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Which oscilloscope would you want???

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I would with the handheld, because for the PC based one: "*Please note this item is not suitable for Windows NT or Windows 2000". I don't have win 98 or 95 on any of my computers anymore, they are all linux, 2000 or XP. Also: "8Bit ISA PC Board". I only own one computer that still has ISA slots, but it is very old and slow.

If it was a PCI based scope with drivers for windows 2000 and XP I would reconsider, but otherwise, definitely not the PC based one.

Also, portable can be very handy.
 
If you have to choose from the two of them... choose the Hand Held Oscilloscope because it's portable and it hasen't the disadvantages of the PCI as mattg2k4 noticed.

Alternative i wouldn't buy either of them. I would prefer to buy a used one, maybe from ebay.
 
I'd try to define what you intend to do with the 'scope, if you can, before making a purchase. I know little about the nomenclature used to describe 'scope but one thing I'd want to be sure of is that it will properly display waveforms at the frequencies of interest. I looked at the PC 'scope URL and wondered - says 20 mHz at the top but in the specs it talks about DC to 2 mHz. Could that mean it's sampling at 20 mHz - meaning that at 2 mHz you'll be looking at the results of 10 samples? If this is really the case and you intend to look at things above 2 mHz then this would not be the scope for you.

Any light that others could shed on this would be appreciated.
 
stevez said:
I'd try to define what you intend to do with the 'scope, if you can, before making a purchase. I know little about the nomenclature used to describe 'scope but one thing I'd want to be sure of is that it will properly display waveforms at the frequencies of interest. I looked at the PC 'scope URL and wondered - says 20 mHz at the top but in the specs it talks about DC to 2 mHz. Could that mean it's sampling at 20 mHz - meaning that at 2 mHz you'll be looking at the results of 10 samples? If this is really the case and you intend to look at things above 2 mHz then this would not be the scope for you.

Any light that others could shed on this would be appreciated.

That's correct, the Velleman hand held scope has similar restrictions. I would advise getting a cheap conventional scope, I notice Jaycat list a 10MHz single beam for only $30 more than the Velleman.

I would have thought you could easily get a decent spec one second hand for even less.
 
Digital vs. Analog Scopes

So far, the head count seems to show favoritism toward the handheld scope if having to choose between the two, or getting a conventional scope (I assume an analog scope is what's being considered here) instead. I agree.

First of all, I wouldn't have a PC-based scope unless you just wanted to give me one, and even then, I likely wouldn't install it. A PC scope is slaved to the PC .... portability is an issue there. And most PC scopes are gimmick items and don't fall into the category of "real" test equipment.

That money for the handheld model is only buying you 10MHz bandwidth and the sample rate is probably so low that you'll have trouble with discerning odd waveforms at the bandwidth limit and have big problems with aliasing. Single-shot stuff would be impossible.

You can spend that same money on ebay and buy a working Tektronix oscilloscope such as the 455, 465, 465B, 465M, 475, 475A, 485 and get anywhere from 50MHz bandwidth (the 455) up to 350MHz (the 485). The 465 and 465B are the most popular and the most numerous with 100MHz bandwidth and excellent performance. You might even find some working 7000-series mainframes and plug-ins that together would be in that same price range if you look around. The 7603 with 7A18 and 7B53A would be a good choice. Yes, the Tek equipment would be used, but it's reliable and will outperform nearly any new scope that's selling for less than $2000.

Dean
 
The PC based one wouldn't work on your computer unless you got a really old crappy computer laying around somewhere... even then, i wouldn't bother.

I wouldn't go with the handheld either as the screen will be to small and it probably won't do to much or be very accurate... just give you a basic idea of what you're looking at.

my suggestion? keep looking :wink:

I would definatly check out other PC oscilloscopes.
 
I would suggest a good conventional scope. You'll quickly find that the limited bandwidth of most handhelds is annoying and they are rarely useful for catching single shot transients or events. I am partial to the tektronix TDS3000 series and the classic Tektronix 2465 -- enough analog bandwidth to handle just about everything I have ever used it for.
 
You could look at picotech scopes www.picotech.com, they have a fairly low bandwidth (unless you buy a really expensive one) but have a few other features which may be usefull.
 
Free scope using pc soundcard.

Check this out.
You might wanna make some kinda protection circuit before using your sound card to test. I sent creative a email asking for the specs on a old sblive so i can make a protection circuit for using it to test.
link
**broken link removed**
 
thanks guys,

sorry about the late reply (damn thunderstorms :evil: ).

i've decided to opt for one that plugs into my mother-board through the microphone input. 20khz is enough for what i'm doing (for now).
just for protection i'm wanting to build something that can amplify and attenuate signals.

Just one last question, can operational amplifiers attenuate signals ??
 
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