Robert_Bruce_Ferrell@cup.portal.com (08/20/89)
I've recently aquired a Data General Nova 3... without documentation! Any and all documentation or leads to same would be greatly appreciated. BTW this machine came equipped with 2 BALL BD80 disk-drives, a Cypher 9 track tape drive and an Intersil memory expansion chassis with what I believe is 512k words of memory. It was originally a part of a Danray CTSS 4000, if that helps any. P.S. Does anyone know if there is a UNIX available for this monster? Where do I get some? thanks in advance
mlewis@unocss.UUCP (Marcus S. Lewis) (08/21/89)
From article <21454@cup.portal.com>, by Robert_Bruce_Ferrell@cup.portal.com: > I've recently aquired a Data General Nova 3... without > documentation! Any and all documentation or leads to same would > be greatly appreciated. ... > P.S. Does anyone know if there is a UNIX available for this > monster? Where do I get some? I think I tried to mail a response to a previous post on this subject. Data General should still have documents available for that machine, but you will have to port Unix yourself. DG only recently made Unix available on their 32-bit machines (like in the last 5 years). The OS of preference on that particular beastie is RDOS, a multi-ground, multi-tasking, realtime OS that is probably better defended by its proponents than Unix is. If you will mail your US MAIL address, I can probably dig up the address at DG to write to for docs, or even have DG send you the catalog. The division at DG you want is TIPS, and they are expensive. I do not work for DG, I deal with them regularly. Marc -- Na khuya mne podpis'? | Internet: cs057@zeus.unl.edu preferred machine->| UUCP: uunet!btni!unocss!mlewis Go for it! | Bitnet: CS057@UNOMA1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
morris@jade.jpl.nasa.gov (Mike Morris) (08/25/89)
In article <1488@unocss.UUCP> mlewis@unocss.UUCP (Marcus S. Lewis) writes: >From article <21454@cup.portal.com>, by Robert_Bruce_Ferrell@cup.portal.com: >> I've recently aquired a Data General Nova 3... without >> documentation! Any and all documentation or leads to same would >> be greatly appreciated. >... >> P.S. Does anyone know if there is a UNIX available for this >> monster? Where do I get some? > >I think I tried to mail a response to a previous post on this subject. >Data General should still have documents available for that machine, but >you will have to port Unix yourself. DG only recently made Unix >available on their 32-bit machines (like in the last 5 years). The OS >of preference on that particular beastie is RDOS, a multi-ground, >multi-tasking, realtime OS that is probably better defended by its >proponents than Unix is. If you will mail your US MAIL address, I can >probably dig up the address at DG to write to for docs, or even have DG >send you the catalog. The division at DG you want is TIPS, and they are >expensive. >I do not work for DG, I deal with them regularly. >Marc > I've got a Nova 4 here in the house. There are several OSs that will run on that beast, KMOS (now PD, but I have no idea where to get it or any info on it), RDOS, RTOS, and IRIS. The second two are a DG product, the last is a multi-user basic-based OS by a company called Point Four Data Systems in Irvine, CA. RDOS is a nice system, equivalent to RT-11 by DEC. There are several languages available for it, including a multi- user BASIC. An outfit in central CA. sells a 4-user RDOS called NANOS. Several VARs made a good living integrating their own software and a mix of hardware into small business systems - that's probably what you have. Yes, manuals from DG are expensive - I got a few for my Nova 4X just by walking into a local sales office and asking for old revs. Likewise some schematics from a service depot (I've got a console tty card modified to look like a paralell printer interface. Took a new cryatal and a couple ttl chips, and a lot of hacking & slashing. Fortunately very few of the Nova-line cards are multi-layer. The tape controller I got for free - but it wont talk to my Kennedy drive (it looks like a Cipher). There's apparently two different interface standards for 1/2" drives. I'd think twice, and twice again before I decided to do any serious hardware or software work on a Nova of any vintage. The OS is primitive by toady's standards. The adddress space is 32kw, 64kb. There were memory bank switching tricks to get the Novas up intothe megabyte range. I never had to play with it, as our applications always fitted into the 50-55kb that was left after the kernel was loaded. The machines are power hogs - I was a conslutant for five years, and one winter I did a _lot_ of DG work - my gas bill dropped by over 50% (and my power bill more than doubled). Disk media is available, but expensive. I haven't turned my DG on in 3 years. I'd love to get out of it what I paid for it: $1k, complete with 128kb, 25mb (14"!) winchester, 8" floppy (backup media), two serial ports, and 1 paralell port. I added the tape drive & controller, and the serial printer interface. Mike Morris UUCP: Morris@Jade.JPL.NASA.gov ICBM: 34.12 N, 118.02 W #Include quote.cute.standard | The opinions above probably do not even come cat flames.all > /dev/null | close to those of my employer(s), if any.