[HN Gopher] Tektronix equipment has been used in many movies and...
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       Tektronix equipment has been used in many movies and shows
        
       Author : stmw
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2025-11-17 03:20 UTC (5 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (vintagetek.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (vintagetek.org)
        
       | ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
       | It's very "movie-friendly."
       | 
       | HP stuff is too beige/bland. Tektronix stuff is more colorful.
       | 
       | Some of the Japanese brands were even more colorful, but we
       | always used either Tektronix, or HP, where I worked (I used to
       | write GPIB controller programs for them).
        
         | bombcar wrote:
         | It also is just the right era to fit a hugely wide range of
         | periods - you can get away with them into the 20s or 30s if
         | you're doing a bit of retro futurism, and they're not out of
         | place even today.
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | And, almost always, working and displaying traces.
       | 
       | Vintage Tektronix equipment is gorgeous inside. Ceramic terminal
       | blocks. Silver solder. All resistor color codes facing in the
       | same direction.
        
         | analog31 wrote:
         | And a tiny spool of silver solder inside each unit, so you
         | don't use the wrong solder for repairs.
        
         | hilbert42 wrote:
         | And Tektronix equipment is absolute delight to work on. And I
         | defy anyone to find better handbooks and maintenance manuals
         | anywhere, they're absolutely marvelous. They should be held up
         | as the quintessential examples.
         | 
         | I look at the shit tech manuals around these days (that's if
         | they exixt at all) and can't help but feel how much tech
         | companies have screwed users in recent decades.
        
         | gaze wrote:
         | I have a 556 and 547 that I still use. They work fine. They
         | slowed down a bit from the resistors drifting but whatever.
         | Still very fun to use and they heat the workspace in the
         | winter.
        
       | louthy wrote:
       | As an Eventide owner, this is a personal favourite of mine:
       | 
       | https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F8...
        
       | blendo wrote:
       | Back in the 80s, the Tek 4115 (color, 1280x1024) was so much fun
       | for a young programmer working at RADC/Hanscom AFB.
       | 
       | Mandelbrot sets and Towers of Hanoi were so exciting to write in
       | Fortran (I think Fortran 77), running under, iirc, CP/M.
        
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