I’ve been wishing over the last few days that I could see visually the pattern of ADC readings coming in to the Picaxe, and have also thought several times over the last few months that it might be useful to do the same for serial, IR, PWM and other messages flying around. If I understand correctly, a scope would allow me to do that.
For working with Analogue signals, that vary with time, you need a 'scope -
any scope, being better than
no scope
. That probably fits the bill for your ADC readings, but for the other examples you gave (Serial, IR PWM etc), a
Logic Analyser might be more suitable.
This web page explains the difference.
You always get what you pay for, of course, but I found one huge difference between PC-based 'scopes and
real ones - and that is in usability.
It is I find it so much easier to twiddle with physical knobs and switches, than
it is to hunt for the mouse and start interacting with a virtual version.
My personal oscilloscope journey started with the
Topward 7021, when Maplin started selling them in the late 1980's. ISTR it was less than £300, but allowing for 30 years inflation, that was still a lot of money. Eventually, I upgraded/downgraded/changed to the
Hantek 6022BE, which as mentioned earlier, being PC-based, was quite awkward to use. My current pride-and-joy, is a
Siglent SDS 1052 DL - which currently retails at ~£230. In real terms, that is much cheaper than the Topward was and has far more functionality.
Logic Analysers
like this one, can be had much more cheaply - but careful research is required, as to which analysis software can be used with them - and which Operating Systems they run on.