Nixdorf 620 Terminals spotted on reddit...

January 23, 2022

THREE (or more??) Nixdorf 620 / Entrex 480 Terminals are spotted on Reddit!  

by NoResponsibility3745

Direct link to image on reddit

So, does NoResponsibility3745 own them?  Do they intend to preserve them?  Sell them?  What is the status?  Well, since Jan 23, NoResponsibility3745 has been silent, so we may never know.  I have sent NoResponsibility3745 a direct message, as well as left a reply in the reddit post thread.  

Hopefully we will hear an update someday soon, and these terminals can be preserved and/or restored.  And maybe even reunited with one of our restored systems to run their proprietary communication once again!

https://www.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/comments/sashmt/what_am_i_looking_at_here/

The Mera 9150 - Mystery Polish variant of the Entrex 480 Nixdorf 620 system!

http://www.warschau.citysam.de/ws-reisefuehrer-foto/technisches-museum-1.htm

https://innpoland.pl/124991,loglan-82-zaprzepaszczona-szansa-polskiej-informatyki

https://snappygoat.com/s/?q=bestof%3ARam+my+work.jpg+Indian+Actor+Ram+Pothineni+mkt1988+Krishna+Teja+2009-09-12+PermissionOTRS+2011091710016245+mkt1988+Actors+from+Andhra+Pradesh+1988+births#f3b492f4ab03389a744b2f65127ae8380e696eff,0,108.

And image directly hosted at

https://snappygoat.com/l/f3b492f4ab03389a744b2f65127ae8380e696eff/Oldpolishpc2.jpg

https://www.google.com/search?q=9150+terminal&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj9lp_LtOfzAhVBIX0KHQ4mD74Q2-cCegQIABAA&oq=9150+terminal&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzoGCAAQCBAeOgQIABAYUMgPWOoUYIsWaABwAHgAgAFPiAHlAZIBATOYAQCgAQGqAQtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ8ABAQ&sclient=img&ei=CZt3Yb3uBsHC9AOOzLzwCw&bih=645&biw=1280&hl=en3

http://sebastianpawlak.com/pl/Informatyka/Historia-informatyki/Stare-komputery/index.html

the Snappy Goat hit First showed up in the Entrex Terminal search on 2021-10-26

era 9150 Search

http://blog.techvortal.pl/index.php/2015/weekend-na-kujawach-czyli-o-techvortalowym-zlocie-zdan-kilkanascie/

https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=mera%20elzab

The MERA-ELZAB 7951 Terminal for the Polish "SEECHECK" system - Copy of the Entrex 480

The MERA-ELZAB 7951 Terminal...why does it resemble an Entrex Data/Scope so closely?

And yet, is not the same?

But even the keyboard layout and key labels match the "full keyboard" layout terminals in our collection.

Image samples below, with their sources hyperlinked under each image:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/arakus/8878222566/

One noteworthy comment on this flicker photo reads (translated from Polish):

cargo.cult 5y

Please post where this Mera terminal is located and what it was used for, I'm guessing along with the Mera 9150? For data entry into a larger system?

https://archiwum.allegro.pl/oferta/mera-elzab-7951-0m-terminal-znakowy-30-letni-i6733959731.html

https://www.dreamstime.com/editorial-stock-photo-old-computer-personal-integrated-monitor-image75977993

https://mcpixlife.blogspot.com/2010/08/dalekopis-terminal-hyper-terminal.html

http://appleclub.pl/index.php/pl/komputery-spoza-rodziny-apple/mera/

reddit r/MechanicalKeyboards u/Pugwan recreating an Entrex 480 029 Keypunch-style keyboard???

August 01, 2021

"I’m in the process of recreating and Entrex 480. Possible IC soon."

Group: r/MechanicalKeyboards

User
u/Pugwan

I replied on April 9, 2022 with my vote of support, info directing to pages on this website, including this very page.

Excellent effort.  We would love to see some updates soon!

Only one suggestion, to make the upper right "HELP!" button black instead of read to match the original terminals.

Silent700's Entrex Data/Terminal from JCPenny Auction "The Trapezoid"

 @Silent700 over Discord ClassicCMP Terminals Channel on March 4, 2021

From a 

Grafe Auction on February 16, 2021

JCPenny, Archives and Historical Items

Lot #811

Original Auction                    Archived Auction

---------------------------------------------------------------

From: Lori Campbell <lori@grafeauction.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 5, 2021 at 8:26 AM
Subject: Re: Entrex 05520-001 data entry terminal @ JC Penny Auction
To: Convergent MightyFrame
Cc: grafeauction.com <info@grafeauction.com>

Good morning,

The items sold in the recent JCPenney auction were items collected and stored in the JCPenney Archives in Plano, TX. As far as we know, all of the items had a connection to JCPenney's in some form or fashion but we have no additional information for this piece. Good luck in your search for information!

Lori L. Campbell

Office Administrator

 

1025 Industrial Drive, Spring Valley, MN 55975

Office: (800)328-5920

Direct: (507) 299-0837

lori@grafeauction.com

On Thu, Mar 4, 2021 at 11:45 PM Convergent MightyFrame  wrote:

Hello.  I'm a vintage computer historian enthusiast, doing some historical research on this item sold at your auction last month:

https://www.grafeauction.com/event/jcpenney-archives-and-historical-items/lot/811

Can you share any details about its origin?  It's in an auction of JC Penny stuff, but is there a backstory?  Was there a JC Penny warehouse somewhere that this was stored in, along with many other store historical memorabilia in your auction?  Or could some of these items, such as this, be from other sources, just mixed in to this auction event?

Anything you are able to share is highly appreciated, no matter how small.

Best always,

AJ Palmgren

515.460.6393

http://MightyFrame.com

http://Entrex480.com

Entrex 480 in Frenchtown NJ

In July of 2020, the attention of several enthusiasts in the Vintage Computing & Restoration space was drawn to this auction of an abandoned storage facility in Frenchtown, New Jersey.

I was certainly among them.  Why?  Well, the Entrex 480 shown in this auction listing.  The fact that this entire website is all about this system quite demanded it come to my attention, actually.

Well, long story short, yes, I acquired the Entrex 480 lot.  

AND the corresponding Sweda 750 lot, shown below...

Terminal Nixdorf

On Ebay.de (Germany!  Again!).  Shipping ONLY to Germany, so of course, those of us in the USA wouldn't see this...

Auction Archive            Bid History Archive

History from the seller, auto-translated from German:

Hello, good evening. My home is currently being renovated, so I can hardly get to the computer ... It took a while.

The terminal belonged to the Biberach District Office in 88400 Biberach. It was used there and at some point stored in the warehouse, I don't know more about it. There are no other parts from this series - I'm sorry.

The IT department there will move and the old building will be demolished, in the course of which the terminal would have been thrown away - an unforgivable mistake. I myself collected computers for a while, from the 80s (CBM 8032 and so on), so I knew that something like this shouldn't happen and I sold it on ebay on behalf of the district administration.

Greeting,

M. Mensing

Well, we got it.  Well, more like we secured it so far.  And yes, we paid too much money.  But we'll get to that later...

Core Memory "Modern" Replacement (for Data General Nova, DCC D-116, Etc)

WARNING:  The below memory card will work ONLY in the "Classic" Nova, but not in Nova 1200 or newer models.

Upon one of my several visits to the Living Computer Museum in Seattle (back in 2019, before they closed permanently because of COVID...), I became quite fascinated with the "not-so-core" memory board in their Data General Nova on display.

The above 2 images were stolen from notes.whatthefuck.computer

Below images were taken by me.

The Digital Computer Controls D-116 Front Panel Switches

NKK AT4149A CAP ROCKER PADDLE BLACK

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/nkk-switches/AT4149A/2103650

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/NKK-Switches/AT4149A

C&K 2705 (DPDT)

This one looks just right...

https://ht.infinity-electronic.hk/product/C-K_7205J2W3QE2.aspx

DeSegi - C64 in the [Entrex / Nixdorf] terminal

From https://forum.classic-computing.de/forum/index.php?thread/17730-c64-im-terminal/&postID=260682#post260682

According to the forum discussion thread, If I translate and interpret it correctly, DeSegi bought this as it is on eBay in October 2019.  That's awesome!

But the questions remain...

• who did the customization work? 
• which keyboard style was this terminal before this was done?  
• Do the original electrical components and/or Key Tronic keyboard still exist?

Saintummers Projects - Nixdorf Computer 620 and 8850

https://www.saintummers.at/nixdorf/nc8850.html

Shared with me by siberia21 on forum.classic-computing.de

Nixdorf 620 image on the HNF Blog: EVELYN BEREZIN AND THE WORD PROCESSOR

https://blog.hnf.de/evelyn-berezin-und-die-textverarbeitung/

"From 1974 Nixdorf Computer AG also had word processing in its program. The Nixdorf 620 was based on a system from the US company Entrex." (Translated from German by Google)

Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum in Paderborn, Germany.  This looks exactly like their display, with all of the actual background "blacked out"...

https://www.sparkassenmuseum-hef.de/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/743

Vintage 1976 Digital Computer Controls, Inc. D-116 Computer Maintenance Manual

Original eBay Auction                       Archived eBay Auction

Unfortunately, we were out bid on this one.  Congratulations to the winner!

We hope to connect with him/her somewhere soon along the way, so if you're reading this, please send us an email!