GEC 4070 UK Minicomputer....

[Bassoonbloke]

Hello People,

I'm in the UK and have a complete set of circuit boards for a GEC 4070 (1976) Processor unit (All TTL !!) and am hoping to connect the lot together and get a working system. I also have 2 x 32k Magnetic core memory boards (for the minimum 64k) to be useable.
I'm hoping to make my own backplane for this system (i have pictures of the original, which will help).
So....... my question is, is anyone on this forum familiar with this old mini, or does anyone have any technical info that they could pass onto me as i'm after anything possible for help.

Thanks very much,

Alan.

[Bassoonbloke]

Hello there,

Just incase anyone is interested. This is a piccy of a GEC 4070, complete and working in the mid 70's.
I only have all the panels for the main processor unit (approx 15 boards) and one storage unit (2 x 32k Core memory boards and interface and terminator boards). I also have the large connector lead to go from processor to storage unit.:cool:
If anyone has any info / parts or any personal experience of this system, i would be very grateful if they could contact me or post stuff on this forum.

Thanks very much,

Alan. :)

[Bassoonbloke]

OK so i forgot to attach the piccy, so here it is.:mrgreen:

[nige the hippy]

Actually I was going to get back to you soon, but wanted to send an email to a name I know, in a town i know, to see if he was the same bloke who I'm pretty sure was the expert on these systems. I haven't sent it yet because I havent found my box of network cards since the house move, and can't get MY pc on line to find the link. I did a google and found a nice picture & recognise the disk drives well as I used to repair minicomputers about 5 yards from a couple. Not absolutely sure about the mainframe though, although it was probably closely related. These particular machines were being maintained well past their sell by date as they were used to run bits of the Underground, and the PC based solution deemed to replace them, wasn't reliable enough.

If you were to chase the company that took over Granada computer services, and formerly CFM at Fenton Stoke-on-Trent They may have service info (less likely the test-bed machine, it was 20 years ago!) It would be marvellous to get your boards going, Loads of Blinkenlights!

Good luck

[Bassoonbloke]

Thanks for the reply Nige,

I have piccys of the backplane (which was actually 3 strips all running side by side. I would really like to get hold of a backplane (obviously !!), but i should be able to hardwire if i have to.
Apparently these were also used by the Prestel folks (the man i bought my boards from still has a complete system, but no tech details or info at all).
If you do come across anything i would very much appreciate it (there is actually very little on the web, i've had a pretty good look).

Cheers,
Alan.:)

[Bassoonbloke]

Hi Nige,

Did you have any luck contacting your contact (?) about this bit of kit?
I really want to try to hook all the panels that i have together and see if i get any kind of response.

Please let me know how you get on.

Cheers,
Alan.:)

[nige the hippy]

That's strange! he replied about 10 minutes ago!

it's the right bloke, but he didn't work on that particular machine, however all is not lost, as he has passed me on to "Flash" a very eccentric - but in the best possible way - chap, who may be the right one, He did say that info on that generation of machine was kept Very-Much-in-house. Have you actually tried contacting GEC, it certainly used to be the sort of beaurocratic organisation that would archive everything.

I will keep you informed about flash!

Nig

PS moderators ... should we do this in PM?

[Bassoonbloke]

OK folks,

For anyone who's interested i was recently offered the Processor Crate and Memory storage crate (complete with all panels) of a GEC 4070, in other words all the important bits !! :D (i have to pick it up at the weekend)
I still have no documentation to talk of, but i will hopefully manage to sort something out.
Once i add some power supplies and connect everything up, i should (hopefully) have a fully working system. I need to add some storage and a terminal to see what's going on, but this should be good stuff.
I will post some piccy's as and when i have everything.

Alan.:)

[Bassoonbloke]

Hi Folks,

Well i now have my GEC 4070 processor crate and memory storage box.
I have managed to get the processor fired up and find that i need lots of replacement front panel bulbs.
The attached pictures are the 2 parts in situ, where they worked continuously 24/7 for the last 30 years !! (not bad going eh?)
I will take some piccy's as and when things get going properly.

Enjoy,
Alan.

[keedon]

Are you still working on this - I used to develop software for these many years ago (my first professional job) and would love to see one working again

[Bassoonbloke]

Hi Keedon,

Yes i am still working on this, and am still trawling for any and all information that anyone can pass onto me.
I have the processor and memory crates powered up and linked up. I have run the memory test program from the BMC (via the front panel keys), and am looking to get a better program (entered via keys as i have no terminal of any kind at the moment) up and running.
I have 512k of ram in the memory crate at the minute (this cost RAL a small fortune), but would like to replace this with the 128k of core memory that i have (the core memory boards are what got me involved in this whole adventure).
I would be very interested in knowing what you were doing on these computers (and how much you still remember!), especially if you would'nt mind passing some of it on.
Thanks for your interest,
Cheers,

Alan.

[nige the hippy]

Bit of a coalescing of "vintage computers in the wild" and this thread...

I sent some emails off regarding the london underground's signalling computers, and joined "district dave's LU" forum.
Questions posted as below....

http://districtdave.proboards39.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Signals&thread=8284&page=1

And the aformentioned link to "Daddy Bear" & "Mummy bear"....

http://districtdave.proboards39.com/index.cgi?board=Signals&action=display&thread=1473

A pair of GEC 4000 series STILL IN USE!!!!!

[Bassoonbloke]

Hi Nige,

Thanks for remembering this link. The sites are really interesting, and it's amazing that the underground are still using these computers :o. My complete (?) system came from RAL( http://www.isis.rl.ac.uk/isis2004/review/isisfacilityanni.html ) where it was apparently in use for 30 years 24/7, so it did'nt do too badly before it was finally replaced by a couple of 286 pc's :(.
I also own a complete set of spare cards for the system that came from one of the PRESTEL ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prestel ) systems. The core memory boards i have also came from the Prestel system (and may still have an OS and program waiting to run again! :).

Cheers,
Alan :D.

[nige the hippy]

Have you a tape drive like the one in the picture? if so is it made by "digi-data corporation"?
If so I have a spare aluminium plate, 1 (sadly only 1) motor, a couple of hubs and idlers you're welcome to.

[Bassoonbloke]

Hi Nige,

Unfortunately i don't have a tape drive :(. I literally only have the processor and memory crate, and some power supplies to get things working. I was offered the original power supply crate as well, but it weighed more than i could handle and switch mode psu's are probably a better bet anyway.
The next time i rig the whole lot together again i will get some piccy's of it going through it's basic memory test (via front keys).

Cheers,
Alan :).

[pontus]

Nice thread. It is cool to see minis other than PDP's :) People tend to care less about them for some reason.

Keep posting pics :)

[nige the hippy]

a recent reply on the London Underground forum says that at least two of the HP 1000s have been recently removed from service (scrapped???:eek:) at Heathrow and Hatton Gardens, will try to find out more.

[Bassoonbloke]

For those of you that might be interested here are a few more pictures of my GEC 4070 Computer. :cool:

Enjoy,
Alan. ;)

[pontus]

Of course :) It looks real nice!