Acquired NEC APC (Advanced personal computer) - Restoration/archiving/appraisal? [x-post] \ VOGONS

Acquired NEC APC (Advanced personal computer) - Restoration/archiving/appraisal? [x-post]

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First post, by IseeanAPC

Posted on 2021-10-20, 22:37

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[x-posted from other forum to ensure maximisation of restoration chance!]

I have acquired an NEC APC in fantastic condition in Australia. It was not cheap, however I had to save it. It appears to have been stored very well.

I have not yet opened it up. Whilst the previous owner believed it was bootable, I am not game to do so yet as I wish to assess whether someone with more skill / exposure would have advice about the restoration and preservation. I feel a little out of my depth with this.

I am a intermediate hobbyist who has completed microcomputer projects with the help of other communities. I have also posted this on the Vintage Computing Federation board & Reddit.

Thoughts:

Do the disks require archiving?

Is Capacitor replacement required?

Is there a digitzed service manual?

Would someone else be better equipped to deal with it?

What is the value of a complete package such as this?

I have looked on bitsavers. I am not sure whether I have software that is not archived there.

Pictures below:

Reply 1 of 6, by Horun

Posted on 2021-10-21, 02:51

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Nice package ! May look pretty but is not worth much from a standard vintage user perspective. Hope you did not pay much
It will run DOS 2 but with no way to add a HD afaik so makes it a very bad XT even if it has a 8086 cpu.
Not a game friendly machine....

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 2 of 6, by IseeanAPC

Posted on 2021-10-21, 04:43

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Horun wrote on 2021-10-21, 02:51:

Nice package ! May look pretty but is not worth much from a standard vintage user perspective. Hope you did not pay much
It will run DOS 2 but with no way to add a HD afaik so makes it a very bad XT even if it has a 8086 cpu.
Not a game friendly machine....

Thank you... no, not a fantastic amount, but enough to consider such things as archiving the software & correctly refurbishing it.

Wishing there was a way to add a HDD, as I can't seem to find any way to archive the 8" behemoth disks that come with it. Would seem sensible for preservation's sake.

Reply 3 of 6, by Anonymous Coward

Posted on 2021-10-21, 07:38

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Did you see this page?
http://dunfield.classiccmp.org/nec/index.htm

It says NEC offered an external harddrive for it. You should try to find out what kind of drive was inside the enclosure. Maybe it was was just a standard SCSI drive with a different cable. It might be possible to build your own enclosure if you can get the pinouts.

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 4 of 6, by PC Hoarder Patrol

Posted on 2021-10-21, 08:58

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Bitsavers have a range of documents online for the APC - here's the one for the Hard Disk Subsystem Reference Guide

http://bitsavers.org/pdf/nec/APC/819-000102-6 … Guide_Apr83.pdf

Some software-related stuff is also available at http://bitsavers.org/bits/NEC/APC/

Just noticed a pair of master / slave units listed on the Bay atm!!!

Reply 5 of 6, by Horun

Posted on 2021-10-22, 22:32

Horun Offline

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Good info PC Hoarder! Reads like a MFM HD but sounds like it needs a controller card in the APC to talk to the one in the H26 external case.
Some pics of a NEC APC with detailed board pictures but nothing about the HD controller board, unless it is on the graphics/floppy board....there is a 50pin connector.
https://vintagecomputer.ca/nec-apc-advanced-p … r-for-business/
https://vintagecomputer.ca/wp-content/uploads … -card-front.jpg

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 6 of 6, by PC Hoarder Patrol

Posted on 2021-10-23, 03:06

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There's a discrete Disk Adapter PCB (G9SNC) detailed in the subsystem guide, with some basic components listed and a simple board layout (2 x 50-pin connectors), but can't find an actual picture of the same.

Here are some good shots of the subsystem units - https://www.retropcstore.com/product/nec-apc- … c-apc-computer/

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