Thanks for all the comments, suggestions and opinions.
While I agree that having a real scope is probably the best way to
go for the long term, I think having a scope that I can trust to be
accurate and working is more critical in the short term.
I bought that HP scope used on E-Bay - great price etc. I cleaned
it up, bought some probes and checked it out the best I can and
fixed a few broken dials. While it does work good sometimes on one
of the two channels, it's when it doesn't work good that screws me
up completely.
If I had the experience to know if what I am seeing is a problem
with the scope versus a problem with what I am checking, it wouldn't
matter much.
A good example of this is was when I tried to watch the output from
a stepper driver - I had everything set correctly on the scope and
video taped the display, but the display didn't make sense to anyone
else. There have been a number of times now when I have wanted to
measure something only to give up because it simply didn't "Work".
It appears that much of what I am doing and probably will continue
to do is in the realm of micros and related projects (Motion control
and so on). The fastest micro I know of that I can work with is
20mhz, so the 60mhz of this "Simulated scope" is certainly good for
the range of stuff I work with.
The recording ability is very important to me. Just having the easy
ability to take a "Screen shot" and post that image for help in
analyzing what is there is a huge benefit for a newbie like me.
As for the drawback of having to have a computer to use the scope,
well chances are really good that a computer is never more than 15
steps from where I am anywhere in the shop or office where I do all
this stuff. Heck, in the shop I have 2 computers and in the office
I have 3 (1 laptop and 2 desktops).
While I certainly do like storage and recording features, the
biggest gain for me is that I "Should" be able to trust the display.
I can't trust my real scope and that is a very bad thing :-(
Chris
