NORD-5

A 32-bit compute engine that bolts onto a NORD-1. ND's first 32-bit machine.

Introduced	1972 (development from 1970)
Type	Coprocessor
Word length	32-bit
Needs a host?	Yes - needs a NORD-1
Replaced	-
Replaced by	NORD-50 (1973)
Survivors	At least one, Norwegian Telecommunication Museum

The short version

Not a computer you could buy on its own. The NORD-5 is a fast arithmetic engine attached to a NORD-1, which runs the operating system, compiles the code and does all the input and output for it. Heavy calculation jobs are handed over while the host gets on with other work. It is often called the world's first 32-bit minicomputer, beating the VAX by six years - true in the sense that the arithmetic is 32-bit, but it was an attached processor, not a standalone machine.

Specification

Item	Value
Role	Attached compute module; runs one program at a time
Memory	Its own core. Several NORD-5s could share a common memory pool
Floating add / subtract	950 ns
Shifts and bit operations	950 ns, regardless of shift count
Floating multiply / divide	4 microseconds for 64-bit, or 950 ns with the optional fast multiplier [?]
Technology	Logic arrays for the floating and shift units; Schottky TTL in multiply and divide
Operating system	None of its own - the NORD-1 holds it

What was new

• ND's first 32-bit arithmetic, six years before the VAX.
• Arithmetic units connect asynchronously, so different speed grades were possible.
• First delivered to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, March 1972.

Sources

• Primary: Reference-Manuals/Assembler_for_NORD-5_April_1972.md (not yet read)
• Secondary: ndwiki NORD-5, citing ND-NYTT No 5, September 1972
• Note: sources disagree on the 64-bit multiply time - see the source file

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Full context: MACHINE-TIMELINE.md.