Well, I finally got around to picking up a Nicolet computer that's been waiting for me at California State University Sacramento for the better part of a year. Along the way a heap of HP stuff was added to the pile, and I ended up having a whole trailer full of rackmount gear, racks, punch card readers, disk packs, paper tape, and more. Since I'm sure not many of you have ever heard of Nicolet Instrument Corporation (Madison, Wisconsin), I'll tell you what I know so far. The NIC-1080 is a 20-bit computer circa 1972. It has an assembler and a BASIC via paper tape programs. I haven't determined how much memory it has yet, although the computer has core in it, and I got a second Extended Memory Unit (a separate box). When it was decommissioned a couple years back it was still fully functional. The computer is integrated into a big console with an o-scope display and a plotter. This machine used to be connected to a magnetic resonance imaging unit weighing several tons that was thankfully hauled away by scrappers last year. It has special circuitry for doing fast fourier transforms. It came with a Diablo 5meg removeable hard drive in a separate rack, along with a Decitek paper tape reader (serial interface). The computer has a serial interface, and a TI Silent 700 came along with it, which was the primary console. I also got a couple big boxes filled to the brim with paper tape software. Nicolet formed a "Nicolet User's Society" whereby user's could submit programs, and so there is plenty of public domain software on punched-tape. I also got a complete set of spare boards for the computer. The spares came out of another Nicolet which was dismantled. The other Nicolet came sure it performed some interesting calculations in its day. Its a pretty fascinating machine. Its about the size of an upright piano and weighs around 300 pounds. If you want to know more about it just ask. If anyone wants to see pictures I can post them to the Vintage Computer Festival web page. I also got a whole pile of cool HP stuff, including a 9830B Calculator with a whole bevy of peripherals, a couple punch card readers, a printer, plotter. Here's a complete list of the haul: Nicolet 1080 Computer NIC 1080E Extended Memory Unit (core memory) Decitek Paper Tape Reader NIC Disc Memory Coupler Diablo Systems Inc. Series 30 Disk Drive (7 disk packs) TI Silent 700 (thermal paper terminal) Complete Nicolet paper tape library (over 100 different paper tapes including debuggers, assemblers, BASIC, misc. programs) Complete set of spare boards for Nicolet HP 9830B Calculator Complete manual set About 20 program cassettes ROM Packs FP-78 Batch BASIC (Infotek Systems) Ext. I/O ROM Eliminator (Infotek Systems) FP-96 Data Communications I (Infotek Systems) 11273B Mass Memory Mass Memory II (Infotek Systems) Infotek Systems FD-30A Mass Memory (8-inch drive for 9830, stacks on top of 9830) HP 9866A Printer (stacks on top of FD-30A) HP 9862A Calculator Plotter HP 9869A Calculator Card Reader HP 2761A Optical Mark Reader HP 9868A I/O Expander PS. I committed the stupidest mistake any computer collector could. I totally forgot about the disk pack loaded into the hard drive. I never checked to make sure the heads were locked. In my defense, I couldn't remove the pack because the unit won't let the drive door be opened without power. Does anyone know about the Diablo Series 30 and what the proper procedure would be for locking the heads? Is the disk pack in their most likely messed up now? Sam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ever onward. September 26 & 27...Vintage Computer Festival 2 See http://www.siconic.com/vcf for details! [Last web page update: 05/30/98]