Tektronix 1240 Logic Analyzer

. . . . The 1240 Logic Analyzer provides up to 72 acquisition channels; Acquisition speeds up to 100 MHz asynchronous, 50 MHz sync; 14 levels of triggering with conditional branching. Logic Analyzer Frame Version 3-2 Config. Acquisition speeds to 100 MHz Async, 50 MHz Sync. Single probe demulti-plexing. dual time base triggering, acquisition & display. 1240D1--Channel 100 MHz Data Acquisition Card. The 1240/D2 18-Channel Data Acquisition Card is a 50MHz plug-in for the 1240 Logic Analyzer. Uses P6460 Data Acquisition Probes From Tektronix: "The Tektronix 1240 Logic Analyzer is a portable, general-purpose digital design and troubleshooting tool. The 1240D card supports high-speed hardware analysis with nine acquisition channels @ 100Mhz (10ns) and 5 ns glitch detection." ==================================== The 1240 and 1241 are the HP1630/50 of Tek logic analyzers... Relatively easy to setup and use for a beginner, but they can go to "ridiculously complex" if you really want to. They have ROM cartridges that allow for mnemonic disassembly and state analysis of most processors. (Hmmm, I should probably make some "multigame" mnemonic cartridges since they're impossible to find for sale.) The 1240/1 also support serial ports, printer ports, etc. You can "program" the capture module to get the most use from the memory-- when doing video work recently I'd do things like have the Tek count occurrances on my "hblank" line (to get to a certain line on the screen), and then trigger and grab the data I wanted. You can do all sorts of "wait for this, then count this N times, then wait for this, then look for this, and then grab all the data" nesting and whatnot. If there's a weak point it's with the "capture pods". You need them 'cause there's circuitry onboard. They can be hard to find and expensive depending on where you buy from. And they have these little wire harnesses that plug into them too... The 1241 is basically a 1240 with a color display. (Well, kinda color. It's "RG" -- no "B".) You can configure them with different capture cards-- the most common configuration is probably a single 9-channel and an 18 channel card. Capture memory isn't very big-- only about 256/512 words depending on if glitch capture is on or not, but you can chain the memory from multiple capture cards to make longer traces. The 1240/1241 had all sorts of funky features-- like "teleservicing". You can remote control one from another by modem. Uses the RS232 port and 12RC02 "Master/Slave ROM Pack". there are a couple other features the 1241 has over the 1240, mainly just the fact that is can expand the timing diagram to fit the entire vertical screen height and that fact that its color, but thats about it. The RS-232 pack gives you the serial interface, but then you'll want the "printer support pack" to make it print to a serial printer. The Mnemonic packs have built-in support for the serial interface, so you can still do stuff like printing disassembly and state info without the printer pack. I used the "print" commands from the Z-80 Mnemonic pack to print to my old HP Omnibook running Telix when cracking Pacman Plus and The Glob (w/ Mike Balfour). Worked well.