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What have I got?

A project log for Interak Computer Restoration

My efforts to restore an original Interak computer

willWill 03/01/2024 at 12:160 Comments

The first step, after wiping-off the accumulated grime and surface corrosion, was to assess what I have.

Within the very large - and very heavy! - case were four cards - an MZB-3 CPU card, a VDU-2K (composite video only) 'graphics' card, an FDC-1 Floppy Disk controller (no disks though, sadly) and a QS-1 Quad Serial card. The Dynamic RAM card has either been removed, or this system never had one and just used the spare RAM on the VDU-2K board.

The rear panel has a number of serial connectors, originally for the swipe-card readers to connect to.

Behind that is the power supply, very professionally installed and using the proper Interak power-distribution board.

Once wiped of dirt, the inside looked relatively clean too, though sadly the backplane is not fully populated with edge connectors.

So, does it work? Erm, no! An initial check with no cards installed showed the power supplies to be fine, but installing a minimum set of cards displayed just a screen of random characters. It appears the system doesn't boot. Unsurprising really!

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