OT (sortof) wanted items (cart & logic analyzer stuff)

From: Jay West <west_at_tseinc.com>
Date: Sat Dec 30 17:48:28 2000

Dave wrote...
> I didn't think the 1631D had a floppy drive...? I had an HP 54201
> oscilloscope for a while; it was my understanding that the 1631D was
> basically a 54201 scope with an additional logic analysis module.

The 1631D doesn't have a floppy drive... but it does have an HP-IB port, and
fully supports 9121S/D, 9122S/D, and 9122C floppy drives. The menus built
into the 1631D have options for formatting floppies, listing directories,
loading software (like the disassemblers), etc. The main use for the floppy
is saving/loading instrument setups (settings, user defined labels, etc.).
I'm not familiar with the 54201 but the basic specs on the 1631D are 100mhz
timing with 16 channels, 25mhz state with 43 channels, and 2 analog channels
(50mhz dual channel digitizing scope). If you get one used, make darn sure
that it includes 5 probes, 5 clips, and at least *some* of those pesky
grabber clips that are seemingly impossible to find. I'd kill for about 50
of those little grabbers, but I won't go so far as to pay the $100 bucks
that a bag of 100 went for on ebay recently :) They don't generally come
with a manual, but for copying charges at kinkos I'd send one to anyone that
needs one.

For printing, the 1631D officially supports the 2225A printer, but I suspect
any HP-IB printer that supports "HP-GRAPHICS" would work too. I seem to
recall my 1631D has a HP-IL connector too.

> I've been shopping around off & on for a new logic analyzer...would
> you recommend the 1631D?

There's a 1631D on ebay... they seem to show up there frequently along with
a lot of other logic analyzers. As I recall the one currently on epay is
missing the pod clips though. I like my 1631D, I've been having an absolute
blast hooking it up to some of my microprocessors and checking out the state
and timing info, stuff I knew about but couldn't see in front of me easily.
I believe I paid $395 for mine. Other than that, I'm not at all qualified to
recommend one LA over another, I'm pretty much a neophyte at it. Of course,
you want to make sure the LA you buy can handle the systems you normally
work with... ie. is 25mhz state sufficient for a PDP-11/44? I haven't a
clue, but I suspect it'll work with the Heath 3400 6080 trainer I just got
:)

Jay West
Received on Sat Dec 30 2000 - 17:48:28 GMT