Gameboy oscilloscope （1）

Published:2011/8/1 2:50:00 Author:Amy From:SeekIC

Did you know Eleklor Electronics supplies a homebrew digital memory oscilloscope? A brilliant design by Steve Willis, the GBDSO (Gameboy Digital Sampling Oscillo­scope) was published in the October and November 2000 issue. It is an extension card that turns the Game­boy Classic, Pocket, Colour or Advanced into a digital ’scope. The GBDSO rocked the electronics hobby world and that’s why we continue offering ready-built GBDSO modules for just £90 plus P&P. Of course, the GBDSO is no match for any of the digital oscilloscopes discussed in this article, but it is and remains a useful little instru­ment with an excellent price/performance ratio. For those v/ho do not remember the above articles, the main GBDSO specs are:

-Dual trace display
-Bandv/idth 100 kHz
-Sample-rate max. 1 MSa/s
-Timebase 5 us - 100 s/div
-X-Y recorder
-Real-time FFT-mode with dB scale
-Adjustable persistence in X-Y mode
-PC link for image and or date transfer
-5-hour operation from NiMH battery pack
-Averaging and auto-trigger functions
-Reference trace storage
-Available ready-built and tested from Elektor Electronics

Test method

Due to the nature of the selection, in this comparison the emphasis by definition cannot lie on the ’standard’ speci­fications. We thus didn’t verify any input sensitivities or bandwidths. However, that’s not strictly true — we were indeed curious with regard to a few instruments, but more about that later.

In the context of a test such as this, there’s also not much point in comparing specs. That’s because manufacturers in this segment think twice before stating a specification they can’t prove.

So how did we actually do the survey? We connected a PAL video signal (from the Test Pattern Generator in the September 2003 issue of Elektor Electronics] to each of the oscilloscopes. This is a relatively complex signal, so we had to spend some time with each instrument before obtaining an image on the screen. That proved to be a good way to quickly obtain an impression of the general quality and usability of the instrument in question. In the following descriptions, we give our opinions regarding image quality, ease of use and triggering performance, as well as our general impression of the instrument’s relia­bility.

The pipsqueaks

Let’s start at the bottom end of the selection with two sin­gle-channel 10-MHz oscilloscopes, the Voltcraft 610-3 and the Digimess MO 10. In all honesty, we must admit that we had certain preconceptions here. We assumed these instruments wouldn’t have all that much to offer. That turned out to be only partly justified. Although their miniature screens are far too small for making serious measurements, they accepted the video signal without any complaints. They are thus suitable for quickly obtain­ing an impression of a signal, but not anything more than that. In this regard, their prices are an excellent match to their performance.

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