Recommended logic analyzer/scope tools? (was: RL02 write faults,

I hate t osay this again, but the most important tool for debugging is a brain :-). I feel that a good engineer/hacker armed with an LED+resistor logic probe is likely to do rather better than an idoit or novice (these are NOT THE DAME THING!) armed with the most expensive 'socpe and analyser available. As to test gear, the main instruments I think you need are : 1) A multimeter. Digital or analogue, the choice is yours (I have, and use, both). It is rare to need to make accurate measurements in classic computer work, so analogue is OK, and in fact better when you want to 'peak' the voltage at some test point or something like that. If you go digital, I would certainly consider a Fluke. A Very useful feature is a continuity buzzer, a beeper that sounds if the resistance between the probes is less than a certain, fixed, value. But make sure it repsonds quickly (and doesn't, for example, take the time for the autoranging system to work and then for the instrument to take a couple of samples). You will want, quite often, to clip one probe onto, say, a wire at one end of a cable, and run the other probe down the pins at the other end. You don't want to have to stop and wait on each pin. 2) A logic probe. HP have made some nice ones over the years (I've seen them on E-overpay from time to time). Actually, a cheap one (Radio Shack used to sell them) is all you need for most work. This is very useful for fioding a signal that's stuck high, or something like that. If you are a rich enthusiast, consider attempting to find an HP 'Advanced Logic Probe' aka LogicDart. It's a handheld thing that acts as a digital voltmeter, frequency meter, logic probe and 3-channel logic analyser. A word of warning, if you ever use one of these you will be 'hooked'.... 3) A 'scope. I would always consider Tektronix here. Actually, I rarely use a 'scope, other than for disk drive alignments and PSU repairs, neither of which need a particularly highly spec'ed instrument. Mine is a very old, valved, Tektronix 555 with an assortment of plug-ins. If I was buying now, I'd consider getting a second-hand 7000 series or 460 series. Nothing much more recent, IMHO Tektronix went way downhill when they stopped putting schematics in the user manual. A typical spec for most classic computer work would be dual trace, at least 20MHz. External trigger -- and a good trigger system -- is essential, if you can't keep the trace still you can't measure from it. Delayed timebase (or a second timebase which can be used as a delay) is very useful. Storage is useful, but by no means essenital. 4) A logic analyser. Tektronix made a reasonable one as a plug-in for the 7000-series 'scopes. HP and Gould also made analysers, either stand-alone or as plug-ins for 'scopes. I would say at least 50MHz and preferably 100MHz is fine for classic computers. 16 channels is enough (you can get away with fewer if you have to). Make sure you get the probes/pods with the instrument, they are _hell_ to find on their own and often get lost/separated from the unit. The ability to transfer the captured data to another computer for more analysis (often via an RS232 or GPIB port) is very useful I have several analysers, but the main one is a Gould K100D (I think the manual is on Bitsavers). 16 channel, 100MHz. I have never needed anything more 5) An EPROM Emulator. I put this under test equipment because it's very useful to replace the ROMs in a system with an emulator containing a little test program (even something as simple as a jump to itself), and see what happens. I built my own, they are not complicated. -tony