@This Does Not Compute The AC97 DAC was planned for use in testing VoIP network integration during network testing and Skype calls. There was a Beta run of the software to activate the feature with select companies. The feature was dropped last I checked due to stability issues and cost overruns.

hard to believe a $8000+ device cut corner on a charging jack

Audio probably for telecoms/VOIP testing

Hey Colin it's everyone, how's it goin'?

The audio function is expected to be equipped with VoIP related diagnosis.

Millions of devices would still work if engineers wouldn't abuse a solder joint as a mechanical connection.

These are super useful. I had a similar Fluke at a job long ago. We had new cubicles set up and the contractor labeled the ports in the cubicles incorrectly (of course). Since the Fluke can communicate with Cisco switches directly, I was able to see which switch and port it was connected to. Then I could properly label the jacks and assign the proper VLANs to the ports.

Intel was a big player in the ARM segment in the early 2000's. They had the StrongARM series of chips (SA1100, etc), which then became the PXA series in subsequent generations. They bowed out of the ARM segment in the mid-late 2000's IIRC. The Sharp Zaurus 5xxx series PDAs used Intel ARM chips and ran Linux. That 2MB memory near the EPSON controller is probably video RAM.

Fluke equipment has always been expensive as f***. For good reason though, they were benchmark for network related tools and diagnosis.

I used to work with Fluke/Philips and I remember when the sales manager in the Sydney office broke the screen of the then really new ScopeMeter when it was first released about 1990 ....it did not go down well, as that was our only demo model.... [I was in the Melbourne office]...

I seem to recall that Intel bought from DEC their StrongARM business and started manufacturing their own ARM CPUs back in the day. Originally the SA1100 and SA1110 were CPUs of between 190MHz and 206MHz which were used in HPs Jornada 820 and 720 series. They then started making the PXA series chips which generally were about 400MHz but ended up at 624MHz. I’m sure they were used in other applications but were mainly found in PDAs. A few years later Intel sold their ARM CPU business and I believe Marvell bought the rights to it or bought their business outright. As to the OS, it is indeed Linux and the distribution was called Qtopia which is now called Qt Extended.

We have one of the more modern Fluke cable tester/certifiers at work, and I think the price was like $12k a few years ago

Wedge of epoxy all round the jack, having previously roughened up the surface

The 2MB ram chip looks like it's a framebuffer for the video chip

Many years ago when I was working overseas for DoD, they bought Fluke OneTouch tools for every shop so we could do better network troubleshooting. When I opened the shipping box I found that Fluke had enclosed a coupon for a free Fluke Linkrunner. I filled it out and sent it off and a few weeks later had a shiny Linkrunner sitting in my APO mail box. Of course using a OneTouch to troubleshoot PairGain T1 and E1 modems over ancient copper cables laid down in WWII by Nazis is kind of overkill so I mostly used the LinkRunner and kept it with me in my network go-bag. I still have that Linkrunner to this very day almost 20 years later and it still works just fine, it just doesn't do PoE or anything higher than 100mbps but it's great for testing patch cables, blinking ports, and testing connectivity all the way out to the internet. I've looked into buying a newer Linkrunner but I do NOT like the direction the company that Fluke sold them to has taken the newer Linkrunners. Wish I could find something in that same size and form factor but could do PoE and gigabit ethernet.

I remember using a similar device like this in 2003 in high school. I was a T.A. for the computer lab and troubleshooting connections was about half of my work. The other half was walking off campus to go to 7-11 lol

I use a Fluke Versiv on a daily basis, this stuff is pure nerd porn. Oh and the reason there are different lengths on each pair is due to the fact that each pair has a slightly different amount of twists, this is to reduce the amount of crosstalk between each pair by ensuring that twists occur less frequently between pairs. As each pair has a different amount of twists, will ultimately affect it's overall length, you'll find that the lengths ARE actually quite accurate.

Funny enough, some of the old nForce motherboards used to use this Marvell 88E1111 chipset. They were actually quite handy for cable testing.

Good video as always, Colin. Regarding the audio capabilities, consider that VOIP technology was coming into prominence around the same time that FLUKE made this device. I was doing network stuff around the mid-2000s, and a bunch of clients were interested in replacing their POTS system with VOIP.

Super glue won't hold. If you're not tired of looking at it, maybe try 2-part epoxy resin (like a 5-minute resin). It's harder to repair in the future... but less chance of needing to repair it :)

Working in a datacenter in 2007 this would've been like a friggin TRICORDER

There's a firmware update for this model on fluke's website, I'd like to see an update for this video showing that process. Edit: I used to have Anritsu and Wiltron spectrum and RF cable analyzer and they were a pain in the butt to update, they must have been connected via lan to a pc with master software that download the firmware from the web checking the serial number. A nightmare but quite rewarding, actually. As someone pointed out that "check sw update" button could still do something. Great content, Colin, as usual.

(18:01) It appears to be running Qt Extended on top of some form of embedded Linux distro. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qt_Extended

Looks like Qtopia. The same thing ran on the Sharp Zaurus linux based PDAs, which had XScale StrongARM processors. Coincidentally, the clamshell Zaurus PDAs were *very* popular at the time with network admins because you could plug Ethernet, WiFi and serial adapters into them and configure routers and switches and do network testing with a device that easily fit in your tool bag. It was kind of amazing how many people had them considering that you had to order them from Japan and install a community-made English translated OS on them.

Maybe the future use was to turn them into clunky MP3 players.

I have two of these at work still in the cases. Someone has lost all the termination tester ends, but it comes with a really sweet mini keyboard!

Hey Colin! Greetings from Madrid, Spain. Regarding the processor, I remember having Compaq/HP iPAQ devices which had Intel StrongARM (and later, XScale) CPUs in early/mid 2000s. I believe Intel later sold their ARM processor division to Marvell, that would be the reason you have a Marvell CPU with the same part number as an Intel CPU.

Oh Intel Xscale that was the processor where I first learned assembly language on in college. Good times. Yeah Intel sold their ARM license and the Xscale business to Marvell but they did not update the data sheet on this processor since they did not make any changes to the design. I wonder if Intel will consider making the switch to using ARM architecture for some of its chips again given its success in devices that need low power consumption.

An impressive repair, Colin!

I really enjoyed this video! Also wow, those things are still expensive on eBay! Makes sense, they are still really useful! Test equipment holds value really well (like oscilloscopes and stuff!).

Hi Colin, I'm also a network engineer😊. You make great videos, I love this channel👍🏻

Very interesting gadget. While I do like Fluke, that power jack, as you showed us, was not their finest hour!

That's actually the same soc* that my dell PDA uses

I enjoyed this so much, thank you! Brings back some memories man...

I’m a telecoms network engineer in the UK and we are issued either Viavi onx-580 devices or Exfo Max testers. These are all in one unit and have a large amount of functions for testing the external network (copper and fibre) as well as complete broadband sync and faulting. They’re extremely expensive but luckily we are issued with them

still a cool device. great job on the repair. thanks for the video.

The TDR functionality is clutch. I'm a cable tech and I can't tell you how many times having a TDR or OTDR has helped me resolve issues.

Interesting video, thanks. Not sure if it had any L7 features but maybe as the date of release was around the early adoption of VoIP protocols like H.323 and SIP, there was scope for it to be a voice analyser hence the audio jacks and AC97 support?

The compact flash card is for storing screenshots and pcap packet capture files. I use one of these to locate devices with improper subnet masks or things broadcasting for DHCP on a static VLAN. If you use the I think XDP tool, it will snif CDP/LLDP packets to get a switch name and exact port number so you can find the other end of your cable. This can also operate as a tone generator for a wire tracer and can measure cables, as well as identify mismatched wiring. It has a built in VNC server so you can remotely control it. Despite its age, it is still extremely useful.

Interesting video. Keep them coming please!

That's a pretty good video ! Good work !

Great video Colin, I really enjoyed this one! In my experience; the reported TDR length is sometimes longer for some of the pairs in the same cable because some of the pairs have a slightly tighter twist than others... I believe this is to counteract cross-talk? I could never afford one of these (or a modern day equivalent) but I found a very cool tester crammed full of features called PocketEthernet... A real quality tool!

I had a coworker who had the same exact tool. It was overkill for what he was using it for, but it is a really good cable tester if you have one...

ca glue works very to glue missing pads back to the fiber board, them you extend the solder from the pads to the traces. A epoxy job all over the section is welcome too

Did it work, or was it just a FLUKE. ;) (Didn't watch the whole video yet)

Please show more of these industrial devices that we as normal humans likely never see.

Fluke doesn't make anything remotely close to this device. They now have separate devices to test Ethernet and Fiber and WiFi. If you want a copper Rj45/RJ11 toner, they have one too. It'd be nice to get an upgraded all-in-one device like this one. Today, to get all the functionality of this device, you are looking at spending between $20-30k if you go with Fluke brand. The reason refurb units cost $12k + is that there could still be a need for one of these to the right people.

10:35 Well, maybe the ac97 audio stuff was put in place for a later VoIP foobar upgrade/update? Would make sense to me, having a full blown ethernet cable tester to check out some VoIP wiring including checking the data part to the SIP trunk/server ;) Who knows ;)

I have two of these at work and they have bad batteries.DC jacks ok on both and the damn wiremapper loopbacks are missing. Great video.

This kind of Xilinx FPGA is also used by a device we once produced. It was a professional business DSL-Device.

23:06 I spy a Terminal option. Open it in ya spare time and run stuff like: uname -a cat /proc/cpu cat /proc/mtd cat /proc/meminfo ls -a /bin/busybox* ls -a /bin/apt* ls -a /bin/yum* And maybe some other commands. Who knows, may run a fork of Debian.

My first Synology DS-101j NAS I got in Feb' 2006 had an Xscale CPU and running a Linux operating system. Excellent NAS that I still have now, although I use a newer model these days.

Back in the day, I used to work on telecoms equipment software/firmware, my guess is (as some others have pointed out) the sound stuff is probably for testing VoIP, pretty sure HP/Aligent had similar gear, I remember using something similar but with extra interfaces (V.35, X.21 etc) Thanks for the video

Clearly Fluke designed the charging port to see which customers were worthy or not. If you own a Fluke equipment, you are expected to be able to do simple soldering!

Great Channel, I really was curious to see plug-in an usb keyboard, use the terminal app, and do a telnet or who-is, etc... See you at the next video. Cheers!!!

The microphone and headphone jack were for Flukes "network whisperer" technology, where the IT tech basically tries to convince the network to behave by whispering supportive compliments to the network. Hopefully, making it act better.

great video !

We’ve got a Fluke NetScout at work, and I always get in trouble with it when I hook it up to the network cuz it sets off so many alarms when it starts scanning. The Fluke we’ve got had WiFi built in, and it’s got a couple SFPs, and 3 Ethernet ports. We’ve got ours upgraded to Windows 10, but it’s shit slow. Fluke makes extremely nice gear, but it’s fucking expensive. The upgraded the later models with a larger screen and it has multiple battery packs that can be removed without removing the rubber. The hardware is nice, but it’s all in their software, because it can do so much. It’s sick because you can plug it into a drop and it’ll tell you the name of the switch and what port it’s plugged into.

I used one similar to that around 2010 ish a lot to certify networks i big buildings, the microphone and headphones is to talk to the guy in the other end,at least in the model we had lol.

Neat repair.

We had a simpler version of this tool at school. The teacher warned us that it was super specialized equipment and that it was really expensive to buy.

Intel sold their ARM SOC business (StrongARM and later XScale) to Marvell in 2006. That's why the same SOC is branded both Intel and Marvell.

11:46 - took me a second to notice, nice xD

Didn't know you were a network engineer! Hello from another engineer :D I would really like to see some of the software info on that thing. The distro and apps. Did it come with any type of software you can share?

About the headphones jack it may be a good option to hear the beeps of the tests because sometimes you have to put your head and hands into pretty little places to connect the RJ45 jacks and if you're also in an industrial noisy environment then the beeps in the earphones are a welcomed help (because also in tiny spaces you dont get to see the LCD,you just put the analyzer into auto loop mode and wait for the beeps while connecting ends of RJ45s from a patcher rack or something inconveniently placed where the whole analyzer cant be seen)

It looks like there is an electrical connection to the corner-most pad of the power jack-- a thin trace around the perimeter of the board that also connects to those solder-fortified vias.

Aaaaaand I just found the hardware I need to hack for my van's hardware controls. Thank you sir.

you could add tone-dial-tests with the audio jacks xD

Hey, we used those at work. Now we replaced them woth ThinkPad X590 running a custom Linux distro (we internally call it LanLinux)

DankPods army, Someone's been in here, get the vegemite and crack open a can of Fosters

yeah, but does it run doom?

The headphones jack allows you to here static and other noise on the lines, mic jack is for voice dictation for creating a report or add a tone for jack detection and both could be used for voip network to Check to see if the voip phones are working, if you know how to hack it to play music, I used one at my school when we where setting up the new network and voip phones.

quick weld by jb weld its a minute setting epoxy i would have coated the plug casing with it and put the unit back together and let it sit for 24 hours will never come off the board again.

wow it rocks

Didn't know you were a network engineer, I studied to be a network engineer back in 2015 and got work with an MSP in 2016. Kinda wish I hadn't resigned but what canyado

Some of those ICs on board I recall seeing a '07 date code for some. So at least room for a revision in those 2 years 😉

Headphone jack is so you can hear test results in a noisy place like a server room or factory. More useful when using the WiFi card and you’re looking for an unwelcome WiFi device by signal strength.

You wondered in the video what Lnux distro this thing was using as implied by the manual. I would think that this thing is likely not using any actual Linux distro (n the sense we usually think of a distro as) as the basis for it’s OS but rather simply either a) Using the the Linux kernel and some other Linux open-source components along with a custom GUI/UI coded specifically for this device or b) they hired a third-party to provide a embedded-style Linux OS that ushers a UI that is customizable to each clients needs. These types of devices, when using Linux as their OS typically take the kernel and whatever other OS components needed such as networking, videos, audio, and storage drivers/components and then have a custom GUI/UI written specifically for a device or family of devices or In some cases, a third-party may make a version of Linux that includes very customizable UI that can be modified to suit whatever product your putting the UI on, thus it takes the form of an Windows Embedded style OS distro in that case but it’s not a Linux distro in the usual sense we think of them. It’s highly unlikely they simply took Ubuntu or Cent OS or Arch Linux and swapped their own GUI/desktop interface onto it as most desktop distros include too many components and additional software then would be needed for any network anylizer device. There are some highly customizable Linux distorts like Gentoo Linux which require to compile everything from course as you build the system locally on your machine but Gentoo isn’t really the sort of distro you would expect to be used in this sort of application.

That’s pretty wild… why on earth they chose a surface-mount DC jack instead of one with through-hole mounting is insane!

You could mix bacon soda with super glue to put around the connect to make it super durable.

Man I figured this would have been only a couple of G's at best when new, not over $8K 😲

My father taught me on scraped solderpad to use some aluminum tape then solder it there incase of no visible path can be soldered in.

The PXA255 processor is in Sharp Zaurus PDAs. The SL-C750 thru SL-C780 models @ 400 MHz. The small QT icon in the bottom-left corner is the Qtopia desktop symbol. These devices also ran Linux OpenPDA OS. Also, the icons on the taskbar are the same as the ones I have on my later model Zaurus SL-C3100 and SL-C3200, which have a PXA270 processor @ 416 MHz. And run Lineo uLinux kernel 2.4.20 (Just a comparison, these later models came out in 2004-2005)

Maybe that audio hardware was for a potential use in telephone systems etc? Or even just generic "tech support" stuff as well? So instead of the pricey hardware only being used for specific network issues, they could (conceivably) use it in more "normal" tech support functions? Or maybe it was to provide a "telephone" service using the device as well, so an engineer wouldn't have to have a phone as well as that thing if they wanted/needed to consult with others?

That's QTopia! Same as the sharp zaurus SL-C3000. It is a wonderful OS

very cool

I'd sign up for more network/test equipment content tbh

Damn I was just hunting for a cousin of this line of fluke tools to tear down for my ESP8266 cable tester and here we are.

My Acer netbook I had to work on the power jack and in my netbook Acer put the DC power jack on a Daughter board and it was the plastic holder that broke. Fluke should have done what Acer did in some of there netbooks.

Colin: “This device is from around 2005...”. Me: “dude, that chip has a 2008 date code, that chip has a 2008 date code, etc...”

I wonder if the Audio jacks and Audio hardware was for VOIP. If you had 2 guys working on the network, each with Network Analyzers, you could use the audio to communicate with each other

I have the patience for a full review of this device.

i dunno... i still have this feeling the other jack pad connected the copper fill to the ground for a purpose.. ;) nice vid thx

EEVBlog found an oscilliscope with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of options... in the dumpster. I think the power switch was broken.

that PXA SOC was also used (in its Intel form) in many HP/Compaq iPaq PDAs (my old h3900 has one

When I saw the beginning of the video I thought it might have been based of a Web dt366:) Old win ce based tablet, good times.

i see that Qtopia start button. reminds me of my Sharp zaurus and Angstrom rom.

you could have scraped the plane next to the right pad and add a little solder bridge for extra rigidity

Great content as always! In the terminal app/screen does "uname -a" work? That'd give you more info on what kernel/OS etc it's running. I know it's Linux but yeah... more detail.

This thing looks to be based on a reference design, it uses the PXA250 chip that was used in the Zaurus SL-5600, ran at 400Mhz too. That was a big upgrade from the SL-5500 with the SA-1110 206Mhz chip. I did some software development on the Zaurus in the early 2000's: www.dainst.com/software.html