On 19/02/2011 23:46, RussellMc wrote: > I imagine that he also finds it modestly impressive at a technical level. > > Whatever. > Indeed. Of course sadly Orwell was writing about 1948 A second hand =8080 dual channel Analogue scope will work calibrated to=20 15MHz or 25MHz. Display stuff usefully to 150MHz perhaps. Have precision attenuators that would cost a fortune Have wonderful timebase and triggering unavailable on any cheap USB=20 digital Scope. Build a scope if you want to learn and have fun. Get a second hand=20 Analogue CRT model if you have only $90 and need a scope and the PC=20 soundcard isn't good enough. Google for FREE "visual Analyser 2010 NE-XT v2.4 or Sillanumsoft Uses Soundcard(s) Scope, Spectrum analyser, Vector scope, signal generator(s), function Generator phase meter Frequency Meter Filters etc.. Yes Smart phones are impressive. But I'd buy a phone as a phone=20 primarily. It's amazing indeed what they fit in. I shall write an article shortly partly from memory and partly research=20 and experience of ARM from the 1987 Acorn User cover (I have original=20 issue I bought at the time) to today's Quad Core + GPU ARM. and also=20 Cortex Mx series for Embedded. My son is debugging a Blackfin at the minute. But decent test gear as test gear, that doesn't say where I am and what=20 I'm doing. Android/davik/Java is not a reliable platform for testgear. Only specialist versions of Linux are real time in sense test gear needs=20 to be. Smart move RIM buying QNX. --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .