Viatron System 21 Model 2111 Restoration
Here are a number of pictures taken prior to the restoration and clean up of the Viatron System 21 Intelligent terminal. It was definitely a haven for spiders but the main unit looks very clean otherwise. There is some excellent information on Viatron and the System 21 Intelligent terminal on Wikipedia here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viatron I was very fortunate to have received several documents with the terminal including schematics. You can find the documentation at this link in my Files Area under Viatron System 21.
Of special note is the fact that this terminal, designed in 1968, was the first device to use the term “microprocessor”. Today, we think of this term as a single chip CPU device. In this case, there are actually two “microprocessor” boards with a variety of chips on them. They are pictured below with all of the other internal cards. This particular example was built in early 1970 given the date stamps on the chips.
Pictures of the main unit. Note, these are pictures of how I received the unit (still needed cleaning).
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- Viatron System 21 – computer as received
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- Viatron System 21 – front control panel
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- Viatron System 21 – Model 2111 rear label
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- Viatron System 21 – monitor front as received
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- Viatron System 21 – Monitor internals
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- Viatron System 21 – rear label
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- Viatron System 21 – Embedded Motorola monitor
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- Viatron System 21 – tape drive internals
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- Viatron System 21 – right tape drive up
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- Viatron System 21 – behind front panel
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- Viatron System 21 – card slots as received
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- Viatron System 21 – card cage and options emptied from front
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- Viatron System 21 – top view cards removed
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- Viatron System 21 – wire wrapped back plane
The main unit was actually very clean. The immediate concern was the keyboard as it had this white residue that was chalky like calcium and I wan’t sure if I could get it off without damaging the key caps.
You can see the light channels under the key shafts. Depending on the key pressed, the light coming from the left side would be blocked by the unique fingers per key shaft so that the optical sensors on the right would see the unblocked light and determine what key was pressed. The light channels are also forged metal so this definitely adds to the weight (at 21 lbs just for the keyboard!).
From the post-restoration pics below, you can see that it turned out quite nicely.
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- Viatron System 21 – keyboard cleaned
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- Viatron System 21 – post-restoration keyboard mechanism
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- Viatron System 21 – Keyboard lights
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- Viatron System 21 – right side optical sensor
Here are the internal cards (boards) within the card cage by slot number for my reference:
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 1 – Display Array front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 1 – Display Array rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 2 – Timing and Clock front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 2 – Timing and Clock rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 3 – Main Memory front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 3 – Main Memory rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 4 – Microprocessor Board 3 front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 4 Microprocessor Board 3 rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 5 – Microprocessor Board front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 5 – Microprocessor Board rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 6 – Microprocessor Board front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 6 – Microprocessor Board rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 7 – Keyboard Board front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 7 Keyboard Board rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 9 – Viatape front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 9 – Viatape rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 10 – VT2 front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 10 – VT2 rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 11 – Viatape Front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 11 – Viatape rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 12 – Via Tape Board Front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 12 – Via Tape Board rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 14 – Buffer Simulator front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 14 – Buffer Simulator rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 15 – 29 Translator Adapter Board front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 15 – 29 Translator Adapter Board rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 17 – Buffer Simulator front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 17 – Buffer Simulator rear
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 18 – Robot Printer Board front
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- Viatron System 21 – Slot 18 – Robot Printer Board rear
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- Viatron System 21 – chip picture dated 44th week 1969
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- Viatron System 21 – Chip from Via Tape board
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- Viatron System 21 – Chip from 29 Translator Adapter board
Wow!!i am the daughter of Dr. Joseph Spiegel and am thrilled to see that there is an extant Viatron computer that has been restored. Thank you so much! It looks exactly as I remembered!!! Would you mind my sharing this info with the family?
Hi Amy,
By all means, please share this post. I also have a number of documents that I scanned in this directory that you may recall as well. I am always looking for more information on this terminal. Sadly, i have not been able to fully restore it as it uses some antiquated technology (I would not expect anything less) but it’s a wonderful example just the same. Thanks for reaching out.