DSO That allows for on-device renaming of screenshots for creating manuals - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: jeremybh1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2023, 03:34:42 am
content: In my part time business servicing vintage computers, I have boards that are time consuming in diagnosing faults. I would like to create reference screenshots of IC201 Pin 1 when computer idling at a common screen e.g BASIC prompt. My inspiration comes from a 'made in France' PDF for the Vectrex gaming unit, which shows expected traces and the delay/voltage division settings. This was helpful in recent repair.My problem is how on earth can I keep track of screenshots on the device?Current workaround is a small phone sitting next to the scope screen where I type IC201 MOS 6522 Pin 7 and take a photo.I figured this was laughable to someone. If you're chuckling be sure to reply to suggest a model of scope that would suit my needs of imprinting details on scope screenshots.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2023, 04:13:42 am
content: Would the ability to name/label traces be sufficient ?

author: beanflying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2023, 04:39:39 am
content: Not hard to do on the Micsig range as they have a save menu on the scope screen as well as the quicksave button. Quicksave just gets time stamped and stored on the device, from the menu it runs a full touchscreen keyboard as standard so call it what you like there or you can go into the file menu later and change the quicksaves if needed. Pen drive is also available if that is useful.

author: csuhi17
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2023, 05:42:30 am
content: These are cheaperThe DSO1511E+ and OWON HDS200 series also include this function. But ZEWEII also includes this function, as far as I know.

author: Aldo22
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2023, 10:10:22 am
content: Quote from: csuhi17 on October 09, 2023, 05:42:30 amTheDSO1511E/Gis also a Zeeweei! It is the smaller 1-channel version of the DSO2512G.I do not quite understand what jeremybh1 wants.On my Zeeweii, I would either just take screenshots (Copy via USB to PC) or connect the VA output viaadapterto the Laptop and take the screenshots and do the labeling comfortably there.More expensive oscilloscopes can certainly do that as well.I do not know how much jeremybh1 would like to pay for it.

author: abeyer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2023, 06:24:42 pm
content: In my opinion you're better off pushing the management/labeling to the computer side, since you'll eventually be assembling the document there anyway.I'd probably set up a scope with a good remote/web ui to display on the computer, and then take the captures directly there, rather than on the scope, where you can label them and immediately include them in your document authoring system.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 09, 2023, 07:37:37 pm
content: Quote from: abeyer on October 09, 2023, 06:24:42 pmYep, DSO's with a webserver make this easy especially when able to capture screenshots remotely and have them automatically end in your Downloads folder where when opened in a basic utility like Paint, image texts and/or notes can easy be added to imagery and then saved in a format that best suits needs.Any of the Siglent X, X-E and A series DSO's can do this and the better models can specify remote folders for storage of screenshots from the scopes file management menu.I'll echo Aldo22's comment the OP should give us some guidance to his budget so to get best advice to models than can fill his needs.

author: jeremybh1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2023, 05:54:30 am
content: AHHHH there's the penny drop moment. I didn't know scopes had WebUIs or web servers!Haven't even heard of someone featuring this in a scope review. Ever!Will start looking into Siglent nowI still want to label the screenshot at point of capture though - I have hundreds of screenshots and don't want them jumbled up

author: jeremybh1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2023, 05:55:11 am
content: I care about money sure but wasn't specifying a budget becuase I've found it's best to be open minded about cost and save for something good.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2023, 06:11:46 am
content: Quote from: jeremybh1 on October 10, 2023, 05:55:11 amShall we take a step back and also discuss what else you need from a scope too ?You also might like a feature that can save screenshots to remote drives over LAN.

author: jeremybh1
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2023, 06:42:44 am
content: More concerned about being able to label the screenshot as an imprintI'm not taking record of 2 things, it's 100 pins on an IC so if I can ensure things are labelled up front then no mixups:DAny modern DSO has every feature I want, so it's more about doing the capture well.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2023, 07:22:02 am
content: Quote from: jeremybh1 on October 10, 2023, 06:42:44 amOkay a screenshot for you.This doesn't have the ability to directly enter text onto the display other than with trace labels from within the scopes UI which in this case was done with the inbuilt QWERTY virtual keyboard using the touch display as I didn't have a USB keyboard handy.With the file manager we can also rename screenshots if/as required.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2023, 09:20:51 am
content: Proper documentation was a major reason for the readout on the Tektronix 7000 series oscilloscopes, and they even included a plug-in which allowed entering custom text. When taking photographs, they could even automatically index them. These days manufacturers think it is more important that their logo be included in the screenshot.For modern devices, I have to rely on customizing the filename which is a step back from 40 years ago.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2023, 09:34:49 am
content: And if wemustsave ink.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 10, 2023, 09:46:55 am
content: Quote from: jeremybh1 on October 10, 2023, 05:54:30 amI show it on my DHO800 review here:https://youtu.be/S8jrpCoZyx8?t=3089Just use your favourite screen shot tool and change the file name.

author: Hexley
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2023, 03:19:45 pm
content: Quote from: jeremybh1 on October 10, 2023, 06:42:44 amThe Keysight (Agilent) 3000X series has pretty good annotation capability. Here is an example from a DSO-X 3024A scope, where a few lines of text have been added on screen to memorialize the test conditions. BTW, the text was entered using an external keyboard connected to the scope via USB. Quite convenient.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2023, 03:04:44 am
content: Quote from: jeremybh1 on October 10, 2023, 05:54:30 amIt's not just Siglent...

author: KungFuJosh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2023, 03:51:19 am
content: Quote from: jeremybh1 on October 10, 2023, 05:54:30 amI love the Siglent SDS2000XP series scopes. That's what I'm using now. I use the web console all the time. You can make the scope view full screen, and then capture. I did a quick demo of that here (it's a slow signal, but it's practically real-time when comparing to the scope):On an older review when I still had the SDS1104X-E, I made this demo review, with the web console showing around 5:46:https://youtu.be/HI7DGjgl2tw?feature=shared&t=346It works exceptionally well, and lightyears ahead of and faster than other brands that I tried (especially Rigol, which I found painfully slow at the time).When doing screenshots, it asks you what to save the file as. Really simple.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2023, 04:20:51 am
content: Quote from: KungFuJosh on October 11, 2023, 03:51:19 amThe new Rigols have perfected it.

author: adam4521
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2023, 06:55:59 am
content: I might be off message, but having done this recently I don’t think the original method used by the OP is unreasonable. If you are literally taking dozens of photos, the last thing I want to be doing after moving the probe to the next pin is faffing around with file names. So, USB stick, pencil and paper with the numbers down the side, and sort out the story-telling later. One idea though, if the oscilloscope has a RTC and that is shown on every capture, then you could put a physical clock or watch in camera view when taking the photos. Or just use the time stamps of the photos as your key between the two.Edit: I misread OP. Yes, you don’t want to be taking actual camera photos of the scope screen these days. In the scenario I was describing, I was correlating photos of the development PCB and the probing with screen captures on the oscilloscope.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2023, 07:15:18 am
content: Although with a scope webserver you can capture screenshots directly to the PC where you are probably doing your documentation anyway and have all the tools available to edit filenames and add text.Add to that full webserver control of the scope and use of the PC keyboard and mouse to help with on scope editing too.One just needs work out what works best for them.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2023, 07:18:20 am
content: Quote from: adam4521 on October 11, 2023, 06:55:59 amOTOH you might not want/need OSD timestamps for documentation and some DSO's allow this info to be hidden in screenshots.

author: csuhi17
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2023, 08:24:39 am
content: Is the creation date of the image file not suitable for identification? which can be seen from the file manager?

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2023, 08:58:47 am
content: Quote from: csuhi17 on October 11, 2023, 08:24:39 amTypically yes although many cheaper DSO's don't even timestamp USB captures.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2023, 02:14:14 pm
content: Quote from: csuhi17 on October 11, 2023, 08:24:39 amThey are, if they do not get separated from the image itself. It is nice to have an indelible identification as part of the image so there can be no confusion.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2023, 02:41:12 pm
content: On the new Rigols (DHO800/DHO900) you can go to the 'scope's IP address in a web browser.There's an option there to "Take screenshot" then you can just right-click the grabbed image and do "Save image as..."No need to install any software or anything.

author: KungFuJosh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 13, 2023, 03:04:47 pm
content: It's nice to see Rigol improving their web console, but it's still extra steps. On Siglent, you just click the ever-present ScreenShot button, and the save-as dialog pops up immediately:As you can see, you also have additional options including CSV files of the waveform.