Collaborate Disseminate
As a manufacturer of test equipment and more, Tektronix has long had a need for custom form factors with its CRT displays. They initially went with fully glass CRTs as …read more Continue reading Tektronix’s Ceramic CRT Production And The Building 13 Catacombs
[The Signal Path] had two Tektronix AC/DC current probes that didn’t work. Of course, that’s a great excuse to tear them open and try to get at least one working. …read more Continue reading Inside A Current Probe
We can’t remember ever seeing a late-night TV ad for oscilloscopes before but, for some reason, Tektronix did produce a video ad in 1987. You can see it below and …read more Continue reading OScope Advert from 1987 Rocks It
It’s normal today for even relatively modest instruments to have some form of computer control capability over Ethernet or USB. But five decades ago this was by no means a …read more Continue reading USB Meets Core Memory In A Vintage ‘Scope
When is a line not a line? When it’s a series of tiny dots, of course! That’s the technique [Ed Nisley] used to create a super-fine, colored hairline in a …read more Continue reading Laser-Engraving Hairlines: When a Line Isn’t a Line
There aren’t many brands that inspire the kind of passion and fervency among its customers as Tektronix does. The venerable Oregon-based manufacturer of top-end test equipment has produced more collectible gear over the last 75 years than just about anyone else.
Over that time they have had plenty of innovations, …read more
Continue reading Cardboard Models Trace Design Process of Vintage Tektronix Miniscopes
One of the best things about the Internet — especially the video part — is that you can get exposed to lots of things you might otherwise not be able to see. Take oscilloscopes, for example. If you were lucky, you might have one or two really nice instruments at …read more
From reading his extensive write-ups on the subject, there’s one thing we know for sure: [Tom Verbeure] loves his Tektronix TDS 420A oscilloscope. While it might be older than some of the people reading this, it’s still an impressive piece of hardware with more than enough bells and whistles to …read more
Continue reading Upgrading the RAM in a 25 Year Old Oscilloscope
When tubes were king, you could go to a drugstore with a box full of them from your TV. There would be a tester that would tell you what tubes were bad and, of course, you could buy the replacements for them. That kind of tube tester was pretty simple. …read more
If you want to do something you’ve never done before, there are two broadly-defined ways of approaching it: either you learn everything you can about it and try to do it right the first time, or you get in there and get your hands dirty, and work out the details …read more
Continue reading Recreating Fast Oscilloscopes is a Slow Process