A prototype of a digital positron lifetime apparatus is presented. We demonstrate that direct digitizing of detector pulses and subsequent simple analysis with software, can be used to replace the conventional analog electronics chain (constant-fraction discriminators, time-to-amplitude converter and multichannel analyzer). In this work, we use a fast digital oscilloscope. The C quality of the lifetime data is shown to be as good as with a usual apparatus. For a pulsed positron lifetime beam the digital system is particularly suitable as no coincidence detection is needed and only one analog pulse has to be analyzed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.