oscilloscope specs

[patroclus]

Hi,
I'm considering getting a PC based digital oscilloscope, and I would like to know your opinion abput its specs and the uses I could give it:

* 40 Msamples/s, 100Mhz bandwith.
* 32kb buffer.
* Pre and post trigger.
* Includes logic analyzer up to 40Mhz samples/s, 32Kb buffer
* Allows to triger analog inputs with 8 logic inputs.
* Includes arbitrary waves generator thatt works very well up to 1Mhz

Do you think it's enough for standar projects and hobbiest?? (nothing in special)
Would you find usefull to be able to capture and generate waves at the same time?? for example, generate a sine wave to a trasintor input and measure its output real-time or get transfer functions of circuits.

thank you.
(its bitscope, at www.bitscope.com)

 

[The Real MicroMan]

these pc scopes always work like crap, better off getting a used one on e-bay

 

[patroclus]

this one costs around 300 dollars and has logic analyzer and wave generator. Also, quite good software and does not cost so much, and weight and take so much space. Peolple talk well about it.

 

[samcheetah]

as far as i know, bitscope is a nice PC based mixed signal analyzer. i havent used it myself but i remember one of the members here have one (i think its evandude)

have a look at the following article

**broken link removed**

 

[Dean Huster]

"... does not cost so much, and weight and take so much space."

That is such an absurd statement.

Cost = $300 PLUS the cost of a computer to put it in

Weight = 1 pound + the 50 pounds of computer, monitor, printer, cables ...

Space = 1/216 of a cubic foot + the 3 cubic feet of computer, monitor, printer, cables, ....

It's cheap, light and space-saving ONLY because you already have the computer to put it into. However, there sure as heck won't be anything portable about it, will there?

40MS/s is an extremely slow sampling rate and won't come close to supporting the 100MHz bandwidth. Even Tektronix's low-end TDS220 with its 60MHz bandwidth has a sampling rate of 2GS/s! And it's cost NEW is only about three times the cost of this little computer board you're considering. It has built-in waveform storage, direct-to-printer output as an option, RS-232 or GPIB interface options, and all sorts of built-in waveform calculations.

I'm not saying you should go out and buy one of these little guys new. No. I'm saying that a PC-based scope is a far cry from a decent oscilloscope. If you're going to spend that kind of money, invest it in something worth the cost. A PC-based scope has a limited lifetime -- look where PC interface busses have gone since 1982, let alone the external interface capabilities.

ebay will provide you with a lot of low-cost, high-end scope choices in the used market. And don't be like a lot of folks and pooh-pooh analog scopes. Most medium to high-end analog scopes will run performance circles around most digital scopes in the same price range.


Dean

 

[patroclus]

thank you very much.
These kind of comments are what I was looking for.
The problem is that a have a PC, and can't spend 1000 dollars on a oscilloscope, and neither I have high requirements for it at the moment.
digital 40 Ms/s give you like 20Mhz analog sampling, which isn't bad for me (at less than 300 dollars, 32Kb buffer, with AWG and Patter generator, with a logic analyzer 8 channels...)

What do you think?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

thank you very much.
These kind of comments are what I was looking for.
The problem is that a have a PC, and can't spend 1000 dollars on a oscilloscope, and neither I have high requirements for it at the moment.
digital 40 Ms/s give you like 20Mhz analog sampling, which isn't bad for me (at less than 300 dollars, 32Kb buffer, with AWG and Patter generator, with a logic analyzer 8 channels...)

What do you think?

Basically it's not a replacement for a real scope, but is a useful addition to one.

For the cost of that you could probably buy a cheap new scope, or a second hand higher spec one. Either of which would be far more useful than a PC based scope.

 

[zachtheterrible]

You could probably get a 100MHZ scope on ebay for around $200. Possibly even one that is designed to see slow-moving or non-repeating signals.

 

[patroclus]

What do "real" scopes really have over pc-based scopes??
I never worked extensivily with them yet
Faster?
I really find more confortable to work on pc with nice software...