell..." kindof thing. But if we who know better can't even be arsed to spend a few minutes investigating a product like this, if we don't at least try to support the business model, it is doomed to failure.

mnem

[BU508A]

On the way to me. 

More pics will coming soon ... 

Arrived today. Another candidate for my little series "Echoes from a distant past" :-)

It is a Nordmende DMM with Nixie tubes, type: DIVO 3355.

Here is a picture from the ebay auction:


But first the teardown of the ADS. I can hear some scratching claws from upstairs ... 

[Kosmic]

> I have come to observe that stiffness, rigidity and lack of undesired movement are preferred characteristics surrounding 3D printing.

Ah. Yes. I have a tested solution for that. Weighs about 50kg

For the rest of us, there's 18 x 18 in and 24 x 24 in paving stones from the hardware store; costs ~US$8-15. Highly recommended under large-format printers to increase mass/inertia of the base, thereby reducing ghosting artifacts. 

mnem

What do you define as a large-format printer ? I have a Ender 3 should I try to improve the base ?

[Kosmic]

Hmm, thinking of a Simmconn Labs LCD upgrade for my scope. Tell me why it's a bad idea. Save me from myself!
(But I'll be able to use the old CRT to build another scope from parts... so yeah..)

You can get 2 scope for the price of their LCD Upgrade ? not sure why it's so expensive.

[mnementh]

Here in Essex, UK we are being battered by Storm Eunice with gusts of up to 90mph, I know that the Isle of Wight has had gusts of 92mph recorded today so far.

122 mph (196 km/h) in the meantime. Strongest gust ever recorded in the UK. Lots of flights cancelled and no ferries to and from Dover.

https://www.skylinewebcams.com/de/webcam/united-kingdom/england/brighton/brighton-pier.html

Our local airport forecasts gusts of 60 knots later tonight. That's 4 knots short of force 12.

Yeah; interesting weather in New England too. Yesterday, I went to pick up the kids; the Rav4 informed me that it was sixty degrees Funkenkopt outside. Day before it was sixteen.

This morning, the day greeted us with torrential rains on the way to school; literally monsoon/flash-flood type conditions.

mnem
But yeah, Climate Change is a liberal conspiracy...

[Andrew_Debbie]

This is just... I mean... it's... I have no words...   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353913646232   

Do we have any provenance on this thing...? I mean, is it a thing (Like Disney buying those early model AF oscillators from Bill & Dave), or did some asshat just slap a Tektronix watchband on a old Disney watch because they sortof matched...?

Would be nice to see the back of the watch...

mnem


 

You could pm the seller and find out for us; they are on your side of the water feature.

Uhhhhh... I dunno. I might get some on me...

mnem
*toddles off to wash my paws* I feel dirty just typing about it...

My own guess is it's a long service gift, 50 years or something, the three medals under the logo on the strap being 20+10+20..?

As I'm sure you're aware Lorus are not bargain basement, but they are pretty much lurking around the bottom end of the acceptable quality quartz watch movements.

Tongue-in-cheek retirement gift?

Perhaps from someone at Tek who often commented on  coworkers doing a Mickey Mouse job?

[Cerebus]

Here's a question for the Tektronix-otaku here...

Did Tek ever release a Tekprobe adapter to allow the customer to build their own probes and fixtures using the Tekprobe interface?
I have an idea I want to try and I'm not going to scrap a good probe. I guess I'll have to end up finding a busted probe to scrap, but just wondering if there is an 'official' part to use?

Not a Tektronix-otaku, but I'm sure I remember an adapter of some sort existing. How much access it gave you to the Tekprobe interface's features I don't remember.

There's quite a lot of information available on the HP equivalent, enough to reverse engineer something compatible. I'd be surprised if the equivalent info isn't out tthere for Tekprobe, but I've never looked so I don't know. I found a lot of the HP interface from patent filings, and that might be a good route for Tekprobe details if one has the knack of extracting useful information from patents, which seem to be universally written to obscure as much as possible of the information that they are theoretically exposing.

[mnementh]

This is just... I mean... it's... I have no words...   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353913646232   

Do we have any provenance on this thing...? I mean, is it a thing (Like Disney buying those early model AF oscillators from Bill & Dave), or did some asshat just slap a Tektronix watchband on a old Disney watch because they sortof matched...?

Would be nice to see the back of the watch...

mnem
 

You could pm the seller and find out for us; they are on your side of the water feature.

Uhhhhh... I dunno. I might get some on me...

mnem
*toddles off to wash my paws* I feel dirty just typing about it...

My own guess is it's a long service gift, 50 years or something, the three medals under the logo on the strap being 20+10+20..?

As I'm sure you're aware Lorus are not bargain basement, but they are pretty much lurking around the bottom end of the acceptable quality quartz watch movements.

Yeah, Disney has made some decent quality swag in the last century; both for sale and as business perqs. One of my mum's regular customers in the antique shop was a "Disneyana" buff; always looking for weird things like pens, watches, desktop stuff with Disney trademark & logo on them. That was why I was wondering if this might actually be one of those "lost historical artifacts" pointing to some collaboration or business partnership between the two. 

I just figured that with the number of old goats (older than me ) in here; we might actually have some first-hand knowledge of such a deal going down back on Earth that was... 

mnem

[TERRA Operative]

Hmm, thinking of a Simmconn Labs LCD upgrade for my scope. Tell me why it's a bad idea. Save me from myself!
(But I'll be able to use the old CRT to build another scope from parts... so yeah..)

You can get 2 scope for the price of their LCD Upgrade ? not sure why it's so expensive.

I got 6 and a half of these scopes already..
The LCD is probably around $100 as it is, plus theirs is basically the only one that connects to the original location )Plus an extra connection) and leaves the rear VGA alone.

Single source, no competition = $$$

[Kosmic]

Hmm, thinking of a Simmconn Labs LCD upgrade for my scope. Tell me why it's a bad idea. Save me from myself!
(But I'll be able to use the old CRT to build another scope from parts... so yeah..)

You can get 2 scope for the price of their LCD Upgrade ? not sure why it's so expensive.

I got 6 and a half of these scopes already..
The LCD is probably around $100 as it is, plus theirs is basically the only one that connects to the original location )Plus an extra connection) and leaves the rear VGA alone.

Single source, no competition = $$$

Someone on the forum was working on an alternative solution. Can't find the thread  The goal was to be cheaper.

[mnementh]

> I have come to observe that stiffness, rigidity and lack of undesired movement are preferred characteristics surrounding 3D printing.

Ah. Yes. I have a tested solution for that. Weighs about 50kg

For the rest of us, there's 18 x 18 in and 24 x 24 in paving stones from the hardware store; costs ~US$8-15. Highly recommended under large-format printers to increase mass/inertia of the base, thereby reducing ghosting artifacts. 

mnem

What do you define as a large-format printer ? I have a Ender 3 should I try to improve the base ?

   

Mostly big in the Z dimension, like My Tornado which is 320 x 320 x 400mm build volume. This puts the X-axis on a really tall pendulum, which has a long lever to amplify response to its own movements and movements of the bed. As you can see, this is an older generation printer (CR10 "clone", but technically released before the CR10) from before they started using 4040 for the uprights to improve rigidity; as a result it really needs the chassis triangulated. Also, the huge ceramic & mirror glass bed has a lot of mass, so that translates to a lot of momentum and ringing/ghosting artifacts as well.

But yes, even smaller printers can benefit from this mod... the only reason I haven't done it on my Tornado yet is I have other "must-do" things in the way. Well, that and the fact pretty much all of the ready-to-use kits apply the struts to the front side of the printer, and I do not like how that gets in my way when cleaning the bed/removing prints. So I need to devise my own solution, which puts the struts where I want them.

And yes, increasing the mass of the table they're sitting on and making sure it is uber-solid are very important to getting the best print quality possible, even on little ones. Ringing/ghosting artifacts are one of the most curable faults in any 3D printer. Put it on a heavy, stable base, and make sure your belts are as tight as possible without causing cogging. 

mnem

[AVGresponding]

Do we have any provenance on this thing...? I mean, is it a thing (Like Disney buying those early model AF oscillators from Bill & Dave), or did some asshat just slap a Tektronix watchband on a old Disney watch because they sortof matched...?

Would be nice to see the back of the watch...

mnem


 

You could pm the seller and find out for us; they are on your side of the water feature.

Uhhhhh... I dunno. I might get some on me...

mnem
*toddles off to wash my paws* I feel dirty just typing about it...

My own guess is it's a long service gift, 50 years or something, the three medals under the logo on the strap being 20+10+20..?

Tongue-in-cheek retirement gift?

Perhaps from someone at Tek who often commented on  coworkers doing a Mickey Mouse job?

Seems plausible...

[Martin.M]

new from the toy shop: "my first Siglent" 

[Ice-Tea]

Linus likes it so much he invested $250K in the company.

mnem
*noshing on a bowl of steamed stir-fry veggies*

Modular high-volume electronics rarely work. It's even a huge challenge for high-margin stuff like T&M gear. I wouldn't sink a penny in that project.

I know time is short for most of us in here... but if you'd even skimmed the vid, you'd know that the modular ports are literally the least of the features.

I watched the video when it came out. I'm aware. I used to sell hundreds of laptop vdeo cards for the upgrade market. I'm telling you it won't surive. Just like Project Ara didn't survive.

[mnementh]

   at the unbeliever*   

Yeah, I don't have a quarter mill lying around that I can afford to lose either... but I would at least invest as much as buying my next laptop from them. We'll see what happens come birthday-time. 

mnem

[cyclin_al]

Here in Essex, UK we are being battered by Storm Eunice with gusts of up to 90mph, I know that the Isle of Wight has had gusts of 92mph recorded today so far.

122 mph (196 km/h) in the meantime. Strongest gust ever recorded in the UK. Lots of flights cancelled and no ferries to and from Dover.

https://www.skylinewebcams.com/de/webcam/united-kingdom/england/brighton/brighton-pier.html

Our local airport forecasts gusts of 60 knots later tonight. That's 4 knots short of force 12.

Yeah; interesting weather in New England too. Yesterday, I went to pick up the kids; the Rav4 informed me that it was sixty degrees Funkenkopt outside. Day before it was sixteen.

This morning, the day greeted us with torrential rains on the way to school; literally monsoon/flash-flood type conditions.

mnem
But yeah, Climate Change is a liberal conspiracy...

The weather is just as strange here.

Yesterday was battling against winds strong enough that it was difficult to walk the dog.  Time outside was spent ensuring drains were clear to handle the heavy rain at 8 deg C.
Six hours later, the temperature is -15 deg C and I need to start the snowblower.  Not looking forward to that; starting a Tecumseh... 

[mnementh]

Maybe contrive some sort of block heater near but not on the carbubulator...?

I mean, you do have an electric-start model, right? I refuse to own a snow-blower without it; since I was like in my 20s. I have better things to do than dislocate my shoulder pulling on a frozen go-kart engine for half an hour... If you have 120VAC for the starter, you have it available for some little heater. Maybe one of those little PTC hotplates for reflow soldering LEDs?

And yeah, we're having crazy winds here right now... like, enough to rock the car from side to side.

mnem
And after using a snowblower up there for two winters, in all honesty... grip warmers are not a luxury.

[med6753]

Oh good deal. The Tek Type 105 Square Wave Generator is coming UPS ground and the truck did not get hung up in the big snow storm in the Mid-west. It's now in Easton, PA which is just over the line from Jersey. Too bad UPS doesn't deliver over the weekend or I would definitely have it before Monday.

 

[BU508A]

@med6753

Your HV unit has reached today Mr. Felgendreher but I got no news from him so far.
Will keep you updated.

[TERRA Operative]

Anyone got a Tek TDS680 they can take a photo of the top rear area of the top board? I want to check some jumper resistors...

[m k]

"Where is everybody?"
(EF)

[AVGresponding]

Hiding from the weather?

[tautech]

Hiding from the weather?

What weather ? 
21C currently and forecast of 24C. Forecast showers this arvo and 11km winds.