Logic Analyzer

[John H. Reinhardt]

I'm looking for recommendations for a logic analyzer.  Something good for a beginner, but can be used by someone more advanced.  My primary interest is something that I can use to watch bus signals like on a DEC QBus or UNIBus.

I've done some Googling around, but I really don't know what I should look for yet.

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John H. Reinhardt

[Joerg Hoppe]

Hi John and all,

Thats really a good question.

No LA => no repair!

For full UNIBUS you need 56 wires, QBUS 44 (if I count right).
Then add more probes for the circuit under test.
As we all know: None of the small chinese devices on ebay have these,
limit seems to be 16bit.

- 12+ years before I bought  LA1034 with 34 probes:
https://www.pctestinstruments.com/
34 probes is the bare minimum, enough wires for DAT<0:15>, IOPage,
ADR<12:0>, MSYN,SSYN,C0,C1
Strange: Despite of old technology now, it seems to have doubled it
price to $440
There are some clones/redistributors, google for L1034.
It has a very clean user interface, which is a joy.
For the L1034 I made a integration board, so it plugs easily onto
QProbe/UniProbe.

- I know of some people recommending the old HP 165000C. ("C" seems
important).
https://www.ebay.com/itm/225041216436
Should have Ethernet and even an X-windows server for remote control,
and enough wires of course.
But seems difficult to setup ... any success stories?

- Personally I do all my hard work with a Zeroplus Lap-B
http://www.zeroplus.com.tw/logic-analyzer_en/products.php?pdn=1&product_id=389
72 probes, 2M samples, 1GHz, not available anymore (about 2200€ in 2015).
In theory the perfect device.
Almost no support now, incomprehensible user interface, USB interface
not very stable, still working.

kind regard,
Joerg

[John H. Reinhardt]

Thanks Joerg!

Online I've found some information about HP/Agilent 1670x series. The 1672 have 136 channels, the 1671 have 102 and the 1672 have 68.  And a similar model number the HP/Agilent 1670x with the same channel count for the 16700/16701/16702.  I can't tell which is newer.  Both can be found on Ebay for between $300 and $1000 US.

The 167x comes in many versions 167xD/E/G  I think are new hardware revisions.  I notice they have a small QWERTY keyboard while the 1770x just have a few buttons.  Maybe that doesn't matter if you have an X-Window connection.  The 1670x's are also modular.  You can buy cards to put int he back for various options while the 167x's are fixed hardware with some software options.

One of the sites I found said go for the version with HP/UX as the inside since it's easier to set up an X-Window connection

--
John H. Reinhardt
PRRT&HS #8909
C&O HS #11530
NRail (NTrak) #7566

[Frits Jalvingh]

I have a hp 16702a which I love. It has the ability to use a remote session from your pc, so you get a large screen to use. It is not the fastest but replacing the harddisk with a scsi2sd device helped. The good thing about these machines is that they use separate cards for interfaces and these can still be found and are not too expensive as long as you do not need high speed ones. It is a slightly complex beast but not that bad, the ui is quite ok. I made some specific interface adapters for it so that it is easy to use.

I also have a hp 1662a which is not modular. It was quite nice too but way more simple. Sadly enough it released the Magic Smoke and I was not able to find any info to repair it. I did like it though, but the 16702 is way more easy to use and capable.

Frits

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[Jay Jaeger]

I have a 1672G, but have rarely had to use it.  It interfaces with an X server on a PC or Linux box reasonably easily.  I thought I had an image of its hard disk, but after looking about, maybe not.  I have done things with a two channel scope that a lot of folks might think would require an LA.  However, if one trigger's the scope (or LA with fewer channels) with some thought and planning, one can correlate the different captures and get by.  After all, back in the day, LA's were at most a brand new invention (1973), yet CEs/FEs got by with even one channel storage scopes.

JRJ

[Wolfgang Schmitz]

Hi John,

I have the same LA as Joerg Hoppe,  since some 10 years and I'm fine with it.

Could repair several unibus boards with it's help.

The restriction to 34 probes is not really an issue to me: it forces me to get deeper into the circuit's design. 

Together with Jörg's qunibone you can often break down the expected behaviour of some circuit to a rather small amount of probes and see what happens, without an overwhelming amount of (partially redundant) information.

So, if you can get one, i would recommend it.

Its small, easy to handle, as already said.

Have a good time!

Wolfgang 

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[Mikesch]

I've the LA too. 34 probes are OK - for special problems a got a used NCI GoLogic with 72 channels in 2021 at ebay for only 700 $ including probes.

The software of the GoLogic is a little bit special at the GUI - but die LA itself is fantastic.

regards Michael

[Fred Jan Kraan]

Dangerousprototypes still sells the Open Bench Logic Sniffer. With the extra wing it will give you 32 channels at 5 volt.

I bought it years ago but never tried it with more than a few channels. But maybe now with my new QBone...

http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Open_Bench_Logic_Sniffer

Greetings,

Fred Jan