✧✦Catherine✦✧
i feel like my general feelings re: Rigol and people swearing by their Tek are best summarized with the old "rifle is fine" copypasta. as in: if you are skilled in the art you will get things done just as well with the rigol as you will with a tek that's 10 times* the price. and if you aren't, goddess bless you either way also
* referring me to US secondary markets is classist and i will not be elaborating on this observation
✧✦Catherine✦✧
SCOPE IS FINE. YOU FUCK IT, IT ONLY GET EXPENSIVE AND YOU STILL NO HIT LARGEST SIDE OF BARN. GO TO CHEAPASS CONSULTANCY, PRACTICE WITH MANY DATASHEET OF VENDOR. THEN YOU NOT NEED DUMB SHIT SOLD BY MAKER OF SCOPE.
✧✦Catherine✦✧
i've always believed this maxim on some level but seeing someone reverse engineer henceforth completely undocumented features of a 5 Gbps SERDES with my 100 MHz Rigol has really drilled it in
Ret
@whitequark does scope work (I.e. do thing you need scope to do?)
If yes, scope good.
If no, scope bad.
Ends.
✧✦Catherine✦✧
@ret yup
✧✦Catherine✦✧
@jonny and self-aware enough to continue shipping known vulnerable units because the people who are hacking the scopes were 100% never going to pay for the options. but their next employer just might
I feel like the western scope vendors are cursed by what I call "IP brainrot" where they deliriously believe this to not be the case and that they just need to clamp down some more, surely they'll squeeze out a bit more $$
jonny (good kind)
@whitequark every gradation of scope is the same but only rigol is honest enough to have the unlock keygen leaked widely enough that you don't need to wonder
✧✦Catherine✦✧
@jonny this is really just some very basic marketing, sales, and business experience, except rigol has been applying it for close to two decades and everyone not speaking mandarin has collectively decided to forget. absolutely baffling and self-defeating strategy
jonny (good kind)
@whitequark EXACTLY. that's the only situation i ever was in before current job.
✧✦Catherine✦✧
不是！Scope is fine!
✧✦Catherine✦✧
@datenwolf @jonny it is so early in the morning and I am so tired
datenwolf
@whitequark @jonny ha, one of the reasons is even more stupid: ITAR!
We recently purchased a 12 GSample/s AWG for our lab. One of the HW options is a digital interface (parallel data + strobe) to trigger the playback of the selected segment with ~10 ps trigger accuracy. It costs extra. Why?
Because you could use this to make an adaptive radar. And making it an option allows for ITAR tracing.
✧✦Catherine✦✧
@philpem I actually plan on primarily using the scope UI itself because despite like ... >7 years of trying I don't find either software to be all that usable for my purposes
Phil M0OFX
@whitequark Especially with Sigrok and GLScopeClient.
✧✦Catherine✦✧
@hailey yeah same, it's why i don't really understand people who build these elaborate (hardware or software) battlestations
give me a reasonable degree of ergonomics and we're cookin
Hailey
@whitequark ++ in general for any tool and any art. I have a windows pc and a basic ass microsoft keyboard and mouse at work and I’m getting shit done
Lucie / minute
@whitequark yeah. i've only two things i'd like improved on my only oscilloscope (that cheap rigol keygenned to 200mhz), which are: faster (more responsive) UI 2. higher screen res
✧✦Catherine✦✧
@dascandy in this case it was mostly because she was paid a lot of money for it
Peter Bindels
@whitequark The best way to motivate a nerd is to tell them something is impossible without proof.
Jan Rychter
@whitequark I switched from a Rigol to something more expensive, but not because I couldn't do things with the Rigol. The new scope was just… nicer, works faster, and I enjoy using nice tools 🙂 I wouldn't try to justify or rationalize it by saying things were impossible with the low-end Rigol.
Thing is, looking at the pace of Rigol development and their recent scopes, I'd say they might well kick the collective hindquarters of all the "established" brands soon. And I'm here for it.
✧✦Catherine✦✧
@jrychter I think that's completely fine: if you have the money to splurge on nicer tools and you do it, more power to you! I might have it one day, too. I imagine you would not look down at people for having a Rigol, or go "That's not a serious option just get a Tek", right? in which case you aren't really someone towards whom my message is addressed
✧✦Catherine✦✧
@datenwolf @chrisgj198 @jonny oh god I've heard about that one
datenwolf
@chrisgj198 @whitequark @jonny
Try find a datasheet for the LM97600.
It's a really weird, no longer manufactured 5GS/s ADC producing 7.6 bits/sample. Actually it's an 8 bit design, but it will drop the LSB every so often to not fall under ITAR at the time.
Back in 2014 I actually got TI to send me 3 samples of it for free. Still haven't put them in a circuit due to lack of well matched FPGAs that don't break the back.
chrisgj198
@datenwolf @whitequark @jonny Similarly, there's a 9 frames per second limit to avoid export controls on Flir thermal cameras (even though the sensors generate 60fps), whereas the Chinese thermal cameras provide much higher frame rates.
✧✦Catherine✦✧
@dascandy paid on completion
Peter Bindels
@whitequark but then why the 100mhz rigol?
✧✦Catherine✦✧
@dascandy if you've ever used LUNA with USB3 that's her work
Peter Bindels
@whitequark ... oh.
and clearly not in need of a better scope. Tell her she's got a fan of her talent if you see her again :-)
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