Generally, an ok idea, but if your "B" has a serial number above
50K abd above, you had best check the surface mount capacitors
aluminum electrolytic capacitors on the A5 (CPU) board.
The damage they do when they fail, and the originals will always
fail, is hard to clean up, and can destroy the board.
All solder joints in tektronix scopes should be shiny as a mirror.
If they are milky, you have a problem. If they are milky, and
when you touch them with a soldering iron, they smell like dead
fish, that is capacitor electrolyte.
If your serial number is below 50K, your CPU cards use thru hole
parts, and they, and all the rest of the electrolytic capacitors
tend to fail in harmless ways.
-Chuck Harris
On Wed, 30 Apr 2025 11:25:44 -0700 "Michael Cheponis via groups.io"
<michael.cheponis@...> wrote:
I've successfully used a 465B for output from an Analog Computer.
They can be had almost for free, and are very rugged. I would not
touch a 2465 esp B for this purpose, unless it was all I had.
I have a 2465B which keeps working like a champ on the bench, never
replaced caps, and I don't intend to unless it develops a problem.
Since I don't use it for critical day-to-day measurements, I'd prefer
to fix it when it breaks (if it breaks) than to tear it apart just
for fun & cap replacement.
Never even had to open up the 465B. Battleship. Also, it's the
Classic 'scope, controls are laid out intelligently. 2465/B has
tiny controls and buttons - and two 'stunted' channels with limited
vertical amplitude settings. (Not an issue for X-Y, tho).
Good Luck!
p.s.
Short video of the "Snowflake" program running on a pdp-1 and my 456B
tapped into DAC X & Y outputs.
On Wed, Apr 30, 2025 at 11:07?AM Tom Gardner via groups.io <tggzzz=
[email protected]> wrote:
On Wed, 30 Apr 2025 at 17:53, Christian Eisert via groups.io
<christian.eisert@...> wrote:
Hi all,
I'm currently looking for a suitable Tektronix oscilloscope for a
specific use case:
*Displaying vector graphics in XY mode* from arcade PCBs (Atari
Asteroids, Tempest, Space Duel, etc.) ¨C ideally with clean *beam
blanking via the Z input*. I'm also planning to use it for general
CRT repairs and TTL logic diagnostics.
*Important to know:*
I'm not an electronics engineer ¨C I'm a computer scientist by
trade. So *robustness and low maintenance* are my top priorities
(right after a proper Z input). I¡¯d prefer something that just
works and doesn¡¯t immediately turn into a restoration project.
IMHO with any 24x5 you will need to recap the PSU, both the
electrolytics and RIFA delayed action smoke generators. You can buy
a kit of parts for that.
24x5 has the squirrel cage motor, and removing the PSU requires
undoing the fragile collet. I have two, both recapped.
24x5A/B have the battery backed RAM problem plus the SMD
electrolytics on the A5 board. I don't like them, but others
disagree.
Any of those would be more than adequate for old TTL logic (i.e.
anything introduced before the mid 80s), but they won't be perfect
for fast modern logic.
Consider using a scope to ensure the analogue waveform PSU and
signal integrity, then flipping to the digital domain and using a
logic analyser or protocol analyser.
Be aware that improper probing technique will, with any fast scope,
"invent" waveform artefacts.
I've never used any myself and so can't offer any advice, but there
are quite a few devices designed to display an XY TV signal. Since
they are for analogue TV (not digital) and they aren't as useful as
a scope, I would guess they would be relatively cheap. They are
often seen at auctions of broadcast equipment.
