ND-110 Satellite 9883.21238

Configuration

• Hard disk: 170 MB (126MB formatted) Micropolis SCSI disk, SE 50pin, ND designation ND 10 62 80
• Floppy: 1.2MB 5.25" floppy, model TBD
• Tape streamer: Tandberg TDC 3640, ND designation ND 11 02 17, serial number 379392
• Slot 1: 3013 ND100 8-TERM I/F, print: L, eco: N
• Slot 2: 3094 ETHERNET IF. II - print: E, eco: G
• Slot 3: 3095 ND110 CPU&MM 48B, print: B, eco: H, 39.3216 MHz crystal
• Slot 4: 3201 SCSI/FLOPPY, print: B, eco: K
• Slot 5: 3042 ND100 2 MBYTE RAM, print: B, eco: D
• Slot 6: 3015 ND100 HDLC W/A.LO. print: S, eco: U (TBC)
• Slot 7: 3013 ND100 8-TERM I/F, print: L, eco: N

Power Supply

• Wiener DN 03, 390 W

Labels

SYSTEM 9883.21238
FLOPPY: 187-3784
STREAMER: 229-1282
DISK: 228-1940

The disk itself has label '228-319', so it is likely that this is a replacement/upgrade disk. The ND 9883 models are also known as T9, and like the T17 model they were originally spec'ed with 125MB disks. But this one has a 170MB disk (probably unformatted capacity though - see below) as well as an additional terminal board, an Ethernet II board, and an HDLC board (so that all positions are now in use in this particular system). In that sense this T9 system has been upgraded to a T17 system (due to the extra terminal board), with extra communication.

CPU

This system has an ND110/II (110 version 2) CPU, with 48-bit floating point hardware (note the '48B' on the 3095 CPU board designation)

Operating system version

SINTRAN III/VSX version K

History and trivia

• The last time the system was booted appears to be at 23:09:33, 21 August 1994.
• The boot process took 6 minutes and ten seconds.
• It may have been shut down at 23:24:48 the same day, but this cannot be verified.
• This system was part of a network of many remote ND computers, and Tingo's ND-110 Satellite 9883.21005 was also a member of this network.
• It is likely that ND-110 Satellite 9883.21251 was also part of this network, as its configuration files include the CPU of this system (21238) even though 21251 isn't mentioned in 21238's configuration. And they share the same system password, which is another clue. But it's possible that 21251 was decommissioned a couple of years before 21238, and that's why 21251 isn't part of 21238's configuration.

TODO

• Image the SCSI disk before attempting a boot Done
• In addition to getting a backup of the disk, imaging it will also get access to the password Done
• Make a C15 power plug by violently abusing a C13 plug Done
• Check the power supply condition, start with the test measuring points. Done Measures perfectly.
• Make a cable for the console terminal

I didn't notice right away that the computer needs a power cord with an IEC 320 C15 power plug, which I don't have. I don't think I've seen one of those ever used. But I hacked a normal C13 into the same shape, so I'm OK for now. I also got a C13-->C15 adapter from Hong Kong, it arrived surprisingly quickly. Looks great, and it lets me use any standard IEC 320 power cable. I'm also soldering a cable for the console terminal, had to abandon it halfway through due to other demands, but this thing should be ready to boot SINTRAN Real Soon Now. Everything looks fine when powered on (the expected lights on the boards, etc.), but it needs the console.

DISK

The disk is a Micropolis SCSI disk stamped with "170MB", but after imaging the disk I see that it's more likely that this is actually the disk spec'ed as 125MB for the T9 and T17 ND 110 Satellite series. The actual capacity is 132MB in 'modern' disk size speak (132 million bytes), but during ND's time the industry hadn't yet changed into the numbers war and the original KB=1024, MB=1024 KB interpretation was still used. So that disk would be 126MB around then, conveniently described as "125 MB". The stamped size of 170MB would be the unformatted size then, which sounds likely after some back-of-the-envelope calculations.

fdisk and scsi info from Linux computer used for imaging:

Vendor                           : NDMICROP 
Model                            : 1375   
Rev                              : B0C
ANSI SCSI revision               : 00
Sector size (logical / physical) : 1024 bytes / 1024 bytes
Capacity                         : 132 MB, 132415488 bytes
Disk identifier                  : 0x81ddc629
No partition table

The Micropolis 1375 disks can still be found on ebay and even (much more expensively) on Amazon. It's often described as '145 MB formatted', or '153 MB formatted' or something else, but pictures confirm that these drives have the same '170MB' stamp on their printed media defect table. So it's the same drive. Specifications can be found here, and a PDF file is on bitsavers.In the latter document we find that formatted capacity would typically be 150MB with 1024 byte sector size and 146MB with 512 byte sector size. However, from the same document it is also explained how to calculate the formatted capacity with various options. It looks like ND used a very conservative setup with 3 spare sectors per track (the maximum), and possibly 10 spare cylinders. That leaves us with only 96 sectors not accounted for.

The disk was advertised at $2295 w/PC controller in 1988 (source: Infoworld, Mars 7 issue, 1988).

The system password found on the disk is the same as for ND-110 Satellite 9883.21251, 'FIXSEG', so it's likely that this satellite also originated from the same administrative unit.