Dr. Ray Ridley, who has been designing and researching power supplies for over 35 years, has created a cartoon series that reflects the current climate in our industry.
The new scopes that you can buy have ever bigger screens, but even the best of them is no match for my notebook PC. When you are trying to look at detailed waveforms with maybe 8 traces on a screen, it becomes very difficult. We have always used the HDMI output on a scope (make sure it has one!) to put the waveforms on a monitor to share with course attendees.
Recently, TV prices have plummeted, and the refresh rates are fast enough to use a TV for a computer monitor. That changed a lot of things for us. Our 28” screen become a 34, then a 48, 54, and finally an 80” monitor for our conference screen. A 55” monitor sits on my bench in the lab with a scope, FRA, and multiple windows for development work. It is a real game changer. At the same time, of course, you can watch movies and your favorite sports events.
