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ND Physical Models: Cabinets, Dimensions and Model Ranges

Physical (mechanical) reference for Norsk Data machines: what each cabinet is, how big it is, what it weighs, what it draws, and which model names sit in which box.

Written to support 3D modelling and hardware reconstruction, so the emphasis is on measurable, cited facts. Everything below is quoted from a named manual. Where a number is derived rather than documented, it is marked DERIVED. Where nothing was found, it says so rather than guessing.

Status: third version, 2026-08-01. Machines and Filestore covered from two independent manuals (1987 in section 1, 1984 in section 7) plus ND's own marketing and photographs (section 8). Terminals, printers and power distribution are in the appendix. Sections marked GAP still need a source.

For 3D modelling, read section 1 or 7 for the outer box, section 7.1 for footprint and floor geometry, and section 8 for front-face layout and colour. Outer boxes are solid. Front-face feature proportions are the outstanding gap and are marked as such rather than guessed.

1. The master dimensions table

This is the 1987 table. There is a second, earlier and more detailed table from 1984 in the Site Preparation manual, broken down per product number rather than per family - see section 7. The two disagree slightly; the disagreement is discussed there. Section 7 also holds the only dimensioned mechanical drawings found anywhere: floor cutout diagrams that give cabinet footprint and cable-hole position in centimetres.

The 1987 table is the site-planning ("computer room planning") manual.

Source: ND-13.028.1 NO, Planlegging av datarom, Norsk Data, version 1, May 1987, chapter 18 "Produktspesifikasjoner", page 57. File: the OCR working folder does not hold this one. It is in the norsk-data.com mirror at library/libhw/ND-13028-1-NO.pdf in the sintran.com mirror (PDF page 65).

The manual states in its foreword that it applies to ND-100, ND-500 and ND-5000 systems.

Column headings in the original are Norwegian: H/B/D = Hoyde/Bredde/Dybde = height/width/depth, VEKT = weight, FORB. = consumption, SIKRING = fuse.

Product Height x Width x Depth (cm) Weight (kg) Power (W) Fuse (A)
ND SATELLITE models 64 x 23 x 77 35 400 16 slow
ND COMPACT models 69 x 54 x 76 78 800 16 slow
ND-100 models 169 x 60 x 95 130-200 1600 16 slow
ND-500 models, 1-cabinet 169 x 60 x 95 180-250 3200 25 slow
ND-500 models, 2-cabinet 169 x 60 x 95 per cabinet 450 2700 / 1600 25 slow + 16 slow
ND-5000 COMPACT models 69 x 54 x 76 100 1250 16 slow
ND-5000 models, 1-cabinet 169 x 60 x 95 180-250 2200 25 slow

Two observations that matter:

  • The ND-5000 Compact and the ND-100 Compact are the same box, 69 x 54 x 76 cm. They differ only in weight (100 kg vs 78 kg) and power (1250 W vs 800 W). This is independently confirmed by the ND-5000 ES Model C maintenance manual, which says the Model C "has the same cabinet as the previous version, except for the front cover" (ND-830102.1B, page 3).
  • The large ND cabinet is one standard shell, 169 x 60 x 95 cm, used by ND-100, ND-500 and ND-5000 alike. Only the contents, weight and power differ.

Filestore cabinets

Same manual, page 58.

ND number Product H x W x D (cm) Weight (kg) Fuse (A)
106240 / 106241 FILESTORE KABINETT COMPACT 69 x 54 x 76 55-150 16 slow
106350 / 110048 / 110025 FILESTORE KABINETT 169 x 60 x 96 100-215 16 slow
(unnumbered) FILESTORE KABINETT with magtape STC 1950 169 x 60 x 96 234 / 275 25 slow
105740 Free-standing disk, CDC 288 MB 91 x 58 x 91 321 25 slow

The Compact Filestore is the same 69 x 54 x 76 shell as the Compact CPU cabinet. That is the second box standing beside the machine in most photographs.

Drive power draw inside a Filestore, same page: magtape Cipher 360 W, magtape STC 2922 250 W, fast disk 140 MB 408 W, fast disk 288 MB 140 W, fast disk 450 MB 250 W, cartridge disk 70 MB 200 W, magtape STC 1950 1650 W plus 880 W for its formatter.

2. The small cabinet (Compact)

External size 69 x 54 x 76 cm (H x W x D). Used by:

  • ND-100 Compact / ND-110 Compact
  • ND-5000 Compact
  • ND-5000 ES Model C (same shell, new front cover)
  • Compact Filestore

Card rack

The ND-110 Compact houses a 12-position card crate; the ND-110 Satellite a 7-position crate; the large cabinet versions hold up to 21 cards. Source: ND-06.026.1 EN, ND-110 Functional Description, section 1.5 "The ND Cabinets", page 10-11. In repo: ND-110 Functional Description.

The ND-100 12-position crate carries its power supply inside the crate itself, which the reference manual notes "leads to a very compact system". Source: ND-06.014.2A EN, ND-100 Reference Manual, figure 2.22 caption.

The ND-5000 Compact uses a 20-position double-bus backwiring, split between ND-500 size cards and ND-110 size cards. Two versions exist. Source: ND-05.017.01 EN, ND-5000 Hardware Maintenance, section 1.2.2 "Small Cabinet", tables 5 and 6, pages 8-9.

First version (models A0-A4 and model B), table 5:

Pos Card Note
1-2 ND-5000 CPU card CPU type 1 uses pos. 1-2
3 (MFB Dynamic RAM) CPU type 2 uses pos. 1-3
4 MFB Dynamic RAM 4, 8 or 16 MB
5 Double Bus Controller end of ND-500 size cards
6 ND-110/CX CPU start of ND-110 size cards
7 Tracer / Memory
8-9 HDLC / Megalink / Memory
10-12 8 term. / PIOC / Memory
13 ST506 Disk Controller / Triangel / Memory / Free
14 Floppy-SCSI / Free / Memory
15-17 Free
18 Plugboard 1 from pos.10 8 term./PIOC; pos.5 and 6 console; pos.6 Telefix/Tfix port
19 Plugboard 2 from pos.11 8 term./PIOC; pos.8 HDLC/Megalink
20 Plugboard 3 from pos.12 8 term./PIOC; pos.9 HDLC/Megalink

New type (models A10-A14 and model B), table 6, differs mainly at positions 7-8 (Ethernet and Token Ring options appear) and position 13 (a combined Floppy and SCSI controller replaces the ST506 controller, freeing position 14).

Dummy plugs are inserted in all free positions.

Power supply

One plug-in module, DC110, accessible from the front, held by four screws. Outputs 5 V / 120 A, 12 V / 15 A, 5 V / 7 A standby.

  • +5 V / 120 A mainly feeds CPU and memory
  • +5 V / 7 A standby holds memory alive through a power failure
  • +12 V / 15 A feeds the internally mounted peripherals: 5 1/4" disk and floppy drives

Source: ND-05.017.01 EN section 1.3 "Power supply", page 10, and figure 4 page 11.

The supply family is the ND Multipower System (MPS): DC110 as above, DC200 = 5 V / 200 A, DC300 = 5 V / 50 A standby for ten minutes, DC400 reserved for future use. Front panel carries ON/OFF, ADJ trimmers with test points, MARG switches (+/- 5 percent), an OVERTEMP red LED at 90 degrees C internal, and a TRANSIENT red LED that trips on any voltage more than 10 percent off nominal. Source: same manual pages 13-14, figure 6.

Usable drawings

There is no dimensioned mechanical drawing of the cabinet itself in any manual found so far. The nearest thing is the set of floor cutout drawings in section 7.1, which give footprint and cable-hole geometry but say nothing about the cabinet above floor level, and which cover the ND-100 and ND-500 cabinets rather than the Compact.

The usable cabinet line-art, all undimensioned, is:

  • ND-05.017.01 EN figure 3, page 7: ND-5000 Compact cabinet, cutaway isometric showing card rack, power supply, drive bays and plinth. This is the clearest single view located. File: 5000/ND-05.017.01 EN ND-5000 HARDWARE MAINTENANCE-Gandalf-OCR.pdf in the OCR working folder, PDF page 21.
  • ND-05.017.01 EN figure 4, page 11: same view with the power supply sliding out.
  • ND-830102.1B figures 1-5, manual pages 5-12: cabinet, front panel removal, all panels exploded (side, top, rear plus bare frame), fan tray and operator panel, backwiring layout with the five disk positions. File: 5000/ND-830102.1B EN ND-5000 ES Model C Hardware Maint. Manual-Sintran-OCR.pdf in the OCR working folder, PDF pages 13-22.

Note that the repo markdown of both manuals lost every image during OCR. Read the PDFs. Note also that the body text of ND-05.017.01 chapter 1 is missing from the repo markdown (only the table of contents survived) - the PDF is the only copy.

GAP: no source yet for panel radii, vent slot pitch, plinth height, or castor/foot detail.

3. The large cabinet

External size 169 x 60 x 95 cm (H x W x D). Used by ND-100, ND-500 and ND-5000 large systems. ND-500 could be delivered as a two-cabinet system, both cabinets the same size.

Card rack: up to 21 cards (ND-06.026.1 EN section 1.5).

Power supply: the ND Multipower Supply is mounted in the upper part of the cabinet and is accessed from the rear, plug-in type held by four screws. Source: ND-05.017.01 EN section 1.3 "Large cabinet", page 12, figure 5.

GAP: the MF-bus card rack tables for the large cabinet are in ND-05.017.01 (figure 3 in its figure list, "The MF-bus Card Rack (first version)", page 5) but have not yet been transcribed here.

4. ND-5000 model range

4.1 System types (the CPU generation)

Source: ND-830102.1B EN, ND-5000 ES Model C Hardware Maintenance Manual, table 1 "Model overview", page 12. In repo: ND-5000 ES Model C Hardware Maint.

System ND-5200 ND-5400 ND-5500 ND-5700 ND-5800
I/O processor ND-120 ND-120 ND-120 ND-120/CX ND-120/CX
Memory shared + local (MB) 4 + 2 4 + 4 8 + 4 8 + 4 16 + 6

ND-05.017.01 additionally documents an upgrade path from ND-5800 to ND-5900/2/3/4 (its section 2.1.5), so the range extends past ND-5800.

4.2 Model C sizes (the disk complement)

Same table 1. The Model C suffix counts 310 MB disks, not CPU power:

Model Disk size
Model C1 310 MB
Model C2 2 x 310 MB
Model C3 3 x 310 MB
Model C4 4 x 310 MB
Model C5 5 x 310 MB

Up to five disk units mount in the cabinet (ND-830102.1B page 40, figure 16). Each drive is mounted on a board and plugs into the backwiring, so replacement needs no cabling.

Backup media: streamer 155 MB standard; options are the ND Gigatape system and an HP magtape at 1600/6250 bpi, 125 ips.

The optional Gigatape uses 8 mm cartridges holding up to 2.2 GB, standard SCSI interface, and the drive is 5 1/4" high. On models C1-C4 it sits in the upper right corner where disk B normally goes; on model C5 it is mounted in a separate box. Source: ND-830102.1B section 2.1.6.4, page 39.

That 5 1/4" drive form factor is currently the only absolute size reference visible inside the figures. DERIVED: a full-height 5 1/4" bay is 146 mm wide x 82.5 mm high by industry standard, which can be used to scale the undimensioned figures. This is an industry standard, not an ND-documented number.

4.3 Upgrading

Full upgrade in both axes: between models (C1 up to C5, same system) and between systems (ND-5200 up to ND-5800, same model). Extra memory boards are not included in upgrade kits and must be ordered separately. Source: ND-830102.1B section 1.3, table 2, page 13.

4.4 Model naming seen in the card-rack tables

ND-05.017.01 tables 5 and 6 refer to Compact models A0-A4, A10-A14 and model B. This is an older naming than the ES "Model C1-C5" scheme, and the Model C manual states the ES Model C "replaces the current ND-5000 Compacts".

GAP: the relationship between A0-A4, A10-A14, B and C1-C5 is not yet established from a source. Do not assume A4 equals C4.

4.5 CPU types

ND-05.017.01 section 1.4 lists ND-5000 basic CPU type 1, type 2 and type 3, the differences between them, and microprogram versions. Visible in the card rack: CPU type 1 occupies card positions 1-2, CPU type 2 occupies positions 1-3.

Related analysis in this repo: see the ND-5000 material under SINTRAN/ND5000/.

5. ND tpServer

A packaged product name, not a distinct cabinet. The ND tpServer is a preconfigured ND-5000/DOMINO database server sold as a turnkey bundle: machine, factory-loaded system disk, SIBAS database software and a menu-driven administration layer.

"The ND tpServer series is a range of high-performance/high-functionality database servers ... Based on ND-5000/DOMINO technology" Source: ND-830127.1 EN, ND tpServer System Administrator Guide, Norsk Data, version 1, April 1989, chapter 1, page 3. File: library/libhw/ND-830127-1-EN.pdf in the sintran.com mirror

Key physical facts from the 1993 edition (ND-830127.3 EN, February 1993, published by Comma, chapter 1 page 1):

  • Available in two different models, each in several types
  • Full ND-5000 performance range
  • Standard support for up to 130 terminals simultaneously
  • Disk capacity 310 to 67510 MB, expressed as 48 x 1400 + 310
  • Standard backup is the Gigatape System (2.2 GB) plus a streamer; 1600/6250 bpi magtape optional
  • System disk 310 MB split into two SINTRAN directories, PACK-BASIC and PACK-MAIN-SW

Neither tpServer administrator guide contains a dimensions table, and the product post-dates the 1987 site-planning manual, so it is absent there too.

RESOLVED by photograph. A surviving ND tpServer A25 is pictured at Pictures/ronny/FB_IMG_1754589509271.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS, and it is a Compact-shell machine - the same stepped front, upper recess, operator-panel ledge and lower panel as the ND-100/CX Compact. So at least this model sits in the 69 x 54 x 76 cm box. See section 8.7 for the detail.

The tpServer range still spans two models in several types, so this settles the A25 only. Whether the larger types use the tall cabinet remains unestablished.

Note also that the badge reads A25, which extends the Compact "A" model naming discussed in section 4.4 beyond the A0-A4 and A10-A14 series seen in the card-rack tables. This is another reason not to assume the A-numbering maps onto the ES Model C1-C5 scheme.

6. Sources

Ranked by usefulness for physical reconstruction.

Primary, with real measurements

  1. ND-13.028.1 NO Planlegging av datarom, May 1987, 76 pp. library/libhw/ND-13028-1-NO.pdf in the sintran.com mirror The only source of exact external dimensions found. Chapter 18, page 57. An English twin (ND-13.028.1 EN, June 1987) is indexed in the mirror but not downloaded.

Primary, with drawings but no dimensions

  1. ND-05.017.01 EN ND-5000 Hardware Maintenance. 5000/ND-05.017.01 EN ND-5000 HARDWARE MAINTENANCE-Gandalf-OCR.pdf in the OCR working folder Chapter 1: model range, both cabinets, card racks, power supplies, CPU types. The repo markdown copy is table-of-contents only, so use the PDF. In repo (TOC only): ND-5000 Hardware Maintenance

  2. ND-830102.1B EN ND-5000 ES Model C Hardware Maintenance Manual. 5000/ND-830102.1B EN ND-5000 ES Model C Hardware Maint. Manual-Sintran-OCR.pdf in the OCR working folder Chapter 2 is an explicit physical description: cabinet, panels, fan tray, operator panel, backwiring, card crate, plug-in modules, disk positions. Figures lost in the repo markdown. In repo: ND-5000 ES Model C Hardware Maint.

  3. ND-06.026.1 EN ND-110 Functional Description, section 1.5 and figure 2 "ND-110, ND-110 Compact and ND-110 Satellite cabinets", page 11. In repo: ND-110 Functional Description

Secondary

  1. ND-830127.1 EN and ND-830127.3 EN, ND tpServer System Administrator Guide, 1989 and 1993. library/libhw/ND-830127-1-EN.pdf in the sintran.com mirror library/libhw/ND-830127-3-EN.pdf in the sintran.com mirror

Primary, with measurements and dimensioned floor drawings

  1. ND-13.014.04 EN Revision A Site Preparation and Installation Manual, August 1985, 76 pp. library/libhw/ND-13014-04A-EN.pdf in the sintran.com mirror Pre-dates the ND-5000, but is the more detailed of the two dimension sources for everything it does cover, and the only one with dimensioned drawings. Fully transcribed in section 7. Appendix F pages 51-52 = floor cutouts; appendix H pages 57-64 = the per-product specification table; appendix D page 43 = room size and clearances.

Checked and found to contain nothing physical

  • ND-05.020.01 EN ND-5000 Hardware Description - architecture only. Its single physical remark is relative: "Physical CPU size is only one sixth of the size of the ND-570."
  • ND-895560-2-EN, in Installation/Installation-Description/ - no dimensions.
  • All ND-5000 product-info sheets under Installation/Product-Info/ - no dimensions.

Where to look next

  • ND-13.028.1 EN (indexed in the mirror, not downloaded)
  • ND-13.014.01 through .04 (indexed, not available)
  • ND-13.015.01 NO Planlegging og installasjonsmanual (indexed, not available)
  • ND-30.002.01 / .02 SITE Preparation Manual (indexed, not available)
  • ND mechanical / parts drawings - none located in any archive so far

The mirror indexes to grep are docs\library\library.md and docs\library\libhw\libhw.md under the sintran.com mirror.

7. The 1984/85 Site Preparation manual

Source: ND-13.014.04 EN, Site Preparation and Installation Manual, Norsk Data, version 4, revision A, August 1985. Copyright 1985. Specification tables carry their own revision date, 1 December 1984. File: library/libhw/ND-13014-04A-EN.pdf in the sintran.com mirror

Its preface states it applies to "the entire family of Norsk Data configurations: the ND-100, the ND-500 system configurations and the Compact model IV". It pre-dates the ND-5000, so there is nothing on ND-5000 here. What it has instead is finer granularity: one row per ND product number, and dimensioned floor drawings.

7.1 Floor cutout drawings - the only dimensioned drawings found

Appendix F, figure F.1, PDF page 51. These are the drawings a joiner would have worked from when cutting the raised computer-room floor, so they carry the cabinet footprint and the cable hole position in centimetres. All four are drawn with the cabinet front at the top of the page and the cable cutout at the rear.

Drawing Applies to Footprint W x D (cm) Cutout W x D (cm) Cutout placement
C Equipment in 6-module cabinets: ND-100 CX and File Store 54 x 91 38 x 20 centred at rear, 8 cm clear each side
D Equipment in 11-module cabinets: ND-100/500 and File Store 60 x 91 44 x 20 centred at rear, 8 cm clear each side
A CDC disk drives 33, 37, 66 and 75 MB 56 x 92 26 x 10 15 cm clear each side, 20 cm up from rear
B CDC disk drive 288 MB 59 x 92 15 x 15 right-hand side, 28 cm up from rear

The 6-module and 11-module footprints agree with the appendix H table below (54 and 60 cm wide, 92 cm deep), so drawing C is the 6-module ND-100 cabinet, not the Compact.

Figure F.2 (PDF page 52) gives the same treatment for printers and printing terminals: Terminet 340, Omni 825 KSR, a 600/900 lpm line printer (60 x 86 cm footprint, 7 x 5 cm cutout) and the Fujitsu 1000 lpm.

7.2 Room size and service clearance

Appendix D, PDF page 43:

  • Minimum computer room size 3 x 4 metres
  • Minimum distance between walls and cabinets 60 cm
  • Cabinets stand in a line against a cable duct running behind them

Figure D.1 is a scaled plan of that minimum room with a Terminet 340, an Omni 825, an ND-100 cabinet, an ND-500 cabinet and a File Store cabinet lined up side by side.

7.3 Equipment specification table, 1 December 1984

Appendix H, PDF pages 57 onward. Column meanings are given on page H-1: H/W/D is total height/width/depth in cm; CABLE is the standard delivered signal cable length in metres with the maximum length to the farthest unit in parentheses; SIGNAL is C = current loop, R = RS-232-C, P = parallel; FUSES is L = quick, G = slow, and the manual says always use automatic fuses. Figures are for 50 Hz / 230 V.

ND systems (page H-2):

ND no. Product H x W x D (cm) Weight (kg) Power (W) Fuse
178 ND-100, 6 module cabinet (empty) 96 x 54 x 92 48 - -
ND-100 mini configuration 96 x 54 x 92 90 400 16 A slow
ND-100 midi configuration 96 x 54 x 92 90 600 16 A slow
ND-100 maxi configuration 96 x 54 x 92 95 700 16 A slow
ND-100 expansion system 96 x 108 x 92 170 1200 16 A slow
131 ND-100/500 cabinet (empty) 172 x 60 x 92 80 - -
ND-100/CX mini configuration 172 x 60 x 92 200 600 16 A slow
ND-100/CX midi configuration 172 x 60 x 92 230 1000 16 A slow
ND-100/CX maxi configuration 172 x 60 x 92 250 1600 16 A slow
ND-520/1 cabinet maxi 172 x 60 x 92 300 2400 25 A slow
ND-540/1 cabinet maxi 172 x 60 x 92 300 2400 25 A slow
ND-550/1 and ND-560/1 cabinet 172 x 120 x 92 550 4300 16/25 A slow
Expansion cabinet maxi 172 x 60 x 92 270 2700 25 A slow
ND-500/2: ND-530/550/560/570 I 172 x 60 x 92 300 2500 25 A slow
ND-500/2: ND-530/550/560/570 II 172 x 120 x 92 550 4300 16/25 A slow
ND-500/2: ND-530/550 III 172 x 60 x 92 350 3000 25 A slow
092 ND-100 COMPACT IV 67 x 54 x 74 90 600 16 A slow
624 Filestore cabinet maxi 96 x 54 x 74 40 1000 16 A slow
625 Filestore cabinet maxi 96 x 54 x 92 48 1000 16 A slow
635 Filestore cabinet maxi 172 x 60 x 92 80 2300 25 A slow

The 120 cm widths are two 60 cm cabinets standing side by side, and the 108 cm width is two 54 cm cabinets - the fuse entry "16/25 A" for the 120 cm rows confirms two separate mains feeds. That matches the 1987 manual's "ND-500 models, 2-cabinet" row.

Disk units (page H-4), the entries that carry a cabinet:

ND no. Product H x W x D (cm) Weight (kg) Power (W) Fuse
514 CDC 66/75 MB 92 x 56 x 92 110 700 16 A slow
572 CDC 150 MB in ND-178 96 x 54 x 92 105 600 10 A slow
574 CDC 288 MB 92 x 59 x 92 252 1300 25 A slow
576 CDC 37 MB 92 x 56 x 92 110 750 16 A slow
579 CDC 150 MB in ND-514 92 x 56 x 92 167 1300 16 A slow
585 / 586 / 587 CDC 30 / 60 / 90 MB in ND-178 96 x 54 x 92 128 950 16 A slow
610 / 611 Winchester 23 / 45 MB, Compact and Satellite 9 x 15 x 21 3.5 35 -
613 Winchester 150 MB, excluding power supply 13 x 22 x 38 14 150 -
615 / 616 Winchester 450 / 300 MB, excluding power supply 26 x 22 x 77 35 200 -
617 Cartridge 75 MB, excluding power supply 26 x 22 x 77 32 200 -
624 Filestore cabinet COMPACT 67 x 52 x 74 140 - 16 A slow
625 Filestore cabinet ND-100 96 x 54 x 92 175 - 16 A slow
Power supply for ND-613 10 x 22 x 24 6 180 16 A slow
Power supply for ND-615/616/617 25 x 20 x 12 5 100 16 A slow

Product number 624 appears twice on the same page with different figures (67 x 52 x 74 at 140 kg, and 96 x 54 x 74 at 40 kg), and 625 likewise. UNVERIFIED: the second pair looks like the empty cabinet and the first like the populated one, but the manual does not say so.

Note the Compact Filestore here is 52 cm wide, not 54. That is the only place a 52 turns up.

Magnetic tape units (page H-5):

ND no. Product H x W x D (cm) Weight (kg) Power (W) Fuse
524 Pertec 45/800 cpi in ND-178 89 x 54 x 100 87 360 16 A slow
528 Pertec 75/1600 cpi 89 x 54 x 100 118 490 16 A slow
529 Pertec 75/800-1600 cpi 172 x 60 x 100 118 490 16 A slow
543 STC 125/1600-6250 in ND-131 172 x 60 x 100 234 1850 25 A slow
621 Cipher 1600/3200 bpi 23 x 44 x 63 38 270 16 A slow

Note the 100 cm depth: a tape cabinet is 8 cm deeper than the 92 cm computer cabinet.

Communication equipment (page H-8), useful because these boxes appear in photographs:

ND no. Product H x W x D (cm) Weight (kg) Power (W)
680 NCT controller, 110-7680 baud 13 x 45 x 42 15 160
682 NCT trackerball 10 x 18 x 17 3 -
677 NCT keyboard 9 x 46 x 19 2 -
750 Limited distance modem KM-1D 5 x 8 x 15 0.5 10
840 Line driver for line printer 19 x 22 x 27 5 50
845 Terminal switch panel 86 x 57 x 38 27 -
846 Line printer and magtape switch 10 x 22 x 34 3 -
849 Terminal cross-coupler 32 x 25 x 21 3 -

7.4 Where the 1984 and 1987 tables disagree

Machine 1984 (ND-13.014.04) 1987 (ND-13.028.1) Difference
Compact 67 x 54 x 74 (ND-100 Compact IV) 69 x 54 x 76 (ND Compact) 2 cm taller, 2 cm deeper
Large cabinet 172 x 60 x 92 169 x 60 x 95 3 cm shorter, 3 cm deeper
Compact Filestore 67 x 52 x 74 69 x 54 x 76 2 cm each way, 2 cm narrower

Width is the one dimension both agree on for the large cabinet (60 cm) and the Compact CPU (54 cm). Height and depth move by 2 to 3 cm.

I do not know which figure is correct. What I can verify is that they are three years apart and describe partly different product generations - "Compact model IV" in 1984 versus "ND Compact models" as a family in 1987. UNVERIFIED possibilities, none of them confirmed by any source: a genuine mechanical revision between generations; one table measuring the bare cabinet and the other including a plinth or door handles; or simple rounding in one of them.

For 3D modelling: the two sets bracket each other within 3 cm. If the model is of an ND-5000 Compact specifically, use the 1987 figures (69 x 54 x 76), because the 1984 manual pre-dates the ND-5000 entirely and its Compact row is a different machine.

7.5 Everything else in this manual

Not transcribed, but present and worth knowing about:

  • Chapter 1: computer room size, service access, raised floor construction, holes in the data floor, floor covering, air conditioning, mains voltage and permitted fluctuation, battery backup, start current, terminal wiring, grounding, electrical disturbance, cleaning rules
  • Chapter 2: room inspection, visual check on delivery, shipping locks, panel removal, cabling, power-up sequence for one and for several systems
  • Appendix C: mains installation, the 25 A outlet type (CUI 232-6 + CR 32), and a full 10 kVA distribution schematic
  • Appendix E: grounding, minimum 25 mm squared to the building equipotential connection, 10 mm squared braided copper lace for each cabinet, with three room-layout figures
  • Appendix I: maximum cable lengths per baud rate and interface type, plus complete pin-out tables for current loop and V.24 to every supported terminal and printer

8. Photographic and physical evidence

Sources here are photographs and marketing material rather than manuals. They carry information the manuals do not: construction breakdown, front-face layout, and colour.

Location: the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS

8.1 A third dimension figure, from ND's own marketing

The NORD-100 sales brochure states plainly:

"Only 54 cm wide, 96 cm high and 84 cm deep, the NORD-100 cabinet is easily situated as any copier or filing cabinet." Source: Pictures/Reklame/images/nd-7.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS, brochure page 7. The full brochure is at Pictures/Reklame/nord-100 computer system.pdf in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS.

Height 96 cm and width 54 cm agree exactly with the 1984 service table for the 6-module ND-100 cabinet. Depth is quoted as 84 cm against the service table's 92 cm.

So the depth of the ND-100 6-module cabinet now has two conflicting published values, 84 and 92 cm, both from Norsk Data. I do not know which is right. UNVERIFIED: 84 cm may be the cabinet body and 92 cm the body plus a rear cable allowance or a projecting rear panel, but nothing in either document says so. Width and height are corroborated and can be trusted.

The same page also gives a power figure of 450 W for the NORD-100, against the service table's 400 to 700 W depending on configuration.

8.2 The ND-100 cabinet front face

The brochure photograph on that page is a near square-on colour shot of the 6-module ND-100 cabinet. Read off it directly, with no measurement involved:

  • The front is a light grey frame surrounding six equal horizontal module bays. The "6 module cabinet" product name is literal - it is six visible bay positions.
  • The frame's top rail carries the "ND NORSK DATA" logo, right-aligned.
  • Bay contents in the photographed machine, top to bottom:
    1. vent panel, fine horizontal slots
    2. the operator panel: two display windows at the left, a wide horizontal display strip, two switches, the "ND NORD-100" legend, and a keyswitch at the right
    3. dark panel with a single row of large round holes
    4. dark panel with a single row of large round holes
    5. plain dark panel, no holes
    6. dark panel with a single row of large round holes
  • Below the bays is a light grey base rail, and below that a plinth recessed behind the front face, so the cabinet does not meet the floor flush.

Colour scheme, from this photograph and the peripherals spread (Pictures/Reklame/images/building-block-1-2.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS): frame and plinth in a light warm grey or off-white, module fronts in a very dark brown-black, and signal red used as the accent on terminals, printers and disk drives.

GAP: the proportions of those six bays are not recorded here, and the attempt to recover them failed. This is worth stating plainly so nobody repeats it.

Careful edge-finding put the cabinet frame at 364 px wide (rails at x=282 and x=646) and 675 px tall (frame top at y=1141, plinth bottom at y=1816) in Reklame\images\nd-7.jpg. That gives an aspect ratio of 0.539, where the published 54 x 96 cm implies 0.5625 - 4 percent out.

The cause is that this is a phone photograph of a bound brochure lying on a table, not a flat scan, so the page curves and the scale varies across it. A perspective rectification assumes a flat plane and therefore cannot fix page curvature. On top of that the cabinet is very dark and low contrast, so automatic detection of the bay separators failed: only the top rail, the operator panel and the plinth stood out from the background brightness, and repeated visual readings against an overlaid percentage grid did not agree with each other to better than a couple of percentage points.

Any bay heights derived this way would be wrong by two to three centimetres at full size, so none are given. Closing this needs one of:

  • a flat scan of brochure page 7 rather than a photograph of it, which would remove the page curvature and make the rectification valid
  • a square-on photograph of a real cabinet, ideally with a scale in frame
  • a measurement of a real cabinet

Note that the technique which succeeded on the operator panel (section 8.3) does not apply here: it needs a known physical grid inside the photograph, and a painted cabinet front has no such grid.

8.3 The ND-5000 Compact operator panel

There is not one panel part but a family of at least two variants, same size and layout, differing in the keyswitch legend. Do not treat them as interchangeable when modelling a specific machine.

Part PCB Keyswitch legend Seen on
ND-323163 ND 1835B LOCKED / ON / STANDBY the photographs measured below; also the ND-100/CX Compact and the tpServer A25
ND-323165 ND 1844B-2 ON LOCK / ON / OFF Code/68705/ND-5000C-PANEL.png in the nd-120 repository

The 1844 board additionally carries a TELEFIX silkscreen legend near its lower edge.

Both are the same size. Measured aspect ratio is 8.62 for the 1835 board and 8.69 for the 1844 board, agreeing to 0.8 percent, so the 455 x 53 mm below applies to both.

ND-322691, the older ND-100 "Display Panel N100", is a different shape entirely - a squat block, measured aspect 1.847 : 1. Its absolute size could not be measured; the pad-grid method failed on that board because it lacks the long uniform pad rows the Compact board has. ASSUMPTION, directed by the repository owner: its width is the same 455 mm as the Compact panel, both being fitted to the same 540 mm cabinet family. On that assumption its height is 455 / 1.847 = 246 mm, giving 455 x 246 mm. The aspect is measured; the width is assumed and the height is derived from the assumption.

Related part numbers, from Code/68705/readme.md in the nd-120 repository, which also records that the panel is driven by an MC68705P3 microcontroller (the ND-120 CPU board uses a different one, an MC68705U3):

  • 323165, PCB 1844 - Panel Operator including display, ND-5000C
  • 324494, PCB 1834 - Panel Control
  • 324147, PCB 1844 - Telefix / Driver Comson

The measured variant, part ND-323163 / PCB 1835B

Three photographs, all square-on:

  • Pictures/ND-5000-Compact/nd-323163-B1.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS - component side
  • Pictures/ND-5000-Compact/nd-323163-B2.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS - solder side, board marked ND 1835B, legend "S SIDE"
  • Pictures/ND-5000-Compact/nd-323163-B3.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS - the membrane switch layer behind the buttons, made by Hoffmann & Krippner GmbH, D-6967 Buchen, marked 831284 / 1186 / 871088

The panel is a long black anodised fascia strip on a green PCB. Layout, left to right:

  1. A wide amber display window. Labels printed above it read UTILIZATION, CACHE HIT RATE, PROTECT RING, INTERRUPT, PAGING.
  2. Immediately below the window, a numeric scale printed 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0, captioned ACTIVE LEVEL. Values 14, 13, 12 and 8, 7, 6 are shown reversed out.
  3. Six square pushbuttons, in two groups of three with a gap between the groups.
  4. At the far right a keyswitch, with the positions labelled LOCKED at the top, ON at the middle left and STANDBY at the bottom.

This is the angled dark strip visible on the front of the cabinet in figure 3 of ND-05.017.01.

Measured dimensions of the operator panel

These are the first hard millimetre dimensions of any ND cabinet part obtained in this work. They are measured, not estimated.

Part Width Height
Black fascia (the visible front plate) 455 mm 53 mm
PCB behind it (ND 1835B) 451 mm 72 mm

Tolerance: +/- 2 percent, so 455 +/- 9 mm and 53 +/- 1 mm.

Method. The photographs contain their own ruler: the board's through-hole pads sit on the standard 2.54 mm (0.1 inch) grid. Measuring that grid gives an absolute scale for the image, with no reliance on any assumed dimension.

  1. The pad pitch was recovered by autocorrelating the brightness profile along horizontal pad rows, then fitting the position of up to 30 successive autocorrelation harmonics through the origin, which averages the error over a long baseline.
  2. On the solder side (B2) six independent strips gave 25.812 px per 2.54 mm, standard deviation 0.194 px (0.75 percent).
  3. On the component side (B1) forty-six independent strips gave 25.858 px, standard deviation 0.746 px, standard error 0.11 px.
  4. The two photographs are different shots of the same board and their scales agree to 0.2 percent, which is the main reason to trust the result.
  5. Panel edges were then found by classifying pixels as neutral-dark (the anodised fascia) against green-dominant (bare PCB), which cleanly separates the two.
  6. Panel height was measured in three separate plain column bands - the left margin, the right margin, and the gap between the display and the buttons - giving 52.7, 53.2 and 52.2 mm. Agreement to about 1 percent.

Cross-check: a 455 mm panel in a 540 mm wide cabinet leaves about 42 mm each side for the frame. That is consistent with the cabinet proportions and is an independent reason to believe the number. The panel occupies 84 percent of the cabinet width.

Scripts used are in the session scratchpad and are not part of the repository.

8.4 A surviving ND-100/CX Compact, photographed

Pictures/ND-100_CX_Compact_front.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS (square-on front) Pictures/ND-100_CX_Compact_front_upper.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS (upper section, angled) Pictures/ronny/*.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS (the same machine in situ, six shots, one with the covers off and the operator panel powered up)

This is a running machine, owned by the repository author, so it is the authoritative physical reference for the Compact cabinet and supersedes any measurement taken from print.

Colour - correction to section 8.2

The Compact is brown. A warm mid-brown or bronze body with a silver-grey badge strip across the top carrying "ND Norsk Data" at the left and the model name at the right in dark grey lettering. Recesses and the operator panel are black.

This does not match the off-white-with-red scheme of the earlier NORD-100 brochure in section 8.2. Both are correct for their own generation: the late-1970s NORD-100 cabinet was light with red accents, the mid-1980s Compact is brown. Pick the scheme to match the machine being modelled, not the family.

Front face, top to bottom

  1. Badge strip. Silver-grey, full width, at the very top. "ND Norsk Data" left, "ND-100/CX Compact" right.
  2. Upper recess. A deep black-lined recess split into two compartments by a vertical divider:
    • left: the drive module - a black bezel holding a QIC streamer above (green LED at its lower left) and a 5 1/4 inch floppy below (lever latch, red LED at its right), with a column of vent slots down its left side and a second column of louvres down its right side
    • right: a large plain dark blanking panel, roughly the same width
  3. Operator panel on a set-back ledge under the recess - the same part described in section 8.3.
  4. A pronounced horizontal step. The whole upper section overhangs the lower section, so the cabinet is not a plain box. This step is the single most distinctive shape feature and must be modelled.
  5. Louvred grille panel filling most of the lower front, inset with a margin all round, with roughly thirty horizontal fins.
  6. Plinth, slightly recessed, with a castor visible at the bottom.

Operator panel graphics, read from the powered-up photo

Pictures/ronny/20230618_193546.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS

  • The display is alphanumeric and was showing DAY:02 TIME:12:00:02, with bargraph segments to its right and the words OFF under INTERRUPT and OFF under PAGING.
  • Button legends are printed above each button and are backlit. Lit in that photo: STOP, START and RUNNING. Further unlit legends are present but not legible enough to transcribe, so they are not recorded here rather than guessed.
  • The six buttons are in two groups of three, separated by a vertical divider bar.

Scale check

Using the 455 mm operator panel from section 8.3 as a ruler inside the square-on photograph, the panel measures 2455 px across a stable plateau, giving 0.1853 mm per pixel. On that scale the whole 2988 x 3688 px frame is 554 x 684 mm - and the cabinet, which nearly fills the frame, is published at 540 x 690 mm.

That is agreement within a few percent between three independent things: a pad-grid measurement of a circuit board, a 1987 published dimensions table, and the framing of a photograph none of them came from. It is good corroboration that the 455 mm figure is right.

It is not good enough to publish front-face feature sizes from, because a phone camera close to a large object has real perspective and lens distortion. Which matters little, because the machine itself is available to measure - see section 8.5.

8.5 MEASURED: the Compact side profile and depth

Taken with a tape from the machine itself by the repository author, 2026-08-02. Photograph with the measurements marked on it: Pictures/ronny/compact-wedge.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS

The front of the Compact is a wedge, not a flat face. The upper front section projects progressively further forward as it descends, reaching a maximum at the lip where it overhangs the lower grille section, then steps back. This is the single most important shape fact about the machine and no manual records it.

Depths, all measured forward from the front face of the main cabinet box:

Feature Projection Total depth
Main cabinet box - 620 mm
Front panel at the top +50 mm 670 mm
Wedge at its maximum, the overhang lip +90 mm 710 mm
Lower front section +42 mm 662 mm
Grille, proud of the lower section +10 mm 672 mm

So the deepest point of the machine is 710 mm, at the overhang lip.

This does not match either published depth

Source Compact depth
Measured, this machine 710 mm at the deepest point
ND-13.028.1 (1987), "ND COMPACT models" 760 mm
ND-13.014.04 (1984), "ND-100 COMPACT IV" 740 mm

The measurement is 30 mm short of the 1984 figure and 50 mm short of the 1987 figure.

Nothing projects rearward. Confirmed by the owner: the 620 mm was taken from the rear-most face to the front of the box, so rear-most to front-most is 620 + 90 = 710 mm and there is no rear connector panel, duct or foot to account for the difference.

RESOLVED - see the rear fans section below. The three fans project 35 mm out of the back of the cabinet, so the whole-machine depth is 745 mm, not 710. That matches the 1984 table's 740 mm to within 5 mm. The apparent conflict was caused by comparing a cabinet-only measurement against a published figure that includes the fans.

Use 710 mm for the cabinet body when modelling, and add the fans separately.

8.4b The ND-100 Satellite front face - GAP CLOSED

Previously recorded here as "no photograph of the front located". Two photographs supplied by the owner, 2026-08-02, of a surviving ND-100 Satellite standing beside the Compact.

NOTE: these two images were pasted into the conversation and are not on the NAS, so the colour sampling done for the Compact could not be repeated numerically for the Satellite. Everything below is read visually.

Front face, top to bottom:

  1. Badge strip, cream, reading "ND Norsk Data" at one end and "ND-100 Satellite" at the other.
  2. A recessed bay in the brown body holding a black drive module:
    • a tape streamer on the left
    • a 5 1/4 inch floppy drive mounted rotated 90 degrees, so its slot and lever run vertically rather than horizontally. This is a distinctive detail and follows from the cabinet being only 230 mm wide - a normally-oriented 146 mm drive plus its surrounding structure would not fit as comfortably.
  3. A keyswitch plate, cream, to the right of the bay, legended LOCKED at the top, ON at the left and STANDBY at the bottom, with a red ring around the keyhole. The same legend set as the Compact's ND-323163 panel.
  4. A button plate, cream, below, carrying six square cream buttons in two groups of three, the groups separated by two vertical scribed lines. The same 3 + 3 grouping as the Compact.
  5. A louvred grille filling the lower front.

Colour: the cabinet brown and the cream of the badge and plates match the Compact, as reported by the owner.

But the control surfaces are finished differently. On the Compact the operator panel is a black fascia with pale legends. On the Satellite the keyswitch plate and the button plate are cream with dark legends - the inverse. The cabinet colours are shared; the panel treatment is not. The Satellite also has no display, only the buttons and keyswitch.

8.4b-2 The badge is an applied label, not a full-width band

CORRECTION to earlier drafts of this work, which showed the badge as a full-width strip running edge to edge and flush with the top of the cabinet. That is wrong.

The badge is a separate light-coloured label attached to the front panel, with rounded ends, and it sits with 5 mm of front panel visible above it and 5 mm below. It does not touch the top edge and it does not run the full width.

The text is the same layout on every machine - the maker at the left, the model at the right:

Machine Badge text
ND-100/CX Compact ND Norsk Data ... ND-100/CX Compact
ND-100 Satellite ND Norsk Data ... ND-100 Satellite
ND tpServer A25 ND Norsk Data ... ND tpServer A25
ND-5830 ND Norsk Data ... ROBIN ... ND-5830

The model part varies with the machine - ND-110/CX and ND-5000/CX badges exist on the same shell. So for a model, the badge is a decal on the front panel, not moulded geometry.

8.4c The ND logo - exact dot-matrix construction

The "ND" mark on the badge strip is not type. It is a logo built from discrete round dots on a regular square grid, and it appears this way on every machine seen here - the ND-100/CX Compact, the ND-100 Satellite, the ND-5830 and the tpServer - varying only in colour.

Extracted from Pictures/logo/Logo_Big.png in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS by detecting the dot rows and columns and sampling each grid intersection. A matching KiCad footprint of the same logo exists at Pictures/logo/nd-logo.kicad_mod in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS, generated by bitmap2component, if exact vector outlines are wanted.

Grid: 18 columns x 8 rows. Pitch is square, measured at 54.0 px horizontally and 53.5 px vertically in that image - equal within measurement error.

        N                    D
   1    # # # . . . # # #    # # # # # # # . .
   2    # # # # . . # # #    # # # # # # # # .
   3    # # # # # . # # #    # # # # # # # # #
   4    # # # # # # # # #    # # # . . . # # #
   5    # # # # # # # # #    # # # . . . # # #
   6    # # # . # # # # #    # # # # # # # # #
   7    # # # . . # # # #    # # # # # # # # .
   8    # # # . . . # # #    # # # # # # # . .
  • The N is columns 1-9: a three-column left stem, a three-column right stem, and a diagonal descending left to right between them.
  • The D is columns 10-18: a three-column left stem and a bowl whose right edge steps in by one column at rows 1-2 and 7-8, giving the rounded corners, and which is hollow for three columns at rows 4-5.
  • Total: 120 dots.

Dot size: total ink area divided by 120 dots gives a dot diameter of about 50 px against a 54 px pitch, so the dot diameter is close to 0.93 of the grid pitch. The dots very nearly touch but do not.

Letter spacing: the gap between the last N column and the first D column measures 80 px centre to centre, against the regular 54 px pitch - so the inter-letter gap is about 1.5 pitches, not 1.

To reproduce at any size: lay out an 18 x 8 square grid of pitch p, place a circle of diameter 0.93p at each marked position, and widen the single gap between column 9 and column 10 to 1.5p.

Panel breakdown - THE MANUAL DESCRIBES THIS

The cabinet is not a single shell. ND-830102.1B EN, ND-5000 ES Model C Hardware Maintenance Manual, section 2.1.1 "Panels", states how each one comes off, and that is effectively a parts list for moulding:

Panel How it is fixed Count
Front panel "Remove the screw located at the top of the panel. Lift the panel slightly and pull it away." 1, single screw
Side panels "Turn the two screws on the top of the side panels 1/2 turn counterclockwise and lift the panel away." 2, one per side
Top panel "Remove the four screws holding the top panel and lift it away." 1
Rear panel "Remove the four screws holding the rear panel and lift it away." 1

Source: ND-830102.1B section 2.1.1, manual pages 6-7, figures 2 and 3.

So the correct part breakdown for a model is five mouldings: front, two sides, top, rear. The front panel is confirmed as a separate part both by the manual and by the visible vertical seam in compact-grill-side.jpg. Note that the manual gives the front panel its own figure, figure 2, separate from figure 3 which covers the other three.

Colour - the front panel is NOT the same colour as the rest

Reported by the owner and confirmed by sampling the photograph Pictures/ronny/compact-wedge.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS. Median colour of each surface:

Surface Hue Saturation
Front fascia, upper 15.5 deg 23.7 percent
Front fascia, lower 17.8 deg 20.6 percent
Side panel, upper 26.7 deg 11.8 percent
Side panel, lower 31.0 deg 17.6 percent
Top panel 15.7 deg 9.8 percent

The front fascia is consistently redder (hue about 16 to 18 degrees) and roughly twice as saturated as the side panel (hue about 27 to 31 degrees). In plain terms the front is a warm red-brown and the rest of the cabinet is a lighter, greyer, more neutral brown.

CAVEAT: the two surfaces face different directions and are differently lit, and lighting shifts apparent colour. Lightness in particular is not comparable between them. Hue and saturation are more robust to this than lightness, and the hue gap of 12 to 15 degrees is larger than lighting alone would usually produce on identical paint. Combined with the owner's direct observation of the real object, treat the front panel as a different colour from the rest of the cabinet. Exact paint values would need a colour card held against both surfaces in the same light.

The top section is three planes, not one

From Pictures/ronny/compact-top-1.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS, compact-top-2.jpg and compact-top-3.jpg, plus the owner's description. The upper front is not a single sloping face with things stuck on it:

Plane Orientation Carries
A outer wedge face angled, part of the main wedge the badge label
B recess back wall vertical, parallel to the side panels the two black modules - drive bay left, blank right
C operator panel face angled, projecting outward toward the lip display, buttons, keyswitch

Between A and B the opening is edged by a sloping wall - clearly visible in compact-top-2.jpg as a chamfer running back and inward from the outer face to the inner wall. That the black modules hang vertically while the surround is angled is the reason the recess looks so deep at the bottom and shallow at the top in photographs.

Measurements supplied by the owner, 2026-08-02, pending the clarification requested below:

  • outer border at the left and right: 20 mm on the outer face, 30 mm where it meets the inner wall - a 10 mm horizontal run across the sloping wall
  • on the inner wall, margin to the black area: 20 mm left and right, 8 mm above, 30 mm below
  • brown divider between the two black areas: 12 mm

Derived, if the border figures apply symmetrically across the full 540 mm width: the opening is 500 mm wide at the outer face and 480 mm at the inner wall, giving 440 mm of black across both modules, or 428 mm once the 12 mm divider is removed.

GAP: the angle of the sloping wall cannot be computed from the 10 mm run alone - it needs the recess depth. See the open measurement list.

The machine stands clear of the floor on castors

The whole cabinet is lifted roughly 10 mm off the floor by castors it rolls on. This reinterprets an earlier figure: the note that "the grille section starts about 10 mm from the bottom" is not a feature of the panel. It is the castor clearance under the whole machine.

The front panel's bottom edge aligns with the bottom of the metal frame - they finish at the same level, 10 mm above the floor. So from the front, the frame does not show below the panel.

The wheels themselves are out of scope for the model and are not drawn.

UNCONFIRMED: whether the published 690 mm height is floor-to-top including the castor lift, or the cabinet body alone. If it includes the lift, the body is 680 mm. This matters only at the millimetre level and is noted rather than assumed.

The base frame, and the two-tone scheme

Reported by the owner: the ND-100 Compact has a metal frame, 40 mm, at the base, which the side panels rest on. The frame is finished in the same colour as the front panel.

That completes a coherent two-tone scheme, and it explains the colour measurements above:

Colour Parts
Darker warm red-brown front panel, base frame
Lighter, greyer brown side panels, top panel
Cream badge strip
Black operator panel fascia, drive bezels, recess linings

So the dark colour marks the structure - the frame and the front moulding attached to it - and the light colour marks the removable covers. For a model, paint the front and the 40 mm base band in one colour and the sides and top in the other.

POSSIBLE RESOLUTION of the open conflict recorded further down: the earlier figure of "4.2 cm" at the bottom of the machine may have been this 40 mm frame, a vertical height, rather than a forward projection. The two numbers agree to 2 mm. This is a suggestion, not a confirmation - the owner should say whether the 4.2 cm was the frame height or a depth.

Three ribs along the top of the side panel

Visible in compact-wedge.jpg: three horizontal rounded ribs, or flutes, running front-to-back along the top edge of the side panel, with a dark line above them which is almost certainly the seam where the top panel meets the side panel.

UNVERIFIED: in the photograph these read as solid rounded mouldings, not open vents - no openings are visible in the relief. They may be purely decorative, or they may be vents that simply do not show at this angle. Worth a look at the real machine, since it decides whether the model needs slots cut or just surface relief.

The shape of the lip - CORRECTED, from photographs

The wedge does not step straight back from its maximum projection to the grille. Verified by zooming into Pictures/ronny/compact-grill-side.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS, the profile below the maximum is, in order:

  1. a rounded external corner at the nose, not a sharp 90 degree edge
  2. a straight diagonal return running downward and backward toward the cabinet
  3. a large, smooth concave fillet
  4. a narrow vertical fascia member continuing down beside the grille, standing proud of the main side panel

The same photograph shows a vertical seam between the side panel and the fascia, so the front fascia is a separate moulding, not part of the side pressing.

NOT MEASURABLE from the photograph, and therefore not given numbers here: the nose radius, the angle and length of the diagonal return, the fillet radius, the width of the lower vertical member, and the exact height of the nose. The photograph is taken close and from below, so any angle read off it carries perspective error. These are listed as items A to G in the measurement sheet below.

The lower front and grille - MEASURED

Measured by the owner, 2026-08-02. Photographs: Pictures/ronny/compact-grill-front.jpg in the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS, compact-grill-side.jpg, compact-grill-side-bottom.jpg

Heights are from the floor. Projections are forward of the main box front face.

Feature Measurement
Bottom of the lower front section 10 mm above the floor
A 45 degree chamfer at its base, running 20 mm
Front face of the grille section +45 mm
From the top of the chamfer up to the wedge 350 mm
Height at which the wedge begins to project 370 mm
Top part of the grille panel that is flat, no louvres 80 mm
Number of louvres 17

CORRECTION. Earlier drafts of this document placed the grille face at +20 mm. That was wrong and it made the overhang look far deeper than it is. The 20 mm figure is the run of the 45 degree chamfer at the base, not the position of the grille face.

The front panel projects 45 mm at the bottom, measured from the side panel to the front panel below the grille - the point at which the metal part of the cabinet begins. With that correction the three projections form one coherent profile:

Height Projection forward of the side panel
Roof, 690 mm +50 mm
Lip, about 375 mm +90 mm
Grille face, 30 to 370 mm +45 mm
Bottom of the chamfer, 10 mm +25 mm

So the lip stands only 45 mm proud of the grille face, not 70. The front reads as a single moulding with a modest lip, which is what the photographs show.

Derived from those: the louvred area is 350 - 80 = 270 mm tall, so the louvre pitch is about 16 mm.

Cross-check on the louvre count. Counting ridges automatically in four separate vertical strips of the close-up photograph gave 16, 16, 16 and 18. That brackets 17, the difference being whether the topmost and bottom-most ridges are caught at the edge of the band. The owner's count of 17 stands and the photograph supports it.

ONE OPEN CONFLICT in the lower front projection

Two different figures have been given for how far the bottom of the machine projects:

  • earlier: "on the bottom 4.2 cm + 1 cm grill" - suggesting about 42 mm, possibly 52
  • later: "the grill section is actually 2 cm out" - 20 mm

These cannot both describe the same thing. Two readings are possible and I cannot tell which is right from the photographs:

  • Reading A: the chamfer runs from flush with the box at 10 mm height, outward and upward to +20 mm at 30 mm height. The lower front then sits at +20 mm all the way up. Under this reading the 42 mm figure referred to something else.
  • Reading B: the grille face is at +20 mm and the chamfer flares further outward toward the base, reaching roughly +40 mm at the very bottom - which would explain the earlier 42 mm as the projection at the extreme base.

Reading A is drawn, because it follows the most recent and most specific description. The question that settles it: at the very bottom of the machine, just above the floor, does the front stick out further than the flat grille face above it, or less?

Rear fans - MEASURED

Three fans are mounted on the rear face and project rearward. They are not on the top surface; an earlier note in this document said they were and that was wrong.

Feature Measurement
Number 3
Size, each roughly 120 x 120 mm square
Projection rearward of the cabinet 35 mm
Spacing between adjacent fans 30 mm
Top of the fans, measured down from the cabinet top 40 mm

Derived: three fans at 120 mm with two 30 mm gaps span 420 mm of the 540 mm width, leaving 120 mm to distribute. Whether the group is centred is not confirmed; if it is, there is 60 mm clear at each side. The fans occupy heights 530 to 650 mm above the floor.

This resolves the depth conflict

Because the fans stick out of the back, the true rear-most to front-most span is not the 710 mm of the cabinet alone:

35 (fans)  +  620 (box)  +  90 (wedge)  =  745 mm
Source Depth
Measured, cabinet alone 710 mm
Measured, including the rear fans 745 mm
ND-13.014.04 (1984), ND-100 Compact IV 740 mm
ND-13.028.1 (1987), ND Compact models 760 mm

745 measured against 740 published is a 5 mm agreement, which for a hand tape against a rounded published figure is about as close as this gets. The 1987 figure of 760 sits 15 mm beyond that, consistent with a site-planning table rounding up or allowing a little air behind the fans so they are not blocked.

So the manuals were not wrong - the earlier comparison in this document was measuring the cabinet against a figure that includes the fans. The three-way conflict recorded above is withdrawn.

For modelling: use 710 mm for the cabinet body and add the fans as separate parts. Use 745 mm only when the question is how much floor the machine needs.

DERIVED, not stated by the owner: a 120 mm square fan standing 35 mm proud is almost certainly the industry-standard 120 x 120 x 38 mm fan, a size still manufactured. The 2 mm difference between 35 and 38 is consistent with the frame sitting slightly sunk into the roof aperture. This is an inference from a standard part size, not a measurement.

NOT measured: where the group of three sits across the width, and how far forward of the rear edge. Three 120 mm fans occupy 360 mm of the 540 mm width, so there is 180 mm to distribute, but how it is distributed is unknown.

The fans do not affect the height, since their tops sit 40 mm below the cabinet top.

The cabinet is a square box - the sections are NOT different widths

Confirmed by the owner. The upper and lower sections are the same width; the cabinet is square in plan. In photographs the lower section often appears inset at the sides, but that is only the camera angle combined with the lower section sitting 48 mm further back. Do not model a narrower lower box.

Still needed for the side profile

The depths above are complete. The heights at which they occur are not measured, so the wedge can be drawn in section but not yet positioned:

  • height from the floor to the overhang lip - where the +90 mm maximum occurs
  • height from the floor to the top of the lower grille section
  • whether the wedge face is a straight slope or a series of steps

8.6 Measurement sheet for the ND-100/CX Compact

The machine exists and is accessible, so these should be taken with a tape rather than derived from photographs. Take every measurement in millimetres. Where a part is recessed, note the recess depth as well as the face size.

Overall 1. Total height, floor to top surface 2. Total width at the widest point 3. Total depth, front face to rear face 4. Whether the top surface is flat, and any lip or moulding around it

The step (the defining feature) 5. Height from floor to the top of the lower section, where the overhang begins 6. How far the upper section projects forward beyond the lower section 7. Whether the upper section is also wider than the lower one, and by how much per side

Badge strip 8. Height of the silver strip, and its width 9. Its inset from the cabinet top, left and right ends

Upper recess 10. Opening width and height, and recess depth 11. Width of the vertical divider between the two compartments 12. Left compartment opening width; right compartment opening width 13. Drive module bezel width and height (this should be close to a standard 5 1/4 inch form factor, so it doubles as a check on everything else)

Operator panel 14. Fascia width and height - to confirm or correct the 455 x 53 mm in section 8.3 15. Its inset from the front face, and the height of the ledge it sits on 16. Display window width and height 17. Button size, button pitch, and the gap between the two groups of three 18. Keyswitch centre position from the right-hand end

Grille 19. Grille panel width and height 20. Its margin from the left, right, top and bottom of the lower front face 21. Number of fins, and fin pitch (measure across ten fins and divide, for accuracy)

Base 22. Plinth height, and how far it is set back from the front face 23. Castor or foot diameter and position

With items 1-3 alone the model shell becomes exact and the 84 / 92 cm depth conflict in section 7.4 and section 8.1 is settled for the Compact.

8.6 Other photographic material not yet examined

In the Norsk Data photo archive on the NAS:

  • ND-100 i Bergen.zip (22 MB) - not opened
  • ND-100-PANEL\nd-322691-*.jpg - four photographs of the ND-100 operator panel, part ND-322691, same treatment as the ND-5000 panel above
  • Panel Control\nd-324494-*.jpg - four photographs of panel part ND-324494
  • ND-110_Satellite_back_card_crate_cover.jpg - 4 MB, the Satellite rear
  • Telemuseum-Oslo-NORD-100-1.jpg, NTM TELE 2015 04 A 023 55.jpg and the DigitaltMuseum link - museum photographs of complete machines
  • ND-100 CX.png, Nord-100CX.jpg, ND10_ND50.png, 415px-ND-560.jpeg - product images

Appendix A: Terminals

Source: ND-13.028.1 NO page 59. Signal column: R = RS-232-C, C = current loop.

ND number Product H x W x D (cm) Weight (kg) Power (W) Cable (m) Signal Fuse (A)
103190 TWIST 4440 44 x 39 x 35 19 70 6/10 R/C 10 fast
103200 NOTIS models 31 x 38 x 36 14 80 6/10 R/C 10 fast
110002 / 110003 NORTEXT models 31 x 38 x 36 14 80 6/10 R/C 10 fast
110007 Colour terminal COLOR-TREND 210 38 x 39 x 43 17 105 6/10 R/C 10 fast
110140 TINY 30 x 34 x 34 13 45 6/10 R/C 10 fast

Appendix B: Printers

Source: ND-13.028.1 NO page 60. Signal: R = RS-232-C, O = RS-422, C = current loop, P = parallel.

ND number Product H x W x D (cm) Weight (kg) Power (W) Signal Fuse (A)
102180 Colour plotter 13 x 57 x 37 7 35 R 10 fast
102380 Olivetti DY250 14 x 55 x 33 14 50 R 10 fast
104480 Philips GP 300 L 19 x 62 x 50 23 180 R 10 fast
104520 Fujitsu M3023 D 110 x 108 x 68 330 1300 P 25 slow
104750 Genicom 3024 13 x 63 x 30 15 83 R 10 fast
104760 ELPHO 20 117 x 89 x 55 150 320 R/P 16 fast
110020 Canon LBP-8 29 x 48 x 42 32 850 R 16 fast
110021 Tally MT 660 98 x 85 x 57 158 1200 R 16 fast
110079 Inkjet PT88S 14 x 41 x 31 7.5 30 R 10 fast
110080 Inkjet PT88S 14 x 41 x 31 7.5 30 O 10 fast
110090 Epson LX-86 8 x 42 x 31 5 60 R 10 fast

Appendix C: Power distribution units

Source: ND-13.028.1 NO page 61. "STROMFORDELER/PDU" = power distributor.

ND number Product H x W x D (cm) Weight (kg) Heat (W) Fuse
108720 PDU 10 kVA 97 x 63 x 58 200 200 25 A high-efficiency
108740 PDU 20 kVA 97 x 63 x 58 235 400 50 A high-efficiency
108760 PDU 40 kVA 115 x 65 x 86 330 800 100 A high-efficiency
108780 PDU 60 kVA 190 x 102 x 62 485 1300 250 A high-efficiency

9. The NORD machines: NORD-1, NORD-10 and NORD-50

Added 2026-09-13. These pre-date every table above, which starts at the ND-100.

9.1 NORD-10/S and NORD-50 cabinet, measured

Both machines use the same cabinet and the Operator's Guide states the figures twice, once per machine, identically.

Item Value
Height 160 cm
Width 59.5 cm
Depth 60.5 cm
Volume 0.576 m3
Weight 100 kg
Mains 220 V AC, 50 Hz +/- 2 Hz, 2.7 A
Cooling forced
Ambient 0 to 55 degrees C, 10 to 90 percent humidity, non-condensing

The 2.7 A figure applies to a NORD-10 CPU with memory management, cache, large disk interface, bus receiver, bus brancher and 128 Kbytes of MOS memory. The NORD-50 cabinet is rated at 1000 W.

Source: ../Reference-Manuals/10/ND-30001-01A-EN-Nord 10 Operators Guide.md, sections 1.2.5 and 4.2.4.

Note how close this is to the later ND-100 6-module cabinet at 96 x 54 x 92 cm and to the 11-module cabinet at 169 x 60 x 91 cm. The NORD-10 is the same width class and roughly the height of the later large cabinet, but 30 cm shallower.

9.2 NORD-10/S cage stack, measured by hole number

Figure 1.7 of the same manual, "NORD-10/S layout, front view, max. configuration", is a dimensioned front elevation that locates each unit by frame hole number, exactly as the later 11-module cabinet does. Top to bottom:

Holes Unit
3-7 Power panel 2
17-23 Operator panel
31-38 CPU rack A
41-43 Fan assembly
46-53 Channel expander rack B
58-65 Channel expander rack C
68-70 Fan assembly
89-95 Power panel 1

So the NORD-10 hole grid runs to at least 95, against 66 on the 1985 cabinet.

Figure 1.6, "Cabinet overview", is a pair of section views with 25 numbered items. The list, read off the scan: top fan right; top fan left; power supply unit no 1; operator's panel; crate A, the CPU crate; fan for crate A; formatter for floppy disk; floppy driver 1; floppy driver 2; crate B, an I/O crate; crate C, an I/O crate; fan for crates B and C; power panel if 115 V AC; power supply unit no 1; terminal no 1; M1 crate, the multiport memory; terminal no 2; fans for the M1 crate; cross rail no 3; terminal no 3; frame for plug panel with sub-panels; cabinet front side; cabinet back side; power panel if 230 V AC.

Figure 1.8 shows the mains distribution bar running down the right side from power panel 1 at the bottom to power panel 2 at the top. Figure 1.9 shows the 5 V and 24 V distribution from three supplies A, B and C to the CPU and two channel expanders, all in 4 mm square wire, with 0.4 mm square twisted pair for +24 V to the TTY interface.

9.3 NORD-1 cage heights, measured in inches

No overall cabinet size has been found for the NORD-1. What exists is better in one way: a dimensioned side section, ND drawing 2B28 "NORD-1 LAY OUT", dated March 1972, printed as page 4-2 of ND-01.005.01. It gives module heights in inches down two columns.

Front column, top to bottom, as the dimension chain reads:

Value Unit the dimension sits beside
5 1/2 in Power panel 2
4 3/4 in gap
4 3/4 in Operator panel
3/4 in gap
7 in CPU crate
7 in CPU crate
7 in I/O crate
7 in I/O crate
6 3/4 in Plug panel
5 1/4 in Power panel 1

Rear column, top to bottom: power supply 7 in, power supply 7 in, a 3 in gap, memory 13 in on slide rails, then the fan box at the bottom with a cable trench beside it.

So a NORD-1 CPU or I/O cage is 7 inches high, about 178 mm, and the machine is two CPU crates plus two I/O crates, which matches ndwiki's "two racks with 64 cards".

The chain adds to about 55 3/4 inches, roughly 142 cm, for the front column. That is the stack, not the cabinet, so do not quote it as a cabinet height.

Caution on the top two dimensions. The 5 1/2 and the first 4 3/4 sit close together on the scan and it is not certain which belongs to the panel and which to the gap below it. The 7 inch crate heights are unambiguous.

Source: the sintran.com mirror, external collection from heim.bitraf.no, file ND-01.005.01_NORD-1_Connectors_..._September_1972_ocr.pdf, PDF page 31. The repo's OCR of that manual, ../Reference-Manuals/1/ND-01.005.01_NORD-1_...md, kept the heading "NORD-1 LAYOUT / Dimensions" but lost the drawing, which is why these figures were not already here.

Last updated: 2026-09-13