> > Hi Tony, > > I don't mean to throw shade on your HP 1630 or your K100 ... just in my own > personal opinion, when I see a HP 1630 on eBay for $100 or a HP 1660 on > eBay for $100 ... and you see this all the time ... I think going with the
Of course. And I my comments are my personal opinion too. I think that giving such opinions, backed up with facts (as you are certainly doing) is worthwhile. Please don't think I am flaming you, or that I don't think your views are worth considering. This is classiccmp, a list for old computers. And even I (classic machine lover than I am) will happily agree that a modern PC has a much higher CPU performance than any of our classics. We've just had a thread on the VAX 11/730. This is probably the slowest VAX ever, just about anything running an emulator will beat it. This does not mean (IMHO) that the 11/730 is not worth restoring. There are many reasons for liking classic computers, CPU speed is generally not important. Similarly there are many (IMHO good) reasons for liking classic test gear. Provided the limitations are known, and it is used sensibly, it will still give good results. A 100Msample/sec logic analyser from the 1980s is still a 100Msample/sec logic analyser. It may not be fast enough for some modern work, it probably is fast enough for working on classic computers. In the end I think it comes down to knowing the various instruments, the pros and cons of each and making a choice, What you choose is ultimately up to you. > 1660 is the better deal ... you do make a good point about schematics and > repairability ... and hack-ability ... there are plenty of very exotic > looking components ... especially on the acquisition cards ... on the newer > machines that I'm sure are basically impossible to repair. Be warned that even the HP1630 has custom ICs on the acquisition boards. AFAIK the Gould K100D is all standard ECL parts. For me, the reasons for choosing the K100D would be the documentation and standard ICs. And the fact that it is easy to make custom probes for it. The reason for choosing the HP1630 are the mostly standard ICs, the documentation, and the HPIL interface. -tony
