Analyzer was Re: KIM-1 repair advice wanted

[Tony Duell]

> With all that in the case of 'shooting a KIM-1 the first tool
> I'd grab is the trusty VOM to check power and then the logic 
> probe (you know those things that run off 5V and have three 
> leds for logic levels aka logic dart) and proble around for 

I have never heard a normal logic probe called a logic dart. The 
LogicDart (I think that's the right capitalisation) is a lovely little 
instrument, originally HP, then probably Agilent, and I think it's now 
made by Fluke under license. It's a handheld tool which can be used as a 
logic probe 3 channel logic analyser, or diode/continuity checker.

The most useful mode, IMHO, is 'investigate' In that mode, it works like 
a logic probe. You only use one input channel, you have one probe to 
tap on the circuit under test. There are red and green LEDs to show 0 and 
1 on the probe tip. It displays the DC voltage at the probe tip (good for 
checking supplies), and the frequency (determined by number of threshold 
crossings per second). It's not a good DVM or frequency counter, it only 
displays 2 or 3 figures in each case. But it's good enough to tell if 
you're looking at the 5V supply or the -12V supply. It'll tell you if 
you're looking at the 10MHz master clock or the same clock divided by 4. 
And hit a buttone and it'll sample the signal and display it -- a bit 
like a 1-channel analyser. Of course the sampling rate _and the 
thresholds_ are user selectable.

I won;t do everything, but as a first tool to start sorting out the 
problem it's excellent. The only disadvantage is that it's not cheap...

-tony
k