Tek TDS6604, TDS6804, TDS7704 scopes - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 17, 2018, 03:35:37 am
content: I'm eyeing at a variety of Tek 6-7GHz scopes, in particular the TDS6604, TDS6804, TDS7704. I'm mainly looking for the bandwidth, 20S/s sampling rate (off a TCA-SMA adapter, or when probing using 4GHz active probes). I have a 500MHz MSO already that's perfect for all things microcontroller related, so this is more for hunting down specific problems and general investigations around fast logic (LVC/AHC/AUC), eye diagrams, striplines, LVDS, gbe, and USB 2 HS. Although I'd love USB 3 SS this probably isn't realistic. And of course, fixing and performance verifying various T&M gear. The Teks seem to be available generally in the $5-$8k range depending on options. I need advanced triggers more than I need update rates, so while these generally have mediocre update rates it looks like they do have all I would need in terms of triggers and analysis/measurements. I realize the 20GS/s rate is interleaved in channel pairs. Ditto memory.The 6804 has an analog 7GHz bandwidth, but seems able to undo rolloff with a DSP filter... is this meaningful or hoakey? Still, 7GHz BW is fine by me although I'm not sure I'd pay a whole lot more for it than 6GHz. But the addition of other differences may make the 6804/7704 worth the extra coin.Lots and lots of questions...Anyone else have experience with these?The 6604 is based on WinXP, the 7704 on Win2k so I assume the former also has more recent hardware?Is there a performance difference (other than bandwidth) between the 6604 and 6804?What are common problems - backup batteries, NVRAM, inputs, special ASICs...?Has anyone liberated these, since I assume Tek no longer sells SW options?I'd get a couple of TCA-SMA adapters and a couple of 4GHz active probes, plus a couple of passive ones with attenuation sensing. Anything to be vary of here?People seem to swap out the HDDs for SSDs, something I'd want to do, and make a backup image of the system on my NAS in the process. I assume given the era it wants an IDE drive? Can it use an SATA adapter?All have ethernet, and being windows I assume they can save screenshots and data straight to my NAS, so floppy (6604) vs CD (6804) makes no difference to me.Anything else I should be aware of? There's a shortage of teardowns, discussion, and critical reviews of these online...These seem reasonably common out there, but not common enough to take one on as a repair project I think. Just not enough parts.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 17, 2018, 11:56:16 am
content: There are several forum threads about these. AFAIK these scopes have 2 processors in them making system re-installation cumbersome and these also have issues with NVRAM. I'd look at alternatives from Agilent or Lecroy.

author: bson
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 18, 2018, 02:21:52 am
content: Hmm, searching on any of these yields nothing. Google mainly comes up with resellers, manuals, and era marketing fluff... not much technical information.

author: DaJMasta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 18, 2018, 06:58:40 am
content: It doesn't seem common to include much PC hardware or OS configuration information in many data sheets, though sometimes it crops up in the user manuals. Part of it could also just be product lifecycle - it was expensive enough and new enough that they're probably only now starting to enter the market in quantity, and the original quantity was probably quite limited. I also wouldn't be surprised if Tek was "willing" to sell you an option key - it doesn't seem that uncommon for some manufacturers, but expect for it to cost launch list price...Most of the time IDE to SATA adapters can work, but they can be a bit finicky depending on configuration - often the adapter in question and the drive in question. The early OSes also can have difficulty with SATA controllers if you were to swap to a board (or a PCI card) with an SATA controller - slipstreaming drivers and such to make sure it can boot. You can find "modern" industrial SSDs that use a PATA interface, some which can saturate the ATA-133 interface at least with reads, so you can get about much performance as can be had from the motherboard's controller.Hopefully someone with some real experience working in one can chime in - I've just dealt with some LeCroys and Advantests (not scopes) as well as a bunch of that era older but somewhat recent hardware.