I spotted this rather unusual (to me anyway) Data General item pictured by an enthusiast in the USA who posted on a vintage computing forum. My curiosity got the better of me even though the seller sent me a picture of the rear of the unit that looked like it had been stored in a pond for a few years! Well I couldn’t resist and did a deal and arranged for it to be shipped over to me here in the UK.
In the flesh it was MUCH worse than I had envisaged (so much so that the shipping box had a pool of rust in the bottom that had shaken out of the unit! I thought I had simply bought a heap of rust, that was until I managed to remove the cover; which was a challenge as every screw had corroded beyond use and had to be carefully drilled out.
Once I had finally removed the cover I was gobsmacked to find a 8″ Winchester disk sitting inside! I sent VIP Bruce Ray a message asking him what he thought it might be and Bruce confirmed that it was an external 5Mb Winchester Disk for the MPT/100. I think I might start to play the lottery as finding an MPT/100 and it’s external disk in the space of 3 months seems incredibly lucky to me!
This is going to be a big restoration job as this 37 year old chassis will need completely stripping, sand basting, respraying and reassembly; each mechanical and electronic component will need careful removal, cleaning, testing and reassembly. Luckily all of the electronics and important components are mounted approx. 15mm from the base of the chassis and look as though they have escaped the water!
My intention is to restore it to (as close as) museum grade as I can and then see if I can get it working and hooked up to my MPT/100.