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I want to check frequency response and chase down hum and ripple and such. I have a older pc scope but it uses older ide connection and I want to throw away my last pc with it and just use a laptop on my work bench. What would be the limitations of such cheap piece of equipment other then quality.
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I have the DS1054 which is actually 100MHZ scope (after firmware hack)
Probes are not the best but the scope is solid.
I agree with gusser. You can get a good analog scope, like a Tektronics 2215A from ebay, or maybe in your local paper, for close to that, and it will be far better for your needs than a pc based scope.
for most amplifier work. But its a simple fact that some artifacts simply won't show up on the display. But if you are only troubleshooting it should be fine. Its cheap- give it a shot!
IMO, you are far better off buying a used analog scope from Ebay. There are many to choose from and many are also former high end scopes.If your budget allows I would recommend Tektronix or HP. These were the high end of scopes. Below that are Leader, Hitachi, B&K, Sencore. These brands were more TV service grade but nevertheless good solid scopes which are fine for amp building.
Computers are hositle EMI/RFI climates. The power supplies are not well filtered and need not be for digital circuits. For simple digital timing measurements this is fine. But consider measuring the noise floor of a phono preamp with a cheap PC scope. Not gonna happen!
Note try to buy a used scope with a service manual or check that a service manual is still available. A lot of legacy gear now has service manuals in the public domain for free. Also make sure the CRT is in good shape. CRT's are dead technology and unless NOS, finding a replacement is going to be difficult to impossible.
Edits: 11/09/15
I would recommend buying it and trying it out. Having just purchased a scope for such purposes, it's really important to have a very low noise floor on the scope, which isn't something you'll get a good handle on until you have the scope in your work area and give it a try.
"What would be the limitations of such cheap piece of equipment "
Accuracy, reliability and characteristics of aging unknown (all of these are almost certain to be poorer than name-brand equipment). Also, this instrument has insufficient bandwidth to see some HF oscillations. OTOH, even a less-than-optimum visual representation is infinitely better than a bench DVM. Personally, I'd opt for a used Hitachi or something similar.
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