Data General NOVA 2/10

[Tom Hunter]

I just started working on a Data General NOVA 2/10 which is in quite
reasonable cosmetic condition, but has a number of problems.

The system comes with 8 kwords plus 16 kwords of core boards and a
"Cassette I/O" board and the CPU board.

After reforming the "man sized" caps and verified the power rails I took a
leap of faith and plugged in the CPU and the 16 kword core board. I managed
to deposit a few bit patterns and read back mostly what I deposited. After
a few power cycles I could no longer deposit values and read back what I
deposited. I also noticed that a 30 Ohm resistor rated at 3W which
previously got quite warm now stayed cold. That PCB area around that
resistor has cooked in the past and has changed colour - not dramatic, but
it obviously got quite hot in the past.

Unfortunately I didn't find a good schematic specifically for the Nova
2/10. There is one for the Nova 2/4 up on Bitsavers, but it is hard to read
and does not cover the NOVA 2/10 which is not quite the same as the NOVA
2/4. For example the power supply is completely different.

Until now I have been spoiled with quite decent DEC PDP-8/e documentation
and would be surprised if Data General did not provide a similar level and
quality of documentation. Maybe I am looking in the wrong place.

Thanks
Tom Hunter