pc oscilloscopes??

[high lord jah]

Hi ,
Could anyone one recomend, or direct me to a good pc oscilloscope.
Thanks alot to anyone that can help.
Cheers John

 

[Papabravo]

Give us a definition of good, and how much you want to spend. Personally I wouldn't touch a PC Oscilliscope with a ten foot pole. If you want an oscilliscope then figure out how to get one.

 

[adaminc]

I would suggest hitting up eBay for a real Oscilloscope, I bought mine, a Tektronix 2246 for just under $400, including shipping from California to Toronto, which is an amazing deal

The only thing wrong with mine is cosmetic, there is a crack in the back of the plastic casing.

Much better than those pc oscilloscopes.

 

[philba]

there has been some pretty good progress, the USB scopes are pretty decent. Jack Ganssle did a review of several last year - https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2006/06/EmbScopeUSB.pdf

there are a number of others, too.

You should look over the specs, google for more reviews and then decide if you can live with the limitations.

 

[dknguyen]

I like the real scopes because on the PC scopes you have to know exactly how to use the scope...with a real scope you can fiddle with the knobs to find out what is wrong.

 

[iso9001]

Great Post Papabravo.

There is nothing wrong with a good PC scope. I used one for awhile but it wasn't mine so it was only recreational use. I beleive was every bit as accurate as my tek.

PC scopes have a pretty big advantage in terms of portability. Usb scope and a laptop anyday over lugging some of the antiques people are buying off ebay. But most people never have a need for any sort of field work.

Pico made the PC scope I used. I don't think they are expensive, compared to a scope of similar features. But you woul need a pc or laptop whenever you want to use it.

Just like anything else, they have their pros and cons.

 

[G8RPI]

Hi,
The more recent PC scopes are pretty good. I use a PICO ADC212 which is high resoultion (12bit) but not very high bandwidth, It works very well.
It should be remembered that most of the 'scopes on the market these days are digital (and only have 8bits of vertical resolution, about 0.4%), so all the issues of aliasing, latency etc still apply. In fact many 'scopes today are PC based anyway. The 1Gs/s 4 channel 'scope I use at work runs Windows XP!
A resonable PC scope such as the PICOSCOPE https://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope.html
may be a better choice than an old analog 'scope with worn out switches and controls. A PC scope takes up less space on the bench (assuming the PC is still there) and has the advantage of manipulating and printing the data. Most PC scopes have an FFT function providing simple spectrum analysis as a bonus. They can also be used as data loggers or chart (strip) recorders on slowly changing signals. One thing to look for is the input sensitivity, many of the cheaper units will only accept a 5V input, sometimes only unipolar (positive) so you can't use DC coupling on AC signals or look at negative voltages.
The systems based on a sound card are not much use, even at audio frequencies.
Note that quality (Tek, HP) high speed analog 'scopes still keep their value.

What do you want to use it for? Audio, RF, Digital (how fast), faultfinding (on what), just learning?

Robert G8RPI.

 

[high lord jah]

Hi, thanks for all of that. Yes i just wanted to test if a frequency generator i was building was working, or what sort of wave it was putting out.
Thanks alot John