Looking for the Tek 465 of Logic Analysers

[Sean Caron]

Hi Tony,

I don't mean to throw shade on your HP 1630 or your K100 ... just in my own
personal opinion, when I see a HP 1630 on eBay for $100 or a HP 1660 on
eBay for $100 ... and you see this all the time ... I think going with the
1660 is the better deal ... you do make a good point about schematics and
repairability ... and hack-ability ... there are plenty of very exotic
looking components ... especially on the acquisition cards ... on the newer
machines that I'm sure are basically impossible to repair.

I just try to manage that risk by keeping as many spare cards on hand as I
can get for the 16500 series, and I've always got the 1662 standing by in
case something happened to it ... honestly, when you can get a HP 166x for
$100, unless you enjoy the sport of troubleshooting and repair in and of
itself (and I do so sometimes myself) is it really worth sinking much time
and effort into repairing a 1630 series, or a K100?

I just want folks to be aware ... people might not necessarily realize,
what their money will get them; I'd hate for someone to shell out for a
1630 when they could have gotten a 166x or 167x for the same price... That
almost happened to me when I was shopping around and I would have regretted
it. I'm glad I did the a little bit more background research beforehand...
No intrinsic dislike for the classic instruments; if you got em, use em! :O

Best,

Sean




On Fri, Jun 12, 2015 at 4:52 PM, tony duell <ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>
> > * The HP 16500B and 16500C use a different '030 based logic board and
> also
> [...]
> > * Generally anything the "C" can do, the "B" can do and vice versa. The
> big
> > difference between the two is that they switched from HP-HIL peripherals
> on
> > the "B" to standard PS/2 peripherals on the "C", if you want to connect
> an
> > external keyboard and mouse to use in lieu of or in conjunction with the
> > touch screen; depending on what you have in your stash ... I happened to
> > have a bunch of HIL mice and a HIL keyboard so HP-HIL on the "B" doesn't
> > bug me.
>
> I don't know if it works on these instruments, but there was an interface
> to
> use a quadrature mouse on an HP-HIL system.
>
> > * IMO, the HP 1630 series and the Biomation K100 are pretty obsolescent
> and
> > ... unless you already have one, or someone local to you is giving you
> > one... I don't think they're really worth the cost of shipping unless you
> > have some nostalgic attachment to a particular instrument.
>
> As somebody who has both and uses them (and has no later analysers), I have
> to disagree with you there. After all the OP was asking for the 'Tek 465
> of logic
> analysers' which suggests not the latest instruments. The HP1630 and Gould
> K100D
> are easily fast enough for classic computer work (I've never had
> problems). They
> also seem to be a lot better documented than later analysers (can you get
> schematics of later HPs? I seem to remember they are not in the manuals).
> The
> probe interface is also documented and quite simple. While I recomend only
> getting a LA with the original pods, the ability to make custom pods has
> helped
> me on several occasions. The inputs to both those LAs are simple
> differential
> ECL signals, easy to hack about with.
>
> -tony
>