New Wang 600
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Acquisition and Checkout
This machine was acquired from fellow vintage tech collectgor/restorer whose interests had moved in another direction. The machined had been in clean dry store since buying it from overseas many years ago, no work had been done. Initial inspection suggested that its next-previous owner must have stored it in a garden shed or similar - it was very dirty but otherwise showed no evidence of damage, abuse or water effect.
It is a Model 600 6TP which translates as
- “6” = 2K RAM (options were 1, 2 and 4K)
- “T” = Cassette Tape drive
- “P” = Printer
Serial number CC2001 and internal date stamps all near to April 1972. It had a wire-ROM, indicating an early machine, later in the 600 series a MOS ROM was introduced.
Inspection showed that it was complete with no sign of electrical damage but there was a good deal of surface rust on steel parts, suggesting damp storage in the past.
Keyboard Inspection
Despite being very dirty, the keyboard was complete with no missing keys and no broken keytops. The short-travel Wang keyboards may lack ‘feel’ but are very robust, probably exactly the attributes that Dr Wang was interested in. Cleaning would seem to be the only maintenance required.
PCB Inspection
All PCBs were in good condition with only one card showing signs of repair. The 5964 ALU card had sockets added for two 74145 ICs, L1 and L12 located at the extreme right side of the board. These ICs are BCD to 10 line decoders that decode the 4-bit machine status field of the microcontrol word.
Otherwise, the boards were in good condition with no signs of corrosion. Wang never used gold plating on PCB edge connector fingers and if these are corroded, connection problems can be a nusiance.
Tape Unit Inspection
The tape unit had developed extensive superficial rust and it was clear that this rather intricate mechanism would have to be dismantled, cleaned and treated to prevent recurrence. The rubber belts are likely to be perished/stretched and need to be replaced.
Printer Inspection
The printer is an OEM unit from Seiko, said to have been one of Seiko’s earliest printers. It is a complex piece of precision engineering with an electronically regulated motor and a pair of magnetic pickups that must be part of a feedback system for locating the correct print images as the drum spins. Mercifully, the same corrosion that affected the tape unit has not affected the printer at all.
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