[SunRescue] Re: HP 4972A LAN Protocol Analyser

[Dave McGuire]

On February 12, Bill Bradford wrote:
> Anybody know anything about a HP 4972A LAN Protocol Analyser?  
> Where I can find the OS software?  manuals?  etc?  Is this
> machine still worth anything?
> 
> Thanks.. (copyright date on the OS it boots is '90, so hey, it
> fits the ten-year rule..)

  I have one, I use it regularly, and I love it.  Yes it's ten years
old...but it's a piece of test equipment, not a computer, so it's
only getting "a little" old at this point.

  Newer units are a bit more flashy and flexible, but those newer
units also tend to be Windows PC laptops running network analyzer
software that some college schmuck threw together in Visual
Basic...and thus tend to blow up a lot.  The HP4972 isn't a Windows
PC in disguise...it's an honest piece of application-specific-
engineered test equipment that does its job very well.

  I have the documentation, and I'd be willing to loan it to you.  I
also (obviously) have the software...I'm not sure how to copy it out
of the machine, but if we can figure that out, I'll help you get yours
running.

  FYI they tend to go for anywhere between $500-$1000 (working) on the
surplus market, or up to about $2500 in the "commercial" used test
equipment market.


            -Dave McGuire