Found an old Tandberg

[per]

I recently came over an old Tandberg system in my schools attic. It's likely a TDV-2114 or TDV-2124 "terminal", which is actually a complete 8080-based microcompuiter able to emulate terminal operation.

It is quite similar to the one found on this website: http://www.digitaltmuseum.no/things/dataterminal/NTM/NTM 18111, but it has a different color (orange). It has a section for some expansion cards (installed: FDC/CPU/Monitor/RAM). In addition, I also found an external 8" FDD in a chassis (50-pin "IBM-compatible"), and a stockpile of 8" disks (CP/M, Wordstar, etc..). The keyboard were also present, in orange too.

It seems to be in costmetically good shape, except for some broken plastic handles on the FDC card. The CPU card has also been patched, and one of the patch wires has broken loose (I have a general idea where it was originally placed).

There are also some boards of custom logic there. Those are connected through some wires to the CPU board's edge-connectors. The custom logic also has some document (no schematics present) and a disk with custom software. It seems to have been some kind of DAC, but some of the IC's are missing so it seems quite useless.

I will try to get pictures as soon as possible, problably sometime during next week. I quite badly want it, but it's big, heavy, and of unknown working order.

 

[per]

Some more info is to be found in the following PDF from 1977:
http://www.computer.org/plugins/dl/pdf/mags/co/1977/08/01646607.pdf

This system has 4KB of ROM installed on the CPU board, and another 4KB on the video board (I'm unsure if all is mapped in memory). It has the base 2KB of RAM plus 4KB of RAM on an expansion board, making 6KB of RAM total. Due to the broken plastic tabs of the FDC; I was not able to examine it. I would guess it has a piece of ROM on it, if that ROM isn't one of the ROM chips on the CPU board.

 

[tingo]

Cool, you should really try to rescue that one.

 

[per]

Cool, you should really try to rescue that one.

Yea, I know.
The really big problem is moving it from the school to the house where I reside. I don't have the driver's license yet, and it's quite big to take on the buss (I mean, it's possible, but a pain in the @rse). The school don't really mind old equipment not in use (know this from previous years), so it's no problem for me to get it.

In addition, that pre-WW2 Oscilloscope stored in the same room also looks quite interesting, but several of it's buttons are loose or in poor condition. I haven't tested it yet. It's really big, and very simple (no trigger or anything; only X-sweep speed, X/Y-pos, Brightness, focus and X/Y input).

The room is the old science-storage room, today used as storage room for Visual Arts (where I am participating). Lot's of interesting stuff there, but I know that I will have to be selective when choosing things to take. I don't have space for nothing more than one or two things.

 

[NathanAllan]

Good luck on rescuing it. If it was me and I had to take it on the bus I would but I am a bit crazy like that. Definite score if you can move it.

 

[tingo]

Yea, I know.
The really big problem is moving it from the school to the house where I reside. I don't have the driver's license yet, and it's quite big to take on the buss (I mean, it's possible, but a pain in the @rse). The school don't really mind old equipment not in use (know this from previous years), so it's no problem for me to get it.

Perhaps you have friends and / or family with a car? And perhaps you could ask them to transport it for you?

 

[per]

Update.
I just spoke to the school's inspector, which noted that it was the first computer the school got and that it may be of historical importance for the school (just in case the school decides to make a small museum some unknown amount of time into the future).

The only problem there is that practically nobody knows the machine is there, not even the inspector when I first told him. In addition, everything in that room were just moments from being unconditionally scrapped some years ago, so storing the machine in that room without people knowing it's there; is not an appropriate solution if the machine is to be kept safe. In not too many years, all the teachers that know about the background for the system will be retired, and then it will most likely appear as trash in the eyes of new teachers.

I may still ask the headmaster, as his decissions override the inspectors decission. However, as I respect that the machine may be of historical importance for the school, I will problably just state the above paragraph rather than just plainly ask if I can get it.

 

[nige the hippy]

If it is a definite "no" then you could always leave a note on the relevant bits with "in case you DO decide to scrap this, please contact Per on *******".
I did that with a sewing machine I found in a derelict building, 2 weeks later my phone rang. (For you it might be 2 years later but...)

 

[per]

If it is a definite "no" then you could always leave a note on the relevant bits with "in case you DO decide to scrap this, please contact Per on *******".
I did that with a sewing machine I found in a derelict building, 2 weeks later my phone rang. (For you it might be 2 years later but...)

It was not a definitie "no", but rather a "I have personally regarded this machine since it was new and remember the atmosphere about people using it, and since it may be of historical importance for the school (first computer bought); I can't give it to you".

I did the message thing on an advanced tape-recorder nobody used in my secondary school, but I haven't been notified about that yet (it was ~2.3 years ago).

By the way, the Tandberg machine was named "Rudolf" by the school, and the external 8" drive was named "Falken". The custom logic has the name of "Tortoise".

 

[barythrin]

You could probably offer your services (worst case scenario) to help restore it or even help start a museum for the school.

 

[per]

You could probably offer your services (worst case scenario) to help restore it or even help start a museum for the school.

Yep, that's the idea.

I'll try to get it running anyways. The "Visual Arts" teacher got the key to the room, so I have access to it. Step 1 is to get there with a soldering iron, as that one patch-cable need soldering. I am also considering desoldering the cable for the custom logic as it may not be working properly (due to missing ICs and loose wires).