Another year is about to end, and the next one is already anxiously waiting to carry us along into the future…

A fitting moment to get that Dutchtronix clock working (a lot easier than this geek version):

I bought this little kit long ago, not realizing that a low-end USB scope front-end can’t deal with it. Besides, it turns out that it didn’t work back then because of some bad solder joints (ground planes and 15W soldering irons don’t go well together – even my current soldering iron has trouble heating up some of those pads!).

Anyway, this is as far as the Hameg HMO2024 will go:

Recognizable, but a far cry from what analog scopes can do. That’s what you get when digital sampling, waveform refresh rates, and vector drawing clash (bumping up the sampling rate causes a fuller, but flickering, image).

This design was from 2007, I think – which goes to show that fun stuff (especially clocks) can be time-less!

I wish you a healthy, safe, and happy 2012 – with lots of opportunities to tinker, learn, and create.

Update – for another example of how such X-Y displays differ between analog and high-end vs low-end DSO’s, see this video on Dave Jones’ EEVblog.