NORD-1 Serial 47

NORD-1 Serial number 47 was given to me by Fagskolen Innlandet in Gjøvik, Norway in the summer of 2016. I think it's been at the school for all of it's life since the only inventory labels on it is from the school. The only documentation surviving is the lists of cards on the inside of the front door. They give a date of summer 1972 as the build date.

NORD-1 with the door open.

There might be an aticle about this machine in ND NYTT 5 September 1972.

Configuration

The system is equipped with

• 32 kword of core memory
• 9 TTY interfaces
• A cartridge disk interface
• An I/O channel (connectors I/O channel data in, I/O channel data out, I/O channel control)
• Asynchronous modem
• Centronics printer interface
• Facit punch 4070 interface
• Digitronics tape reader interface

Missing parts and damages

Some cards seems to be missing and minor damages

Shelf D :
* Missing cards on position 27 and 28.
 -- 27 : 113 I Card reader contr.
   I have no drawings or extra cards of this one, can be hard to reproduce.
 -- 28 : 179 Punch buffer
   There is a drawing of this card in the manuals I got from Tingo,
   it should be possible to reproduce.
Shelf E :
* Missing card on position 20.
 -- 20 : 195 Duplex start stop buffer for TTY 6
   There are several cards of this type in the machine, so no problem to reproduce.
Shelf F :
* Missing cards on position 25 and 26.
 -- 25 : 185,8 Data ch. M data in
 -- 26 : 185,7 Data ch. M data out
   There are one more of card 185 in the machine, so no problem to reproduce.
Some switches are broken on the front panel.

Card cage configuration

According to Norsk Data Document ND–01.004 NORD-1 HARDWARE MANUAL there are two different CPU:s, no. 29 and no. 35. The cpu in this machine seems to be a no. 29.

Shelf C

• pos 1 : 151
• pos 2 : 128 Protect control
• pos 3 : 141 Protect reg.
• pos 4 : 132
• pos 5 : 106.1
• pos 6 : 106.2
• pos 7 : 140.2
• pos 8 : 140.1
• pos 9 : 150
• pos 10 : 108.4
• pos 11 : 102.4
• pos 12 : 103.4
• pos 13 : 101.4
• pos 14 : 108.3
• pos 15 : 102.3
• pos 16 : 103.3
• pos 17 : 101.3
• pos 18 : 108.2
• pos 19 : 102.2
• pos 20 : 103.2
• pos 21 : 101.2
• pos 22 : 108.1
• pos 23 : 102.1
• pos 24 : 103.1
• pos 25 : 101.1
• pos 26 : 158 II 4 x 6 7 12 15
• pos 27 : 158 II 3 x 4 5 12 13
• pos 28 : 158 II 2 x 2 3 10 11
• pos 29 : 158 II 1 x 0 1 8 9
• pos 30 : 159
• pos 31 : 169
• pos 32 : 110

Shelf D

• pos 1 : 125
• pos 2 : 123
• pos 3 : 124
• pos 4 : 127
• pos 5 : 131
• pos 6 : 90N40.2
• pos 7 : 90N40
• pos 8 : 109
• pos 9 : 130
• pos 10 : 115
• pos 11 : 126
• pos 12 : 134
• pos 13 : 135
• pos 14 : 136
• pos 15 : 137
• pos 16 : 146
• pos 17 : 133
• pos 18 : 122
• pos 19 : 120 II
• pos 20 : 163 II
• pos 21 : 166 I/O Output
• pos 22 : 166 I/O Output
• pos 23 : 165 I/O Input
• pos 24 : 165 I/O Input
• pos 25 : 301 Reader Buffer
• pos 26 : 160.I Reader/punch contr.
• pos 27 : 113 I Card reader contr. (duplex)
• pos 28 : 179 Punch buffer
• pos 29 : 160 TTY
• pos 30 : 195 Duplex Start-stop buffer
• pos 31 : 190.1 Cable card
• pos 32 : 504 Cable card Bus receiver

Shelf E

• pos 1-13 : Not used
• pos 14 : 195,9
• pos 15 : 160 TTY 9,IN 142 OUT 143
• pos 16 : 195,8
• pos 17 : 160 TTY 8,IN 140 OUT 141
• pos 18 : 195,7
• pos 19 : 160 TTY 7,IN 136 OUT 137
• pos 20 : 195,6
• pos 21 : 160 TTY 6,IN 126 OUT 127
• pos 22 : 195,5
• pos 23 : 160 TTY 5,IN 124 OUT 125
• pos 24 : 195,4
• pos 25 : 160 TTY 4,IN 122 OUT 123
• pos 26 : 195,3
• pos 27 : 160 TTY 3,IN 120 OUT 121
• pos 28 : 195,2
• pos 29 : 160 TTY 2,IN 104 OUT 105
• pos 30 : 90X08 Buffer card
• pos 31 : 180 Cable card
• pos 32 : 7316 Expander

Shelf F

• pos 1-13 : Not used
• pos 14 : 313 Cartridge control
• pos 15 : 312 Cartridge sequence
• pos 16 : 311 Cartridge timing
• pos 17 : 310 Cartridge disc receiver
• pos 18 : 309 Cartridge disc transmit
• pos 19 : 182 Cartridge disc d.c. register
• pos 20 : 183 Cartridge disc d.c. counter
• pos 21 : 180 Cartridge disc dev, instructions
• pos 22 : 181/II,1 Cartridge disc 7/8 register
• pos 23 : 181/II,2 Cartridge disc 7/8 register
• pos 24 : 185,9 Data ch. M control
• pos 25 : 185,8 Data ch. M data in
• pos 26 : 185,7 Data ch. M data out
• pos 27 : 165,4 Multiplexer, addresses
• pos 28 : 165,3 Multiplexer, addresses
• pos 29 : 165,2 Multiplexer, data
• pos 30 : 165,1 Multiplexer, data
• pos 31 : 305 Memory control
• pos 32 : 503/II Data ch. driver

Core memory

Core memory

The core memory was made by Cambridge Memories INC, Newton, Massachusetts or CMI, the model name is EXPANDACORE 18. The memory have two or four channels in to it so it is possible to build a multi CPU machine by connecting two (or maybe more) to the same memory to pass messages between them. The core memory is built up from modules. One rack can hold four controllers and eight memory planes of 4 kword each. It looks like the original configuration only came with 24 kword but later on two additional memory planes were added.

Price

The prices are from an information sheet from a fair. Exactly which year it was isn't easy to know but probably quite early.

• NORD-1 CPU 205.000 NOK
• 16K x 18 bit core memory, 1.5 ms 180.000 NOK
• Teletype ASR33 14.000 NOK
• Tape reader 15.000 NOK
• Tape punch 15.000 NOK
• Card reader 30.000 NOK

Based on these price tag on this system was 879.000 NOK, quite a lot of money in it's time.

Current status

The system resides in the ND-Collection in Umeå. It is not operational yet but there is good hope that I will be able to restore it to running status.

Plans

The system will be put in working order some time in the future. First it will be documented.

Gallery

• 

  Picking up a NORD-1 in Gjövik.

• 

  The front door opened.

• 

  Front panel with broken switches.

• 

  Logo in cast aluminum.

• 

  Serial number plate.

• 

  Early logo before the name change to Norsk Data AS.

• 

  Wiring loom at the back of shelf E and F.

• 

  Top of core memory, thin core wires behind the resistors.

• 

  Finally at home after a 1000 km journey.

• 

  ASR33 terminal that came with the machine.

• 

  Connectors with name plate.

• 

  The core memory rack.

• 

  Wiring loom back of the CPU, shelf C and D.

• 

  Front of small power supplies.

• 

  Back of small power supplies.

• 

  Main power supplies.