EICO 460 simulation

[Allan Adler]

Suppose that, working either from schematics and/or from a close examination
of an old EICO 460 oscilloscope, I obtain detailed information about how
it is put together. Is it then possible for me to use (hopefully free)
software to analyze the entire operation of the oscilloscope, or is that
too big a job for the available software? I'm inclined to think it is
entirely feasible, but I have no experience with electronics software.

I have two ancient EICO 460 oscilloscopes and a lot of documentation on
them, so this question is not entirely hypothetical.

Ignorantly,
Allan Adler
[email protected]

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* *
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT Artificial *
* Intelligence Lab. My actions and comments do not reflect *
* in any way on MIT. Moreover, I am nowhere near the Boston *
* metropolitan area. *
* *
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[John Jardine]

Suppose that, working either from schematics and/or from a close examination
of an old EICO 460 oscilloscope, I obtain detailed information about how
it is put together. Is it then possible for me to use (hopefully free)
software to analyze the entire operation of the oscilloscope, or is that
too big a job for the available software? I'm inclined to think it is
entirely feasible, but I have no experience with electronics software.

I have two ancient EICO 460 oscilloscopes and a lot of documentation on
them, so this question is not entirely hypothetical.

Ignorantly,
Allan Adler
[email protected]

****************************************************************************
*
* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT Artificial *
* Intelligence Lab. My actions and comments do not reflect *
* in any way on MIT. Moreover, I am nowhere near the Boston *
* metropolitan area. *
*

****************************************************************************

It's a truly, truly brave man who will attempt that level of simulation from
scratch .
The answer is that Yes! it is feasible, (but not in it's entirety).
The circuitry you would finally get on screen could not include the very
important scope' tube. nor would any of the numerous switches and pots be
directly useable. Items such as the HT transformer would have to be modelled
specifically, even though that extreme level of detail will not be in the
documentation. Even with the best will in the world, the end result would
only be a simplified, rough approximation of the actual 'scope circuitry.
Simulation time would also be horrendously slow with numerous convergence
failures.
OTOH ... A complete functional block, something like that 'orribly
complicated looking 'Y' amplifier, or the 'X' timebase driver, would
simulate nicely and a lot could be learned.
Best of luck!
regards
john