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NCR 3280 Mainframe ?

JonFinnerud

New Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2021
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5
I recently picked a pile of old computer stuff including an old NCR 3280 mainframe of some sort.
So far my attempts to find any information on this system has been futile


If anyone out there have any knowledge of this system and would like to share some info it would be much appreciated.


I have attached two images for reference


Thanks and regards
/Jon

NCR_3280_Front.jpg NCR_3280_Back.jpg
 
It's by all means too small to be from their mainframe department. The 3200 series also seems to refer to their much newer PC stuff.
I'm curious about what on earth it needs that 12V battery in the back of the cabinet for but the contrast is so harsh I can't really make out a lot of detail.
 
At first, I thought, from the number, that this might be part of the NCR System 3200 line. But those were x86 desktop machines by and large.

I don't have a clue about this one.
 
Okay now that I'm at a computer with proper gamma settings I can see one of the smaller boxes is a dual floppy drive enclosure. The one on top I can't tell other than its purpose is kept secure by a lock.
The half-rack is mostly empty judging from he rear photo aside from the card cage at the bottom. Whatever is taking up the top half is mostly up against the front of the rack where we can't see it. NRC I do believe on their store controllers at one point did use cassette storage for system booting but then you would probably ask why it has two floppy drives.

OP, if you could we need more photos. You can upload them here or you can drop them into imgur (you don't need to register) and link us to the album.
 
Thanks for your reply.

Those photos were taken from the Facebook ad and I had to resize as well for this post.
I'll take some new hi res photos and share it with you.

The system seems more or less complete with external floppy and what seems like a hard drive. The top 2/3 is more or less empty as you point out. However everything external and internal (front panel) is connected to the system boards at the bottom. I have not dared to try to power it up yet.

/Jon
 
Wow, that's impressive information you dug up there!
It seems to be the very same system and also the labeling on the front of the unit I have seems to confirm this as well.

I don't know if it is of any interest for anyone out there. However I'll swap it for a case of beer
Located in Oslo area Norway


Cheers
/Jon
 
I showed the pictures to a friend of mine who used to work with ATMs (install, service) before he retired. He says that this is the control electronics for a NCR 1770 atm, mainly used for offline operation.
Here (in Norway) there were some 1770s, before they were replaced with the NCR 5080. After that came NCR 54xx, 56xx and 58xx. The 1770 was before my friend started working with ATMs, so he doesn't know anything more about it.
 
I'm curious about what on earth it needs that 12V battery in the back of the cabinet for but the contrast is so harsh I can't really make out a lot of detail.
It could be for a realtime clock and/or maintaining semiconductor memory contents during a power failure. Both would seem to be important to have if this is indeed an ATM controller.
 
Okay now that I'm at a computer with proper gamma settings I can see one of the smaller boxes is a dual floppy drive enclosure. The one on top I can't tell other than its purpose is kept secure by a lock.
The half-rack is mostly empty judging from he rear photo aside from the card cage at the bottom. Whatever is taking up the top half is mostly up against the front of the rack where we can't see it. NRC I do believe on their store controllers at one point did use cassette storage for system booting but then you would probably ask why it has two floppy drives.

OP, if you could we need more photos. You can upload them here or you can drop them into imgur (you don't need to register) and link us to the album.



As promised, here is a link to some high resolution images https://photos.app.goo.gl/mG9ytrEbn9qjfSYdA



/Jon
 
Last edited:
I showed the pictures to a friend of mine who used to work with ATMs (install, service) before he retired. He says that this is the control electronics for a NCR 1770 atm, mainly used for offline operation.
Here (in Norway) there were some 1770s, before they were replaced with the NCR 5080. After that came NCR 54xx, 56xx and 58xx. The 1770 was before my friend started working with ATMs, so he doesn't know anything more about it.


Hi and thanks for the information tingo

It seems like everything points to this being a ATM controller of sorts like MattisLind also suggests. Please let me know if anyone would be interested in the unit and its accessories.
(Located in Norway)


/Jon
 
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