At 02:28 PM 6/6/97 -0500, you wrote:
>> Oscilloscope:
>>      Radio Shack sells el cheapo digital scoope. It's about $100. It has a
>> small LCD display and it also hooks up to a PC via RS232. Fastest sampling
>> rate is 5 ns, but it doesn't have filters before the digitizing process.
>> This means you'll see many foldovers if you sample high frequency stuff.
>> It's good for quick and dirty stuff. In fact, I think it's a cheapest 5 MHz
>> oscilloscope one can buy (digital or analog).
>
>What's the grounding situation if the thing is plugged into a PC?  Does
>it have any opto-isolation?  If not, does its output have enough "oomph"
>do drive an opto?
>

I bought one of these oscilloscopes. It is a nice idea, but the way it is
implemented is little more than a toy, in my opinion. It has a 10MHz
sampling rate (useful), but has 3 ranges, 1, 10, and 100 volts. It has
about 4 (preset) trigger levels. The graphics looks good on the computer,
though. You could build a little box to improve the input attenuator, and
the trigger level, but I didn't. I bought a Tektronix TDS 220 instead. That
is a real nice little oscilloscope!