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Musings and comments about our common interest

 

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HP-IB vintage Lab

A 23 years old lab
Recently I have put together an HP-IB based lab. It consists of a HP-3478A multimeter, a 54510A HP-IB oscilloscope, a HP-85 computer, a 2225A printer and a 7475A plotter. All can be connected together, and the network works in its extreme simplicity. You just hard-code the addresses, send the proper instructions and you're done!
In reality, you’re working at a much lower level than in current electronics -and at much lower speeds as well. However, it does the job properly.
Regarding the oscilloscope, it was very easy to learn it - even without looking at the manual. The menus were very self-explaining, and it took very short time to get it to work. A little fiddling with the IP addresses in the back of the printer and plotter, and you were printing (better - plotting!) the screen results. 
As a consequence, I will put on sale my trusty HP 1720 analog oscilloscope. While one is 40 years old and the other “only” 20, the difference can be seen easily. You will see it soon in these pages.
The printer is a surprising thing. You can still find current ink replacements - and that for something that is close to 30 years old! While the technology seems crude, I would like that all current printers be produced with the solidity and quality of the HP 2225A (there’s a B coming as well - B stands for HP-IL interface, as opposed to HP-IB) 

A 23 years old lab

 

Recently I have put together an HP-IB based lab. It consists of a HP-3478A multimeter, a 54510A HP-IB oscilloscope, a HP-85 computer, a 2225A printer and a 7475A plotter. All can be connected together, and the network works in its extreme simplicity. You just hard-code the addresses, send the proper instructions and you're done!

Oscilloscope1.jpg

In reality, you’re working at a much lower abstraction level than in current electronics -and at much lower speeds as well. However, it does the job properly.

 

Regarding the oscilloscope, it was very easy to learn it - even without looking at the manual. The menus were very self-explaining, and it took very short time to get it to work. A little fiddling with the IP addresses in the back of the printer and plotter, and you were printing (better - plotting!) the screen results.

As I have both the HP2225A printer and the 7475A Pen Plotter, I plan to do it next week. So far, it involves taking them out from storage amd setting them up - I have not gotten around to set up the lab bench yet.

 

Oscilloscope2.jpg

 

As a consequence, I will put on sale my trusty HP 1720 analog oscilloscope. While one is 40 years old and the other “only” 20, the difference can be seen easily. You will see it soon in these pages.

The printer is a surprising thing. You can still find current ink replacements - and that for something that is close to 30 years old! While the technology seems crude, I would like that all current printers be produced with the solidity and quality of the HP 2225A (there’s a B coming as well - B stands for HP-IL interface, as opposed to HP-IB) 

I am now using it to test different Audirvana settings for different waveforms. This will be the object of a blog in our sister website, www.theportableaudiostore.com. We are testing it with the Meridian Explorer set to different bit depths and sampling frequencies. Of course, being simple waveforms, subjective audio measures cannot be drawn from it

Oscilloscope3.jpg

 

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