The Soul of a Great Machine

Picking up one MV/4000 DC and one AViiON/200

Tommie — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:28:08 +0000

Three weeks ago I picked up an MV/4000 DC and an AViiON/200 graphics workstation from Mikael Bengtson who rescued these computers from Tidningsstatistik 15 years ago. The systems are running DG/UX, Data General’s version of UNIX and I also got DG/UX manuals as well as the software on tape and 5.25″ floppy disks.

The MV/4000 filter needed to be replaced and the wheels need to be changed. I have replaced the filter but not the wheels.

I have tested to fire up both systems. The AViiON begins booting but halts with a number of beeps. The 300V VNR supply produces 300 VDC on its output but that’s it. The MV/4000 will not start, not even the fans are running so there is a Power Supply issue. Could be one of the parts but I have pulled out all the boards as well as disconnected the disks, the floppy and the fans but still no luck. Since I have no manuals, I have no idea what is wrong.

More pictures of my MV/4000 DC:

Testing the Teletype ASR 33

Tommie — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:42:37 +0000

Time to test the ASR 33! With the paper tape punch engaged I typed the following string:

THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOGS BACK 1234567890 TIMES

Put the tape in the reader and switched the reader lever to run:

Click here to watch the video: Teletype ASR 33 typing using tape reader

Fixing the paper tape reader on my Teletype ASR 33

Tommie — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:54:17 +0000

The paper tape punch worked fine when I got the Teletype ASR 33 but the tape reader would not advance the paper tape. The tape is advanced by a feed solenoid in the reader unit and it get’s it power from the reader power supply board which had a hair crack in one of the foil traces.

Teletype ASR 33 reader power supply broken foil

Well, that was easily fixed by putting a drop of super glue between the connector pin foil and the board and then soldering a piece of large gauge wire over the broken path.

Teletype ASR 33 reader power supply broken foil repaired

Line Feed not working

Tommie — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:31:21 +0000

The Line Feed did not work on my newly acquired Teletype ASR 33. After having spent several hours trying to figure out how to decode and set the codebar so that the Line Feed function would engage, I subscribed to the GreenKeys Teletype mailing list and asked if any of the members could assist. It did not take long before member Larry responded and told me about the little piece of plastic that needed to sit on the Line Feed Drive Link in order for the Line Feed to work.

ASR 33 Paper Feed Mechanism

I fabricated the black piece of rubber with the crosshatch pattern seen in the picture below from a rubber sole.

Teletype ASR 33 Line Feed

Thanks a million Larry! Without your help I would never have been able to fix the Line Feed!

Cleaning and lubricating my Teletype ASR 33

Tommie — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:14:29 +0000

Since the ASR 33 had been sitting in Tom’s basement for a few years I disassembled, cleaned and lubricated the Teletype before doing any testing.

Below is a syringe I used to put very small drops of oil at the designated lubrication points. The syringe is made from plastic and I made the tip a lot smaller the following way:

Put a screw into it’s to large tip.
Held the screw by my finger tips.
Carefully heated the tip using a gas fired, portable soldering iron with the torch tip attached and let the syringe slowly descend downwards and thereby stretching the tip making it much smaller.

Picking up a Teletype ASR 33 in Norway

Tommie — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:47:25 +0000

Today I picked up a new (well, not really since Teletype Corporation stopped making the Teletype ASR 33 in 1981) Teletype ASR 33 from Tom in Drammen, Norway. Tom needed the space and I needed a Teletype ASR 33. The drive from Upplands Väsby in Sweden is 554 km one way. I left 09:00 and was back at 23:00 after the 1100 km drive.

Solbergmoen, Norway

Tom and the Teletype ASR 33

Moving my Data General MV/8000 to a permanent location

Tommie — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 16:37:15 +0000

Yesterday, I persuaded two friends, Tobbe and Jan, to help me move the MV/8000 to a permanent location. Stealing the system will not be an easy task since we had to remove the door frame in order for the system to pass through the opening. The next step will be to vacuum clean the outside of the cabinets as well as the internal. A big Thank You to Tobbe and Jan (who also took the pictures).

DG Alumni

Tommie — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 08:56:48 +0000

“And being the techies that we still are, DGalumni.com was born, a website dedicated to all former Data General employees, who would like to connect with other DG alumni.”

If you are one of us and want to join, please visit DGalumni.com and submit your information to be added to the alumni page.

The day Kari and I went to Lund to pick up the VAX 11/780

Tommie — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 14:12:31 +0000

On Monday the 20th of June, Kari came over from Finland and the two of us drove down to Lund to get the VAX 780 system “VEGA” at Lunds Tekniska Högskola. I made a mistake in that I thought we were going on Tuesday and so I delayed our departure from Upplands Väsby with about 20 minutes. With the aid of Tomas and Roger of the Computer Science department we loaded and secured the system on Kari’s truck. We were able to position the cabinets in a very tight formation and only needed to secure the load with only one load securing strap. I t took us all night to drive back to Upplands Väsby where we arrived at 7 in the morning. Kari went on to Kapellskär to take the ferry across to Finland and the VAX 780 is now sitting in Kari’s garage waiting for the UNIBUS and MASSBUSS to be hooked up to the CPU and the tape an disk to the MASSBUSS and to be fired up after Kari has made the necessary checks of the power supplies.

The people that developed Data General’s first 32-bit minicomputer; the MV/8000

Tommie — Sat, 07 May 2011 12:58:02 +0000

Below are the hardware and software teams that developed Data General’s first 32-bit minicomputer; the MV/8000

(Pictures from Steve Wallach)