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Many Rolm Computers for sale.
- Thread starter welltone
- Start date
Some things that would help garner interest would be:
1. Where are they located? Would you be willing to ship them?
2. What are their specs?
3. Pictures, so people would know what they look like.
1. Where are they located? Would you be willing to ship them?
2. What are their specs?
3. Pictures, so people would know what they look like.
Qbus
Veteran Member
Cool, I am always looking to add to the collection. The only issue is that for some weird reason nowadays people think these things are worth a king’s ransom. You can see one of my Youtube videos of a working 1602 at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJdTduulvAQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJdTduulvAQ
RadRacer203
Veteran Member
Definitely sounds interesting, do you have any pictures, specs, your location, etc?
Nevets01
Experienced Member
I would definitely be interested. Price? Location?
commodorejohn
Veteran Member
Since the OP hasn't responded in-thread, the brief rundown of what I got from my conversation with them:
Seller "took over Rolm in 1998" so these are presumably old stock or repair units; they're located in Maryland. They were wanting on the order of $10/lb. + S/H for untested, as-is units. Claimed to have "1602, 1602/B, 1666/C, 7016 Hawk/32, 4200 Magnum Disk, 2100 I/O chassis." I didn't ask for pictures as that was more than I wanted to drop on a whim, so I have no idea what kind of cosmetic condition they're in.
Seller "took over Rolm in 1998" so these are presumably old stock or repair units; they're located in Maryland. They were wanting on the order of $10/lb. + S/H for untested, as-is units. Claimed to have "1602, 1602/B, 1666/C, 7016 Hawk/32, 4200 Magnum Disk, 2100 I/O chassis." I didn't ask for pictures as that was more than I wanted to drop on a whim, so I have no idea what kind of cosmetic condition they're in.
Qbus
Veteran Member
Cool, but how do you get in contact with them? I bought some stuff from Potomac E Surplus before that was left over from government project but on the average not a lot out there.
I have an operational 1602 that’s basically a military version of the Data General Nova and over period of years have been able to get it up and running but have also had to spend some money on stupid things like connectors that are costing me over $50.00 each and the like.
At this time, I have the system racked up with a paper tape reader and have some of the diagnostic paper tapes along with the loaders but have been looking for a copy of Nova Basic for years without much luck. Being core memory, they do have the advantage that once you put something into memory it stays there. I toggled in the debugger some time ago that lets you use the terminal to deposit or examine memory and do simple operations but long-term goal is to get Basic installed to do more playing.
Back in the seventies and early eighties saw lots of the Data General Nova systems used for reading and displaying transponder data on radar displays. The Rolm 1602 were used a lot in ECM systems being they would diligently and faster than any operator scans radar frequencies and deploy countermeasures to threats.
I have an operational 1602 that’s basically a military version of the Data General Nova and over period of years have been able to get it up and running but have also had to spend some money on stupid things like connectors that are costing me over $50.00 each and the like.
At this time, I have the system racked up with a paper tape reader and have some of the diagnostic paper tapes along with the loaders but have been looking for a copy of Nova Basic for years without much luck. Being core memory, they do have the advantage that once you put something into memory it stays there. I toggled in the debugger some time ago that lets you use the terminal to deposit or examine memory and do simple operations but long-term goal is to get Basic installed to do more playing.
Back in the seventies and early eighties saw lots of the Data General Nova systems used for reading and displaying transponder data on radar displays. The Rolm 1602 were used a lot in ECM systems being they would diligently and faster than any operator scans radar frequencies and deploy countermeasures to threats.
Qbus
Veteran Member
Picture of my Rolm 1602 system
commodorejohn
Veteran Member
I spoke to them via PM and they were pretty prompt to respond; not sure why they haven't posted in the thread since.
The 1666B converts to a Eclipse changing the prom and FPU C card, which I have.
You still interested? Sorry was dealing with family matters for some time now.
Qbus
Veteran Member
I am still interested, what you got and where are you located? shipping on those systems can be a big issue. The biggest problem thees days is somehow if you look on EBay people think those systems are worth what they sold for new.
I’m located in Elkton Md,
what would you offer me for it?
Would come with a SCSI disk and 4mm dat subsystem loaded with RDOS
and IDMS diagnostics and extra power supply.
Let me know,
thollowell@designdata.com
What version of a Data General Eclipse would your Rolms be equivalent to? with or without the mods mentioned.
The S/130 is very different from S/140 and other DG Eclipse models, I'm interested specifically in Eclipse S/130 related only.
Please advise and thanks.
Roger in NY
The S/130 is very different from S/140 and other DG Eclipse models, I'm interested specifically in Eclipse S/130 related only.
Please advise and thanks.
Roger in NY
Qbus
Veteran Member
Cool, you are just up the road from me a couple hours. The university I work for has remote learning sites up at Cecil Community and Elkton Station so end up traveling up that way several times a year. Also have a huge Military Vehicle Swap Meet over at Ripken Stadium once a year that I go to except it was canceled due to the whole Covid mess.
Would assume or at least been told that the 1666 was built to be backwards compatible with the 1602 and that runs the same software and has the same address extensions as the civilian NOVA, and that the NOVA 3 and 4 would run the same code and are all 16-bit systems at the end of the day.
For a while Government Liquidators was selling off 1666 systems that were selling in the $300 to $600 range but have not seen any for sale for a while now and with you having external disk and tape drive and going to assume that you also have the cables that adds a huge value to the pile.
Think I paid around $400 for my 1602 and have at least that much more in buying the paper tape drive and all the connectors to build up the cables. The 16F35P connectors cost about $40 each on eBay when you can find them.
So to the right person its worth a lot, but you got to find that person and like a lot of us today we don’t have a lot of spare cash laying around. Also, will let you know that the last Data General three or four that I had think I ended up selling it for $100.00 but it had no accessories or documentation with it.
Best I can do right now would be like a trade for a DEC PDP-11 system or something like That.
Would assume or at least been told that the 1666 was built to be backwards compatible with the 1602 and that runs the same software and has the same address extensions as the civilian NOVA, and that the NOVA 3 and 4 would run the same code and are all 16-bit systems at the end of the day.
For a while Government Liquidators was selling off 1666 systems that were selling in the $300 to $600 range but have not seen any for sale for a while now and with you having external disk and tape drive and going to assume that you also have the cables that adds a huge value to the pile.
Think I paid around $400 for my 1602 and have at least that much more in buying the paper tape drive and all the connectors to build up the cables. The 16F35P connectors cost about $40 each on eBay when you can find them.
So to the right person its worth a lot, but you got to find that person and like a lot of us today we don’t have a lot of spare cash laying around. Also, will let you know that the last Data General three or four that I had think I ended up selling it for $100.00 but it had no accessories or documentation with it.
Best I can do right now would be like a trade for a DEC PDP-11 system or something like That.
Nevets01
Experienced Member
I'd likely be interested, though it depends on how much you want for it, and what sort of peripherals it has on it.
I'm quite a bit farther away than QBus, though (Indiana) so it should probably go to him if he wants it.