Paul James E. wrote:
> Although it's a little bit higher than your budget, you won't go wrong.
> I'm talking about the Tektronix TDS-210 unit.  It's a digital scope, but
> you don't need a computer to use it.  It has a small form factor so it
> sits on a bench or desk and doesn't take up much room.  It's perfect for
> working with PIC's and related circuits.  It has the capability of
> storing waveforms from each of it's two channels to use as a reference
> waveform, or for taking a longer look at a signal after it has been
> captured.
> You can also connect a printer so you can print the waveforms to paper
> if you have the printer I/F cartridge in place.
> The cost for all of this utility is around $900.00 new.  $500.00 to
> $700.00 used.   I don't regret getting one.   I use it all the time.
> Just a suggestion on my part, but I know you'll like it if you get one.

Definitely an adequate scope for general microcontroller work.  There is one
thing that really bugs me about these though, especially since it could have
been fixed with just a firmware change.  The horizontal position of the
trigger stays fixed in *time* relative to the center of the screen, not
fixed in screen position.  This is really annoying when you put the trigger
point near the left end as you often would, then change time scales.  If you
go to a larger time scale, then then trigger point moves in towards the
center and you have to put it back.  That's annoying enough, but if you
change to a smaller time scale the trigger point goes off screen.  If you
magnified the time a lot, then the trigger point ends up waaay off screen.
Of course now the adjustment knob is on the new time scale, so you can turn
it and turn it and still not get the trigger point back.  You have to turn
the time scale back until you can see the trigger, put the trigger in the
middle of the screen, expand the time scale, hope you parked the trigger
close enough to the middle that it didn't go off screen, then put the
trigger point back near the left edge where you had it in the first place.
This may not sound like that big a deal, but it gets really annoying after a
while.


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