Data General Corporation Eclipse S/140

    This machine seems to be a mid- life "kicker" for the Eclipse Architecture as well as the basis for the Nova 4 . This machine supports several things which were previously optional in the Eclipse line, these being the real- time clock, reader and punch controls, the MAP, and the TTY interface.

    This system may be one of the first Eclipses to use the "soft console" in which the console TTY is used to interact with a halted system instead of the traditional "lights- and- switches" front panels. I regard this as a loss. While certainly less attractive than a full panel, this incarnation does allow conversation with a halted machine over serial lines. Unlike the MicroNovas, however, one can't set breakpoints with this one.

    Sixteen-bit Eclipses ran either Data General's RDOS (Real-Time Disk Operating System) or AOS (Advanced Operating System) which was the precursor of AOS/VS which ran on the 32-bit Eclipses.

    Earlier on I remarked that the machine was used as the basis for the Nova 4 system. This observation is based on the fact that the two systems have identical CPU cards with only subtle changes in ROMs and glue logic; the similarity is so close that the jumper settings for the console TTY are completely identical. That fact saved me when I first put power to the S/140 when I got it home.

    This one served in a local television station for several years before making its way here through an acquaintance in New York. From outward appearance, it looks like the system was used in the news division as there is a 56 kb synchronous controller and lots of tapes labelled "AP" which I speculate indicates "Associated Press" rather than "Accounts Payable". It is a 16 user system, which I suspect (but can't prove at the moment) ran DG's 16-bit AOS. It is also configured with a 160Mb CDC Winchester SMD disk drive with a 3rd party controller.

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