7000 series readout system: Difference between revisions

The [[7854]] contains a microprocessor controlled 40x16 character display generator which is also used to display plugin readout data.  The readout interface therefore contains only the column driver, multiplexer and A/D section but not the character generator - it only feeds readout data to the microprocessor.

Towards the end of the 7000 series lifespan, in the second half of the 1980s, a re-designed readout board

(Tek part number 670-8622) was introduced, in which the character generator is based on digital values stored in a 2732 EPROM instead of Gilbert's analog ROMs.  This board was installed e.g. in the [[R7103]] and [[7904A]] and still used some of the Tek-made readout ICs like the timing generator. The design is similar to the readout mechanism in the [[2465]] series.

The number of display points was increased to up to 16 per character. The presence of this board can be detected from the outside by looking at the readout characters which are straight up but were italicized in the analog version (which was done the analog way too, by adding some 10% of the vertical signal to the horizontal channel).  The character style itself is also different — for example, the "V" in the classic board has just two straight lines, whereas they are angled in the digital version.