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

What kind of equipment to you intend to work on with this new LA? I've used

the HP 1630 though it's been about 15 years. It has some nice features. With today's fairly flexible (I/O) devices, however, you might find it interesting to build one that uses your PC as a display and acquires the sample memory contents from the device via the EPP. If you're really ambitious, perhaps USB would be appealing. It's certainly popular enough.

If you're determined to buy a logic analyzer, the crux of the task is to find a unit that's not only fully functional but also fully complete. You need the documentation ... all of it, and you need the complete set of pods and whatever mechanism, usually an interface board, that is required to support it. You'll ultimately be disappointed if it's possible to have more channels than what you've got, so it's important you have enough channel boards, pods, and probe clips to support them all. There are usually pod testers that come with a new logic analyzer, and those often are the first thing that gets lost. Those are extremely necessary when you're having trouble gettin a setup to work, because they're the only way you have of restoring your confidence in the instrument. If there's some sort of method for storing and processing the sample data, either internally or externally, you certainly will want that capability. A spare pod is pretty useful, too, unless you think you will find one, which I, having searched the market pretty thoroughly at various times, doubt very much. I did find on, however.

I've had several logic analyzers, and, in '92-93, due to the need for portability, decided to replace my bench-bound model for a portable, a TEK 1240, which is the monochrome (cheaper) version of their portable of the mid-late '80's. I found any number of incomplete LA's. Mostly, the pods and the sample boards were partly or completely missing. Documentation was not common, and, though I found some pods for sale, they were not complete, and none I was offered had documentation. Unfortunately, it's too easy to develop excessive or erroneous expectations of what the instrument will do if you don't have doc's so you'd better have them. I found several 1240/41's for <$250, but those were without pods, several were without the required sample boards, and none had documentation. I found pods, often costing more than $250 for a pair, again without documentation and, worse, without the lead sets and probe clips that you need to attach to a device

Before you buy, be ceratin that YOUR preferred triggering methods are supported. I've found triggering the most critical problem of logic analyzer application, and if there's even a single conceivable mode that isn't supported, THAT's the one you'll need, ... trust me.