tverbeure

5 ms·

1.
by tverbeure 3d ago
The closed system doesn’t (only) prevent counterfeit systems, it also prevents someone from maliciously releasing a mod that could make the motor accelerate instead of break at some random time. It’d be negligent for anyone to release a pro
2.
by tverbeure 3d ago
Reverse engineering the way they do it is very satisfying and time consuming. If you want the same results but without the sweat, LLMs are the way to go now. They eat this kind of stuff for lunch. You could literally ask one for a table wit
3.
by tverbeure 7d ago
The bike derangement syndrome in the US is truly something to behold.
4.
by tverbeure 8d ago
I have some HUB75 boards where the JTAG pins are covered with solder mask or only available by scratching solder mask from non-descript traces. These boards are programmed in production with SPI pins or assembled with preprogrammed PROMs.
5.
by tverbeure 9d ago
I’ve used this board for an LED cube, but in general I don’t recommend it as a cheap general purpose FPGA board due to the lack of inputs, the different versions, and the uncertainty about getting access to the JTAG pins on later versions.
6.
by tverbeure 9d ago
What I remember of the V20 was that there was some benchmark (Norton?) that was way faster, but I never saw a difference for any real application that I tested.
7.
by tverbeure 9d ago
It’s not just funny to see, it’s also fun to create, satisfying to see it work, and terrifying to deploy it for hundreds of thousands of users… when it’s a cursed way to update firmware.
8.
by tverbeure 14d ago
That feeling when it finally works is great. I spent $40 on this basket case: https://tomverbeure.github.io/2025/12/24/Repair-of-SRS-DG535... . Took me ages to figure that one out.
9.
by tverbeure 14d ago
TekWiki is great! 100MHz is overkill for most hobbyists use cases, and definitely repairing test equipment: it's always the power supply.
10.
by tverbeure 15d ago
Using SATA gen 1 would be ideal, but the TDS7104 motherboard is old enough not to have that: it doesn't support booting from a USB stick.
11.
by tverbeure 15d ago
Over the years, I've had 5 TDSxxx series scopes, and I still have a few. The common issues are: NuColor CRT displays going bad. Bad capacitors. Dallas NVRAM units battery running out of juice Fried electronics are pretty rare.
12.
by tverbeure 15d ago
It's a hobby, not work.
13.
by tverbeure 15d ago
This blog post shows a list price of $24,490 for the base model without options: https://www.jhongelectronics.org/2024/01/tektronix-tds7104-f... .
14.
by tverbeure 15d ago
> not HP/Tek/R&S That doesn't leave a whole lot of alternatives, Mr Lecroy.
15.
by tverbeure 15d ago
One totally needs a 500 MHz oscilloscope to debug a kHz range serial port signal! :-)
16.
by tverbeure 15d ago
My 54825A had a power-up problem: if you unplugged the AC cord for a few hours, pressing the front-panel button wouldn't power on the scope. But if you plugged in the AC for about 5 minutes, it would work fine again. That sounds like a
17.
by tverbeure 15d ago
Not sure if you saw it, but before doing the TDS7104, I refurbished two Agilent 54831 scopes: https://tomverbeure.github.io/2026/03/28/Repair-of-Two-Agile... . For the one that still had a HD, copying the imag
18.
by tverbeure 15d ago
Yes, it's completely separate. There is a PCI2PCI bridge between the PC motherboard and the PowerPC controller board, which has in turn an interface PCB to the acquisition board. People have replaced the RadiSys motherboard with one fr
19.
by tverbeure 15d ago
I looked for a SMIQ for quite a while to go along with the AMIQ, but eventually settled for the R&S SFQ TV test transmitter that you can see here: https://tomverbeure.github.io/2026/06/28/Rohde-Schwarz-AMI
20.
by tverbeure 15d ago
As I wrote: the TDS7104 is now sitting on a shelf in the garage, next to an Agilent 54831 and some other boat anchors. My daily drivers are a Siglent scope and a puny TDS220, which is about to be replaced by a TDS3052 that I'm bringing
21.
by tverbeure 15d ago
Was that by any chance the R&S AMIQ that I refurbished in an earlier blog post? And yes, it's a lot of fun bringing these bargain bin pieces of kit back to life.
22.
by tverbeure 15d ago
Nice, so I'll get even more entertainment out of it! The equipment that's bought and sold at the electronics flea market typically isn't used as a means to an end, it is the end. There's disappointment when you buy somet
23.
by tverbeure 15d ago
My TDS754D is waiting for the resistor and capacitor mod that converts it from a 500MHz/2Gsps scope into a TDS784D with 1 GHz/4Gsps. Still, entering an easy to generate license key is less intrusive than removing a resistor.
24.
by tverbeure 15d ago
I think they sold for $60k back in the early 2000s.
25.
by tverbeure 20d ago
I remember a homework where I had to graph some function. I decided use the plotting function of Lotus 1-2-3 for that. The plot worked fine, but didn’t make sense. I then spent way more time than what I would have spent without the plotter
26.
by tverbeure 22d ago
Just go to the Alfa Pendular website and you'll see that the field is marked as mandatory, even when you select US as country of residence. I kind of expect this kind of friction when I book or purchase things in Europe.
27.
by tverbeure 23d ago
You can take that “EU website” broad, as in: any website in the EU. I just tried to order train tickets in Portugal. Not only do they ask for my passport number, they also ask for your tax id. I will, of course, totally give them my SSN for
28.
by tverbeure 23d ago
What about it? Apple has an architectural license which allows them to design their own CPUs with ARM ISA. Most companies that use ARM CPUs don’t.
29.
by tverbeure 23d ago
And how did that IP portfolio come into existence? Did it suddenly materialize out of thin air or… did ARM engineers design it? I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt: in your mothertongue, the meaning of “design” is not as broad as
30.
by tverbeure 24d ago
“No …, no …, just …” And more AI-isms. I think we finally found ground zero: the original author whose work was used to train the LLMs.

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