1997 Editors' Roundup:

DSOs, DMMs, and computer boards

Oscilloscope development had several highlights this past year. Hewlett-Packard
(Palo-Alto, CA) addressed digital scope user frustration with their Infinium
series of digital sampling oscilloscopes (see Electronic Products ,
Sept. 1997, p. 103).

Hewlett-Packard Infinium

Each of five models provides an analog-like control panel in conjunction
with a Windows 95-based user interface and built-in information system.

Handheld scope/DMMs from Tektronix (Beaverton, OR) offered benchtop
performance for circuit design and power electronics solutions (see Electronic
Products , Dec. 1996, p. 51). The THS720P enables comprehensive power
analysis, and the THS730A provides circuit design solutions.

DMMs took on interesting shapes and forms while extending functions.
The 70/20 Series III meters from Fluke (Everett, WA) exemplify a commitment
to safety standards, and feature ease of use, durability, low cost, and
a unique ergonomic shape (see Electronic Products , Nov. 1997, p.
117). With several configurations available, the meters range in price
from $89 to $299.

The model 867B graphical multimeter, also from Fluke, was offered as
the company's most accurate handheld meter (see Electronic Products ,
Dec. 1996, p. 59). It also provides a higher-resolution display by using
blue LEDs.

An alternative approach to DMM design came from Triplett (Bluffton,
OH) with their head-held meter, the VisualEYEzer (see Electronic Products ,
June 1997, p. 93). A headband holds the display within constant sight while
the hands are free to operate the probes.

Extech's (Waltham, MA) model CMM-15 Process Calibrator combined frequency,
voltage, and dc-mA calibration with true-rms DMM functions (see Electronic
Products , Aug. 1997, p. 93). It is currently available and costs $499.

Targeting the digital design arena, Tektronix presented the TLA 700
Series card-modular logic analyzer (see Electronic Products , Feb.
1997, p. 65). Using the company's MagniVu technology, it provides a timing
resolution of 500 ps.

In the area of computer boards, the CompuScope 8500/PCI from Gage Applied
Sciences (South Burlington, VT) claimed to be the fastest PCI data acquisition
card with sampling rates up to 500 Msamples/s and a dc to 250-MHz bandwidth
(see Electronic Products , March 1997, p. 117). It can send data
to PC memory at a rate of 100 Mbytes/s.

The SYM8951U from Symbios Logic (Colorado Springs, CO) was offered as
the first PCI-to-Wide-Ultra2-SCSI host adapter board (see Electronic
Products , June 1997, p. 100). It uses LVD transceivers to automatically
select single-ended or LVD SCSI modes.

ATTO Technology (Amherst, NY) introduced the ExpressPCI-PS, a PCI-based
SCSI-3 adapter card that can be installed in either Macintosh or PC systems
(see Electronic Products , March 1997, p. 118).It
eliminates the need to replace ROM BIOS and includes drivers for MacOS,
DOS, and Windows 95/NT.

A low-cost digital satellite set-top box design solution was provided
by GEC Plessey Semiconductors (Irvine, CA) with its Network Interface Module
(see Electronic Products , Oct. 1997, p. 81). The board is a complete
front-end of a set-top box, requires no alignment, complies with the Digital
Video Broadcast standard, and costs $30 each in lots of 50,000.