Adventures with the Nixdorf 8870 Mini-Computer
  • Welcome
  • Contact Me

Second Chassis

14/6/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
I've previously stated that I've obtained three M25s over the last few years and number 3 pictured above is in a really sorry state. I've no idea what happened to it but it looks like it's either been dropped or a lorry hit it. You can see the crack down the top of the left-hand side. Also, both the top and bottom tier cages are bent. Amazingly the backplanes are intact and all the plates and disk drive were still working when tested in my main machine.

Anyway, this thing has been taking up valuable space so I thought it worth removing anything of value and scrapping the rest. Absolutely everything electrical has been removed including the fans and plastic plate-slot blanks. The outer shell will go to the scrap-metal people.

However, I have a second chassis that's in a perfectly serviceable state once it's been cleaned, so I've decided to construct a second machine.

I'll be taking pictures thought it's rebuilt process, but not during it's tear-down. This second chassis was absolutely filthy and mice had been living in it and I didn't fancy having to keep washing my hands to hold my camera just to take a couple of pictures. You will be able to view the re-build pictures in reverse if you want to see how to tear-down a system :)

As for what I'm going to do with it, it will replace my current chassis as I cut a couple of corners when cleaning it originally, and there are a couple of jobs that I wish I'd done.

Once this second chassis is up and running, I'll gut the first one for all the useful bits and either drop it on Ebay as just an empty chassis (at least it's clean), or off to the scrap metal dealer. Nobody except me seems to what this stuff anyway.



0 Comments

Never… NEVER… throw anything out...

17/2/2011

0 Comments

 
I’ve been accused of being a horder, and I am to a degree.  No, I don’t fill the house with old newspapers going back to the 1960’s but I do tend to acquire a fair amount of technology, and a lot of it usually isn’t in prime condition.  Just for the record, I don’t store my acquisitions in the house. I have a large garage and a new custom built workshop for that. But I have unfortunately, in the past, thrown things away that were obviously never going to be needed again… until now that is.

When I stopped working with the 8870 in the early 90’s, I kept some of the technical documentation that I’d religiously carried around for many years. During the heavy rains In 1998, we were unfortunately flooded and since the insurance company placed a skip on the drive I took the opportunity to fill it with things that I would never need. Whilst I’ve been searching around for 8870 documentation, many people have told me that they’ve only recently junked the stuff they had.

If you’ve got some old computer technology at home (and I don’t mean some old PC graphics card from the 1990’s), but perhaps for some reason you kept that old deck of punch cards (new or used), or some manual from an old mainframe, don’t throw it. At the very least, if you must get rid then put it on Ebay; and it probably won’t even cost you anything. Please don’t deprive some geek working all hours some valuable piece of information that they will pay for. You also have the pleasure of knowing that your junk is being recycled and going to a good home.

Oh, if it’s 8870 / Nixdorf related items, please contact me first :-)
0 Comments

    Author

    I'm a software developer, an engineer and I love vintage computers, but the 8870 has a very special place in my heart.

    Archives

    August 2017
    January 2016
    May 2015
    June 2014
    November 2012
    June 2012
    February 2012
    July 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011

    Categories

    All
    1/2 Inch
    2516
    2708
    8870
    9 Track
    ALME
    BASIC
    Boot
    Bootmenu
    Chassis
    Comet
    Confprog
    Connection
    Dap
    DAP4
    Dap Emulation
    Dc600a
    Diablo
    Dicolldata
    Disc Pack
    Disk
    Documentation
    Downloads
    Drive
    Ebay
    Entrex
    Eprom
    Ex
    First Post
    Format
    Formatter
    Freelancer
    German
    Germany
    Hawk
    History
    Ihss
    Init
    Ipl
    Iris
    Junk
    Kienzle 6100
    LIBR
    M25
    Manual
    Micro 7
    Nd11
    Niros
    Nixdorf
    Nros
    Pcb
    Perish
    Programmer
    Programming
    Ram
    Ribbon
    Rom
    Smc
    Start-stop
    Streaming
    Tamos
    Tandberg
    Tape
    TDC3309
    TDC 3309
    Translation
    Ultratec
    Vaxman
    Vdu
    Wd40
    Wireing
    Xlp300

    RSS Feed

(C) Joe Farr, 2011-2017