DATA GENERAL NOVA 3 COMPUTER SYSTEM
This system has been rescued and is resting comfortably in an environmentally-controlled facility in Maryland.

The system consists of a 3/12 and a 6030 dual diskette drive unit in a half-height rack mount chassis. The chassis is on casters and has a tabletop surface, on which sits a 6012 terminal. Above the terminal is some type of interface electronics that linked the Nova to a respiratory monitoring system.

Again, to be clear, there are five main components:

  • The Nova 3 CPU
  • A 6030 dual diskette drive
  • A 6012 terminal
  • An interface to some type of medical equipment
  • A heavy-duty half-rack with a tabletop, all on casters

NOVA 3 CPU

The card chassis contains five cards:

  • Nova 3 CPU
  • 16K Memory
  • Cassette I/O
  • Another Cassette I/O
  • Disk Cartridge Control

Comments received:

Bruce Ray:
Note that the "cassette I/O" controllers normally have a serial port interface on them and the "cassette I/O" section is usually unpopulated. This 4075/76/77/78 controller was favored over the standard DG 4007/8/9/10 serial port controller for many years as it had more options and was easier to configure than the the 4007 board. So you probably have two serial ports in that configuration...

6012 TERMINAL
The system also came with a DG 6012 terminal.

INTERFACE TO MEDICAL (RESPIRATORY) EQUIPMENT
The interface has a control panel on the front side and an access panel on the top.

Through the access panel you can see a couple of Analog Devices modules. The function of the ADC-120Z I can guess, but what is the MPX8A?

Comments received:

J.C. Wren:
I would venture that the MPX8A is a multiplexor. It probably allows switching between various inputs into the ADC. Likely it has some buffering, and is perhaps medical rated.

And in looking closer at the pictures, I would venture to say that the 8 input selector on the front of the respirator control panel is what selects which channel on the mux that gets routed to the A/D. At the time, those A/Ds were *incredibly* expensive. I had a 12 bit ADC and DAC pair given to me, and they were valued around $500 at the time (1983?)

Toth:
The Analog Devices MPX8A is a multiplexer of some sort. I think the databook you need is the Analog Devices Module Subsystems Volume 1. I have Volume 2, but it does not cover that device.


Last revised August 27, 2005
Comments to
Dan Veeneman

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