Looking for Tekmate software - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: PaulAm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 06, 2013, 10:52:49 pm
content: Bit of a long shot, but you never know.First, some background. The Tektronix 2402 Tekmate was essentially a single board 287 based AT computer with a GPIB card that served as an external processor for some of the 24xx series scopes. When connected, the box could be access through the scope's screen and menu keys; it did not require a monitor or keyboard. For the day, it was fairly advanced and even had an onboard SCSI controller that allowed you to hook up a hard drive that could be as big as 128MB (gasp!) The CPU boards were made by a 3rd party and repackaged by Tek in an appropriately colored box.It is not too difficult to find the hardware and even the generic software load. However, I have been unable to track down the software that allows the box to interface with a 2430/2432 scope. I think these programs are called DSO-APP.exe and DSO-SHELL.exe, but there may be additional ones as well.I'm interested in tricking out my 2432a with a working one of these. If anyone has a pointer to the software, I would like to hear from you. Without the software the box is pretty useless.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 06, 2013, 11:26:57 pm
content: You could try the TekScopes Yahoo! group.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2013, 12:01:11 am
content: I've seen these boxes as well but always wondered what the added value is. Maybe you could add a ISA LAN card and make the screendumps/setups available over a network? I know it is possible to use Microsoft networking from plain DOS.

author: PaulAm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2013, 12:13:52 am
content: Tekscopes has been silent on this one, so I'm looking in less likely places.From what I can gather, there's firmware in the 24xx scopes that allow it to be controlled by the GPIB bus. I haven't found any documentation yet, but the hints I've run across indicate that the software in the Tekmate added capability otherwise missing from the scope, beyond being able to save and restore waveforms. There's one program on Tek's site, for example, that allows you to zoom and expand items in memory.If you can find an ISA network card it should be possible to put it on the net. This is around DOS 3.3 time though, and it's been so long that I forget when support for the 286 was dropped.Developing any software for that environment at this point would be very painful.

author: david77
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2013, 12:40:04 am
content: DOS networking is a bit tricky especially with a 286's limited memory capabilities (EMS and XMS anyone?). It can be done but the remaining memory for other applications will be very little. Mind you, I've never been able to use MS Client for DOS on any DOS version below 5.01, best results can be achieved using 6.22. IIRC earlier versions do not support EMS memory to free up application space... details are a bit blurry these days. But, as we all know nobody would ever need more than 640K of memory.There's one XT class PC somwhere around here that's got a 8 bit ISA LAN card in it. It can either run DOS with network or anything else with no network.

author: PaulAm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2013, 12:46:08 am
content: I ran across another tantalizing hint that the software adds FFT capabilities.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 07, 2013, 09:17:51 am
content: If you can download the waveform data (I assume these commands are in the manual), then you can also do FFT in a more modern program. Something along the lines of NI SignalExpress, for example. Not sure if the free version does FFT, though. If you're very lucky then you might even find an instrument driver for these scopes.Depending on how the software was written, you might also be able to get it to work on more modern DOS versions and a 386+ processor. That would make things like networking substantially easier.

author: PaulAm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 01:55:25 am
content: Thanks to an ex-Tek field engineer, I managed to get a copy of the software.When you get down to it, you can use an GPIB card in a modern system and use it to scarf the data down for analysis. However, this is a nice self-contained system that uses the scope screen for the display and doesn't need a keyboard to boot.The software does indeed add FFT to the scope, along with waveform math and and trigger capability that lets you create a waveform template and log any events that fall outside of it. It doesn't mesh seamlessly with the scope UI, but it's not too bad.I've added a SCSI disk to the Tekmate since it's BIOS supports it, once an Adaptec controller chip is plugged in. Freedos doesn't have the partition limitation that the old DOS versions did.Haven't had any success getting it on a network yet. I have a version of XFS which is an NFS client that allows DOS to mount an exported directory as a drive, but it's not working yet. It appears to mount the NFS export, but Freedos doesn't see it.If you have the right GPIB card and an old ISA motherboard, you could use this software with any of the Tek 24XX DSO scopes.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 03:12:56 am
content: I have no interest in the software, but did you make it available on a public site like BitSavers, assuming you're allowed to?

author: PaulAm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 01:02:06 pm
content: I'm working on a Tekmate page to pull all this stuff together.

author: VintageTekFan
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 10, 2013, 02:18:53 pm
content: I recently got a Tekmate with my 2440 off of eBay, and have been dying to find the software for it. I'm really looking forward to your page.

author: PaulAm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 11, 2013, 06:37:13 pm
content: I'm pretty slammed at the moment, but it should be up Pretty Soon Now

author: srwalter
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 31, 2018, 12:57:26 am
content: Quote from: PaulAm on October 11, 2013, 06:37:13 pmI'm now in the same boat you are, looking for the original software for a TekMate 2402. Any chance that "pretty soon now" rolled around in the last couple of years?

author: picburner
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2018, 07:14:25 am
content: maybe here you can find something useful:http://www.auroragrp.com/agi/other/tekmate/tekmate.html

author: PaulAm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 31, 2018, 01:36:49 pm
content: That's my site. If it gets unresponsive send me a message and I'll give it a kick.I forgot about this thread, I would have posted a link myself if I remembered.edit:If you google "tekmate software" that link shows up as #9 in the list, so I guess that isn't too bad.

author: Orange4sky
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: June 01, 2025, 09:10:25 pm
content: Hi,Just bought a Tek 2440 with a 2402A on top. Not surprisingly, no software was included. Your site is not responding. Any chance you could give it a nudge?

author: kmoonwalker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 05:23:44 am
content: Quote from: Orange4sky on June 01, 2025, 09:10:25 pmmaybe this will help youhttps://github.com/Tek-User/Upgrading-The-Tektronix-2402https://github.com/Tek-User/Tektronix-2402-download-waveform

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 02, 2025, 08:45:23 am
content: If the site comes back up, I can upload the files to the tekwiki if you don't mind?https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/2402