Hi!
I just picked up a Rolm 1602 system at a local hamfest. It
looks like an interesting toy (and a way to expand my horizons
beyond the Sun/SGI/Dec arena. It even has a front panel
interface :-)
The unit seems to be in pretty decent shape (apparently it did not
go through "Military" (i.e. sledgehammer) decommissioning,
as the party I bought it from indicated that he obtained it from a
NASA surplus auction). Unfortunately, there were no docs
whatsoever with this critter. I seem to vaguely remember that
some of the Rolm systems were just repackaged and beefed-up
Data General Novas, but I could be wrong. Can anyone provide
me with info/pointers/tech docs on this critter? I've done a
web search and a dejanews search, but haven't had any luck.
I even checked through some of the classiccmp archives, since
I remembered seeing something on a Rolm system here a few
months back, but I was unable to locate anything.
Some of the things I'd like to know (or find pointers to):
Hardware interface pinouts/docs:
i.e. where do I connect an ASCII
terminal... (There is no obvious serial connector,
i.e. DB25, etc. All the connectors are some
sort of mil-std twist-lock jobs)
Does this critter have a disk interface of
some sort, etc.
Power requirements and pinouts:
The previous owner had an AC line cord
attached to a connector on the back,
but I don't necessarily trust that he knew what
he was doing. Is this really capable of running
at 117V@60Hz, or did it need something oddball
like 400Hz?
Instruction set documentation:
So I can play with the front panel :-)
Software:
i.e. Did this thing have a simple executive program of some
sort? I downloaded Bob Supnik's Nova emulator in the hope that
it might provide me with some hints as to Nova architecture,
but there wasn't much documentation there. Will a Rolm 1602 run
DG Nova code? If so, is there an archive of DG Nova
software somewhere?
The back of this critter uses a bunch of what looks like mil-std
twist-lock connectors. Does anyone know an (affordable)
source for these? I'm going to try pulling it apart tonight
(It appears to be held together by about 17,000 screws :-).
Any info would be greatly appreciated....
-Thanks in advance...
-al-
-acorda(a)geocities.com