Manuals

Tektronix has Instruction Manuals, Operator's Manuals and Service Manuals commonly available to the customer. Sometimes you can find “factory calibration procedures” and other such artifacts. An Instruction Manual, by definition, contains the operator's manual and the service manual (with schematics, electrical and mechanical parts lists, theory of operation, circuit board illustrations, performance procedure and calibration procedure) – how to repair and calibrate the instrument. The Operator's Manual contains only the operation portion of the Instruction Manual and consists of instrument specifications and set/up operation procedures – how to use the instrument. A Service Manual contains the service portion of the Instruction Manual and very little about instrument operation.

Portable oscilloscopes tend to have an Instruction Manual and an Operators Manual only – no service manual. The Operators Manual for portables are usually small-format manuals that will fit into the instrument's accessory pocket. Bench-type instruments are the same way, but their Operator's Manuals are full-size just like the Instruction Manual. Very complex instruments that involve both electronics and software programming such as the 7854 may have a multi-volume Service Manual set and an Operator's Manual, but to keep the overall manual complexity at a smaller scale, will have no Instruction Manual. Most of the time, an instrument such as this does not require the operator to have any service literature at all – only operation literature. Service literature is retained by the repair/calibration lab or shop.