TDS Snap

Image-Grabber for Tektronix TDS-Series

(c) 2004 by A. Tofahrn

www.tofahrn.de

Intention

The TDS-Series of Tektronic Scopes support capturing Screens via a serial Connection. You may need optional Hardware to have a serial Port on some Devices. If you need to capture several Images, the provided Software is not an optimal Choice.

This little Utility focuses only on capturing Images from the Scopes and store them to Disk in a compressed Format. It does not remote-control your Scope in any way.

Operation

The Operation is quite simple: After setting up the serial connection and configuring your Scope for transferring PCX-Images via the serial connection, simply press the Hardcopy-Button on your Scope.

For faster Transmission of the Image, press the STOP-Button on your Scope first (also works during Transmission).

TDS Snap will capture any received Image and stores them in Memory. You can select older Images in the provided List for review or Storage to Disk as a highly compressed PNG-File.

You can also load older captured Images back into the Application for Comparison.

Configure your Scope

For proper Operation you have to configure your Scope first. You must select the PCX-Format and properly set up the serial Port. Check your Manual for the required Steps. You should be able to use the highest possible transmission Speed provided, but remember to configure TDS Snap with the same Parameters. For best Operation you should use Hardware-Handshake, but it may should work without Handshake too, depending on other Processes running on your System.

Some notes for Color-Scopes. I know, there are several Scopes out there, which produce colored Images. TdsSnap currently supports Images with a 8-Bit-Palette, if your Scope uses a 4-Bit-Palette, please send me a captured Image so that I can implement that Conversion too.

Please also note, that 8-Bit-Palettes are transferred last in a PCX-Image, so it is not possible to display proper colors during Reception of the Image.

Configure TdsSnap

There are some Options in the Setup-Menu, which you should know about.

• Serial Port
  You can configure the Serial Port to match the choosen Parameters of your Scope. Please notice, that some Scopes only support Baudrates up to 19.200 Baud.
• TDS2xx Grayscale Mode
  Some Models simulate Grayscales on their monochrome Displays using a 2x2 Dither-Pattern, effectively reducing Image-Resolution to 320x240 Pixels. Select this Option to convert such Images to real Grayscales, which may look better than the dithered Version. It has no Effect on colored Images.
• Rotate Image Left/Right
  This Option is for your Convenience, when your Scope is configured to send the Image vertical, you can rotate automatically.
• Use only integral Scale during Display
  When you turn this Option off, TdsSnap always fits the Image into Display-Area. For non-integral Scales, this could produce ugly Results. Choosing this Option forces TdsSnap to only use integral scales for best optical Results, which also means, the Image is not scaled down, when it is larger than the Display Area.

Change-History

• V1.00, 2004-04-12
  Initial Release
• V1.10, 2004-05-20
  - Support for vertical oriented Images
  - Menu-Switches to control Zoom and Rotation
  
• V1.11, 2004-05-21
  - Fixed Image-Shift without Rotation
  - Support for 8-Bit Color-Images
  
• V1.12, 2004-05-21
  - Fixed wrong Preview from loaded colored Images
  - Without Handshake, RTS and DTR are set to active now
  - Window resizeable (also removes Scaling-Error for vertical Images)
  - Image centered in Window
  - You can now Drag-and-Drop PNG-Files from Explorer directly into TdsSnap
  

Disclaimer

This Tool is provided as-is and usage is completely on your own Risk. I can not guarantee proper operation in any possible configuration. You should also know, that the Tool does not try to circumvent Problems loading PNG-Images from other Sources. The Results are absolutely undefined, since it is not a general PNG-Viewer.

All Trademarks mentioned are owned by their respective Owners.

The use of the Tool is absolutely free, so you can call it FreeWare. For this Reason, I can not give many Support. But if you have suggestions for Enhancements, feel free to send me a Mail.

Copyright and Contact

Copyright (c) 2004 by A. Tofahrn