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!

Nixdorf CEAG Dominit 820 Power Supply

This power supply bears a resemblance to the Nixdorf 620 power supply shown here, but is likely for a different system...possibly Nixdorf's 820?  Seems logical, given that the power supply numbers match the Nixdorf-assigned system numbers.  I'm just archiving it here for reference...

eBay Auction                                        Auction Archive

 

 

 

Nixdorf Terminals - "The Trapezoid"

Vintage 1981 Nixdorf M3000-155 Mainframe Computer Terminal? Very Rare Historic

eBay Auction Archive

Entrex/Nixdorf Terminals Upgraded

https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=23215&p=457390#p457390








not related, but still...it's there, I just had to throw it in!

SEECHECK from REDIFON developed with Entrex

Equivalents: ENTREX 480 from ENTREX, DATENSAMMELSYSTEM 620 from NIXDORF.

https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rejestrator_danych

The connection comes from this page:
https://www.aldricharchive.co.uk/a-technical-history-of-rocc-computers

Older web version

https://web.archive.org/web/20191103034213/http://www.aldricharchive.com/technical-history-rocc.html

Seecheck (1972)
The technology for the Seecheck system was developed with the Entrex company in the US, Redifon having the rights to sell it in the UK, and also developed a market in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. It was based around the Nova 16-bit mini computer produced by Data General, and set the basic architecture of all the systems developed down to the 2885 in 1990.

Seecheck Basic Control Groups (BCG) used a ‘Lowboy’ rack containing a 17 slot ‘DCC’ mini, tape drive, disk drives and necessary power supplies. The DCC mini computer had a 1200ns processor and 64KB of core store, and was also the only Nova based system supplied with programmers switches built in to the front panel, all subsequent systems having a detachable one for engineers’ use only.

One or two 2.5MB or 5MB DRI disc drives were supported, these utilising a single platter removable cartridge (although used as a fixed unit in Redifon systems) with a rack and pinion head actuator mechanism and optical sensor similar in principle to that subsequently used in floppy drives. The tape drive could be either a 7-track 556 bits per inch or a 9-track 800bpi.

Up to 32 Mk II terminals could theoretically be connected, each having its own I/F board in an auxiliary card cage, but eight was the normal limit. The terminals were normally the MK II type with the keyboard built in to the display unit, although the MK I was similar but with the base of the terminal integrated into the desk top. Both versions had a 480 character display. From the MK II onwards all Redifon terminals had a Cyrillic variant.

The Redicheck system was a cut-down version with only 48KB of core and a maximum of eight terminals.

The software was a pure key-to-disc application, although VDU orientated, and very flexible compared to the card or paper tape punching systems it was replacing. This software became known as ‘7’ series.

In 1974 Redifon signed a licensing agreement with Metronex/Meramat in Poland whereby Seecheck would be manufactured in Poland using Soviet-bloc hardware for sale in Soviet-bloc countries. Although peripherals were available in the Soviet-bloc there was not a suitable CPU so Redifon designed and developed a DG Nova compatible mini, called the P.1, for manufacture in Poland. This CPU complied with the then CoCom strategic embargo. Later Redifon would up-grade this design for the E.17 mini made in the UK.

So that would be a clone of a clone of a clone perhaps

And then somehow we get to this image, which shows the newer Entrex keystation "trapezoid" terminal?

from http://www.aldricharchive.com/images/R1800-R1850-thumb.jpg

More on Redifon:

From page 4 of this excerpt PDF from the June 1973 Datapro publication

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How UK computer manufacturers can compete - 1977

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https://www.esbirky.cz/predmet/228752

https://www.omnia.ie

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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seecheck

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Entrex "Redifon Seecheck" system located on web page from 2003

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ROCC MKIII Terminal - British Redifon Copy of the Entrex/Nixdorf "Trapezoid"

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Redifon heads east [to Poland] with Seecheck

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The Making of Seecheck

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Datamation September, 1976, Page 83

Metronex is the Polish foreign trade organization which trades in computers, automation equipment, and instruments; its turnover in 1973 was estimated at about $300 million. Computers and peripherals have been exported to all COMECON countries regularly for many years... 

...and Redifon of the U.K. licensed MERA to manufacture the Seecheck key-to-disc systems which are· based on an original Entrex design from the U.S. 

and related Google searches

AldrichArchive.com newer Entrex Keystation Terminals

http://www.aldricharchive.com/technical-history-rocc.html

http://www.aldricharchive.com/desktop_data_capture.html