Pc Scope

[alecwek]

has any one thought of what it would take to build a fast (100Mhz+) scope using pc software to see the collected data....the idea came up from checking out pc scope then i came across a program called winscope.....its free but u gotta use ur soundcard so i dont really want to use it for any thing.....dangerous ....so the idea dawned...would it be possible to create a high speed DAC that u might use(isolated from your computer) then transmit the data through serial port or something ( i know that welleman and probarbly other companies have these in production...but they are expensive and to slow to detect oscillation...in the Mhz)....i know little about digital curcuitry but maybe someone out there might tell if this is possible....would it be a worthwile attempt....can a diy...er get a relativly fast DAC going....what would be the costs.......please post any thoughts or ideas here.....

[Bill Fitzpatrick]

My suggestion is to buy a real scope.

[Brian Donaldson]

You can find a real nice 100 mhz scope on ebay for under $200.00. And it would be much more versitle and have far higher input impeadance. Don't waist your time on computer wannabe scope.

[alecwek]

fair enough .....guess it dont pay to be a cheap *******....has any one round here treid ordering from ebay...i sometimes wonder whether its worth,...the risk...has anyone been ripped off b4???????????

[powertriode]

I was interested in seeing this thread as I have just finished reading "Building Valve Amplifiers" by Morgan Jones.

He mentions the use of a PC as a scope and says............................don't bother.....

The limitation is the quality of the PC soundcard (i.e. crap) and this will affect both measurement quality and bandwidth of your virtual scope. He says it will only be really useable in the kHz range (less than 100)

Your money would be better spent buying a decent 2nd hand analogue scope such as an HP or a Tek.
With this you will get build quality

I have an old Tek scope, brand new in the 70's it would have cost the same to buy as a small car!!!

[Brian Donaldson]

Wrong, it would have cost the same to by a nice new Mercedes.

Ebay has some scoundrels, but most of the people are honost. Buy from someone who offers a DOA warranty or 5 day right of return, and buy from someone who says it works good, not someone who says it powers up but don't know how to test. Often they know how ot test it or they would say it is fully functional. I bought a B&K Precision 2120 ($600 20 mhz scope new) from the mid 80's for $60 and have been very happy with it.

[lgreen]

My suggestion is to forget about EBay and buy it here:

http://www.dilette.com/main/dilettesales/ebaylist.htm

I bought one on ebay and it wasn't perfect, this guy's prices are about the same, and at least someone has looked at it and will talk to you. Give them a call or email. I bought one from him and its great.

[alecwek]

hey thanks igreen...thats a great idea...i wrote to those guys...also check this site out...pretty cool....http://www.telford-electronics.com/t...illoscopes.htm
ebay u can trust

[DRC]

Always check the second hand dealers before buying from ebay. Many times I find I can get items at a lower cost than ebay and get some sort of warranty into the deal. I recently bought an LCR bridge for 1/3 of the price of an item that sold on ebay.

Dave

[gmarsh]

On PC based scopes... a buddy of mine spent quite a few bucks on one many years ago, while I used my old benchtop HP scope.

His cost around the same amount of money as my HP would have cost brand new, but it had all the features like big capture buffers, data logging, being able to directly print off plots from the computer without using polaroid film and all that other stuff... of course, I was reminded of this almost on a daily basis by the guy.

Then Win95 came out and his DOS based scope program wouldn't work within it. Then ISA slots vanished from computers. Finally, he bought a regular benchtop scope and now he's got an expensive PC based scope sitting in a desk. Eventually, he bought my HP too.

So, careful buying computer peripherals...