Data General NOVA 2/10

[Bruce Ray]

G'day Tom -


Information provided to you off-list...


Bruce


Bruce Ray
Wild Hare Computer Systems, Inc.
Denver, Colorado USA
bkr at WildHareComputers.com

...preserving the Data General legacy: www.NovasAreForever.org

On 9/7/2021 10:56 AM, Tom Hunter via cctalk wrote:
> 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
>