Help Required "Oszifox" V 4.2 (probably!) "Pen" scope (also sold as the RadioShack "Probescope")

jeallen01

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Afternoon

Just unearthed one of these, bought in the late 1990s, from a cupboard and want to play around with it (providing it still works - which has yet to be shown!).

You are supposed to be able to use it standalone, via the controls and display on it - but there was also both Windows and Linux s/w, and I've been trying to track down the "Oszifox" V4, V5 or V6 versions for MSDoS or Win95 (which I should be able to run under VMware), but without success.

So, I wondered if anyone has that on an old 3.5" floppy (that'll mean resurrecting one of the old PCs - none of which have been fired up for nearly a decade!), or better can download it and let me have a copy.

Thanks in advance.
 

RustySpoons

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I've got a USB Floppy drive if you post it to me I can copy the contents, send the file to you and post the floppy back?
 

jeallen01

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I've got a USB Floppy drive if you post it to me I can copy the contents, send the file to you and post the floppy back?
Many thanks but there's the first problem - I don't yet actually have the floppy and that's I need to get hold of first!

If someone can find one of those then I will gladly take you up on that offer.
 

RustySpoons

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Many thanks but there's the first problem - I don't yet actually have the floppy and that's I need to get hold of first!

If someone can find one of those then I will gladly take you up on that offer.
Ahh apologies I must not have read it properly, I will see what I can dig up online.
 

RustySpoons

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:-clap
GREAT! - I searched for 20-30 mins without coming across those links - looks like my problem is more than 1/2 way to being solved:)
Keep us posted on how you get on, looks an interesting bit of kit :)
 

CraigInUSA

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In this first case, helping with the Radio Shack ProbeScope software v4.2. I live In America and found a post about while searching the Internet. I have a good Floppy with v4.2 and am offering an image that can be used with program WinImage to make a Floppy like factory new.
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Many thanks but there's the first problem - I don't yet actually have the floppy and that's I need to get hold of first!

If someone can find one of those then I will gladly take you up on that offer.
If the ProbeScope v4.1 you got isn't working well enough for you, I have a good ProbeScope v4.2 Floppy. I recently made an image for backup with WinImage. It's a free program download for Windows that can restore a Floppy from image, create an image of a Floppy, compare a Floppy to an image created and vice versa, and it can check a Floppy for bad sectors. If it finds bad sectors, it will try to repair them, sometimes successfully, and will mark them bad if it can't so images don't try to use bad sectors. The image is 1.40MB in size and plenty small enough for an email attachment. If you want it and have a good Floppy to put it on, or one that WinImage tells you is good enough, just give me you email address. A formatted 1.44MB Floppy is really only 1.39MB. The ProbeScope v4.2 Floppy has 710KB in files with 713KB free, so there should be room on most any Floppy, depending on how many bad sectors there are. You didn't reply with your success, so maybe what you got didn't work for you for some reason.

You can find WinImage at Download WinImage. It's available for Windows XP/Vista/7/10/11, and Server up to 2022 and it comes with the WinImage self-extractor. So install it on a computer with a Floppy Drive and check out your Floppies and see if one can hold 710KB, or 727,040 bytes.

Honestly, I can't believe my Floppy is still good after all these years, but it is. However, to use it, you'll need Windows 98/98SE at the oldest. I was released for Windows 3.x and 95, but it works with Windows 98SE on a PC with a built-in Serial port. It's not working on XP Pro with a StatTech Serial PCI card, so I'm, going to try it in an older HP Pavilion 6640C with a built-in Serial port and Windows XP Pro installed. The issue c ould be the PCI Serial Card, but I'm not expecting much. We'll see. It works on that older PC with Windows 98SE installed.
 

jeallen01

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Thanks for the offer but it's rather redundant now as I bought a Rigol DSO a couple of years ago - OTOH, if anyone wants the Osifox itself then it's available for the cost of the P&P (thankfully it doesn't have an internal battery, so not a Restricted Article for postage purposes!) as I'm having a "clearout" of redundant bits & pieces!
 

CraigInUSA

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In this first case, helping with the Radio Shack ProbeScope software v4.2. I live In America and found a post about while searching the Internet. I have a good Floppy with v4.2 and am offering an image that can be used with program WinImage to make a Floppy like factory new.
My Location
Louisiana, America
Thanks for the offer but it's rather redundant now as I bought a Rigol DSO a couple of years ago
Win10 will not install on the older HP Pavilion 6440C PC that came with Win98, on which the ProbeScope works with the ProbeScope v4.2 program. I wanted to test its built-in Serial port on WinXP to see if XP is the problem. And I have not been able to get Win98SE to complete installation on my HP Pavilion a642n PC. It came with Vista installed and WinXP is the earliest it will take, but ProbeScope v4.2 cannot find the probe. I found an article with instructions yesterday about using in a "Virtual Machine Win98" within Win10. I could try Win98 (original) on the PC, but I get an error that says the BIOS is not compatible with Win98SE, so I'll try a Virtual Machine Win98 first. This was going to be a Dual Boot Win98SE/Win7 or 10, but I won't need that if the Virtual Machine Win98 works. Now to see if Win10 will complete installation.

I looked at your Rigol DSO and it seems pretty nice. I bought a FNIRSI DSO-TC3 Digital Oscope from AliExpress and it came in yesterday. Like $50 with tax and shipping. If all else fails, I'll have that to use. It's not as nice as the Rigol DSO, but I don't need precision for hobbyist stuff and piddling around.

If whomever gets your Osifox/RadioShack ProbeScope needs software v 4.2, you can tell them I have it. What other items are included in your "clearout?" I might be interested. Thanks
 

jeallen01

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Win10 will not install on the older HP Pavilion 6440C PC that came with Win98, on which the ProbeScope works with the ProbeScope v4.2 program. I wanted to test its built-in Serial port on WinXP to see if XP is the problem. And I have not been able to get Win98SE to complete installation on my HP Pavilion a642n PC. It came with Vista installed and WinXP is the earliest it will take, but ProbeScope v4.2 cannot find the probe. I found an article with instructions yesterday about using in a "Virtual Machine Win98" within Win10. I could try Win98 (original) on the PC, but I get an error that says the BIOS is not compatible with Win98SE, so I'll try a Virtual Machine Win98 first. This was going to be a Dual Boot Win98SE/Win7 or 10, but I won't need that if the Virtual Machine Win98 works. Now to see if Win10 will complete installation.

I looked at your Rigol DSO and it seems pretty nice. I bought a FNIRSI DSO-TC3 Digital Oscope from AliExpress and it came in yesterday. Like $50 with tax and shipping. If all else fails, I'll have that to use. It's not as nice as the Rigol DSO, but I don't need precision for hobbyist stuff and piddling around.

If whomever gets your Osifox/RadioShack ProbeScope needs software v 4.2, you can tell them I have it. What other items are included in your "clearout?" I might be interested. Thanks
Craig
1. If you can get Win 10 to install in 32 bit, not 64 bit, mode on one m/c then there's a reasonable chance that an earlier non-Win 10 compatible App could be installed using Win 10's "compatibility" mode as I did that on a 2012-vintage Samsung laptop with a 1990 vintage game.
2. ISTR that, sometime in the past, I did get the relevant OsiFox s/w.
3. The OsiFox is about the only bit of kit that I have that would be possibly worth having as all the rest of the to-be disposed kit has either already gone, or is simply not worth having at all (just "bits & pieces" of components!) and certainly not worth the cost & time involved in shipping it across The Pond!
 

jeallen01

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Craig
1. If you can get Win 10 to install in 32 bit, not 64 bit, mode on one m/c then there's a reasonable chance that an earlier non-Win 10 compatible App could be installed using Win 10's "compatibility" mode as I did that on a 2012-vintage Samsung laptop with a 1990 vintage game.
2. ISTR that, sometime in the past, I did get the relevant OsiFox s/w....
FWIW: Just tried to install "SCOPE41.EXE" on a WIN 10 Pro 64 bit m/c in Compatibility mode and it would not install under any of the compatibility options .

FWIW2: I also seem to have the following files if of use to anyone:
- xoscope-2.2.tar.gz
- xProbeScope.c (for the RadioShack version)
- oszifox.llb
- Oszifox manual -310633.pdf (as attached)
 

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CraigInUSA

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In this first case, helping with the Radio Shack ProbeScope software v4.2. I live In America and found a post about while searching the Internet. I have a good Floppy with v4.2 and am offering an image that can be used with program WinImage to make a Floppy like factory new.
My Location
Louisiana, America
FWIW: Just tried to install "SCOPE41.EXE" on a WIN 10 Pro 64 bit m/c in Compatibility mode and it would not install under any of the compatibility options .
1. What do you mean by "m/c?" I've never seen that used before.
2. You mentioned ProbeScope on Win10 32bit. Have you tried that yet? I'm going to try Virtual Machine Windows 98 SE on Win10 64 bit on the Pavilion a6142n PC because I have an official Win98SE disk with a Product Key. If that doesn't work, I may try to find a Win10 32bit iso to test it on.

How to Create a Windows 98 Virtual Machine: at Free Download Windows 98 ISO [1st & 2nd Editions] with instructions starting a little bit down on the page, if you want to try it. I'll let you know if it works in Win10 64bit or 32bit once I get that far.

I have a retail package of the RadioShack ProbeScope with software v4.2 on a working Floppy, so thanks for the links, but I don't need them.
 

jeallen01

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1. What do you mean by "m/c?" I've never seen that used before.
2. You mentioned ProbeScope on Win10 32bit. Have you tried that yet? I'm going to try Virtual Machine Windows 98 SE on Win10 64 bit on the Pavilion a6142n PC because I have an official Win98SE disk with a Product Key. If that doesn't work, I may try to find a Win10 32bit iso to test it on.

How to Create a Windows 98 Virtual Machine: at Free Download Windows 98 ISO [1st & 2nd Editions] with instructions starting a little bit down on the page, if you want to try it. I'll let you know if it works in Win10 64bit or 32bit once I get that far.

I have a retail package of the RadioShack ProbeScope with software v4.2 on a working Floppy, so thanks for the links, but I don't need them.
1. "m/c" = "machine" (common usage over here, but possibly not in the US?)
2. TBH, I've neither the time, the need, nor the inclination to try to install the old s/w as I have far more important issues to deal with (like getting ready to move house whilst now being quite severely disabled due to spinal injuries and arthritis)
 
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CraigInUSA

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In this first case, helping with the Radio Shack ProbeScope software v4.2. I live In America and found a post about while searching the Internet. I have a good Floppy with v4.2 and am offering an image that can be used with program WinImage to make a Floppy like factory new.
My Location
Louisiana, America
getting ready to move house whilst now being quite severely disabled due to spinal injuries and arthritis
Good luck with the move and the new house! I understand how limiting spinal injuries and arthritis can be. I have lower back, both hips and neck issues. When I get to it, I'll post of my success or not with Virtual Machine Windows 98 SE in Win10.
 
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