NABU Adaptor
Dublin Core
Title
NABU Adaptor
Subject
computer hardware: network adapter
Description
Historical context
The growing popularity of home and personal computing in the late 1970s and early 1980s created a vibrant software industry supplying microcomputer users with a vast range of software products. During that period, the main form of the commercial microcomputer software distribution was packaged software sold in computer stores and outlets in the form of ROM cartridges, tape cassettes, and floppy diskettes. Even though the prices of personal and home computers were falling sharply in the early 1980s, the cost of good quality software remained the same reflecting, in part, high distribution costs.
Electronic distribution of software directly into homes of computer owners originated in the second half of the 1970s. It was a novel, fast, and cost-effective alternative to packaged software's expensive, long, and multi-stage delivery process. A computer or a video game console owner could subscribe to an electronic distribution of software service (EDS service) that and gain an electronic access to software and data for a low monthly fee (of, approximately, the cost of a single commercial packaged software). By the early 1980s, several North American and European companies were already distributing software using common communication links (such radio waves, cable television (CATV), or telephone networks).
While Europe was experimenting with EDS via teletext and videotex television services, several North American companies were looking into using CATV's superior high-speed digital information delivery capability for the purpose of mass-market distribution of home and recreational software. By the early 1980s, a large percentage of urban households in North America had a direct link to cable TV. Furthermore, a strong growth of the home computer and video game console markets was projected until at least mid-1980s. Such forecasts supported the prospects of vast new sources of revenues for cable providers derived from bundling EDS with other CATV-based nonprogramming services.
The NABU Network was possibly the most advanced and foremost among the early CATV-based EDS services. It was a brainchild of a Canadian entrepreneur John Kelly. The NABU Manufacturing Corp., which would spawn the NABU Network Corp., was incorporated in June 1981. It was initially created through the amalgamation of three companies: Bruce Instruments Ltd. (manufacturer of cable TV converters based in Almonte), MFC Microsystems International Inc. (a distributor of computer hardware and software for small business systems), and Computer Innovations Ltd. (which operated computer retail stores across Canada). Soon after, NABU Manufacturing acquired Andicom Technical Products Ltd. (a manufacturer of small business computers based in Toronto), Consolidated Computer Inc. (a manufacturer and distributor of key-edit systems), Mobius Software Ltd. (an Ottawa-based software consulting company), and Volker-Craig (a Kitchener-based manufacturer of video-display terminals).
NABU's business plan was to capture a sizable share of the microcomputer market by offering the world's first cable-ready computers and by implementing a new delivery method for software and information -- the NABU Network. The company announced its network during the 1982 National Cable & Telecommunications Association conference in Las Vegas. In May 1983, the company transmitted its programming via satellite from Ottawa to terminals installed at the 26th Annual Convention of the Canadian Cable Television Association in Calgary. The transmission used the ANIK-D1 satellite, and it was a live feed from Ottawa. The NABU Network was officially launched on 15 October 1983 on Ottawa Cablevision, an 85,000-subscriber company where much of NABU's testing was performed. Soon thereafter, the network made its US debut in Alexandria, Virginia, on Tribune Cable, a 5,000 subscriber service. The launch marked the creation of the first commercial computer network to provide high-speed access to information, software, and digital entertainment directly to homes of personal computer users.
The network was based on the concept of computers linked to cable television networks which could supply a constant stream of computer programs and information to almost unlimited number of users at high speed. NABU considered cable television a uniquely ideal technology to deliver software and data to home computers because of its high bandwidth and networking capabilities.
To access NABU Network, customers had to purchase or rent a NABU Personal Computer (NABU PC) and a network adaptor that provided an interface between the NABU PC and the CATV's dedicated channel. The network provided its subscribers with a multi tier service that offered software and information in a range of categories, including entertainment, education, family information, home management, and a network guide. The November-December 1984 issue of The NABU Network magazine lists over 140 titles available on Ottawa Cablevision's NABU Network. In Ottawa, NABU program listings were available online (on NABU's Network Guide) as well as in local newspapers and dedicated NABU magazines. The NABU PC could be operated as a stand-alone desktop computer. For this purpose, NABU supplied its customers with Digital Research CP/M 3 operating system and floppy disk drives.
Because of the company's financial difficulties, unfavourable market conditions, and regulatory constraints, the NABU Network went off the air on 31 August 1986 in both Ottawa and Alexandria. Rights to exploit commercial applications of NABU Network technology--that is, to selling the technology to corporations that could provide their own content--were vested in International Datacasting Corp. created in 1984.
The NABU Adaptor -- overview
The NABU Adaptor (NA) was a high-speed (6.312 Mbps), addressable communications device which interfaced a NABU PC with a CATV NABU channel allowing an access to digital data provided by NABU Network to its subscribers. Such data was either processed by the adaptor for its own internal use (e.g. for updating subscription information) or passed on to the NABU PC.
NA was equipped with a signal splitter allowing cable signal to be fed simultaneously to the NABU PC and to the subscriber's TV set. Because the NABU PC was designed primarily to use a TV set as a display, this arrangement permitted easy switching from the PC operations over to normal TV broadcast (this was accomplished using the TV/NABU key located on the computer's keyboard).
NAs contained several dedicated memories. Each NA had a unique digital address stored in address memory at time of manufacture. This address allowed NABU Network operators to send short messages and instructions to, for instance, authorize or de-authorize the subscriber to receive programs in specific service tiers. Tire authorization data was stored in NA's tire authorization memory. Such data was updated by NABU Network operators by transmitting tire information to specific NA addresses. Each NA could be authorized for up to 31 tiers. Finally, NA's message memory was designed to store short messages for electronic mail service.
NA's front panel featured four LED indicators: POWER, CABLE, LINK, MESSAGE. They allowed to detect possible malfunctioning of a subscriber's system and could help cable operators to diagnose the system remotely.
The museum has two NABU Adaptors:
The growing popularity of home and personal computing in the late 1970s and early 1980s created a vibrant software industry supplying microcomputer users with a vast range of software products. During that period, the main form of the commercial microcomputer software distribution was packaged software sold in computer stores and outlets in the form of ROM cartridges, tape cassettes, and floppy diskettes. Even though the prices of personal and home computers were falling sharply in the early 1980s, the cost of good quality software remained the same reflecting, in part, high distribution costs.
Electronic distribution of software directly into homes of computer owners originated in the second half of the 1970s. It was a novel, fast, and cost-effective alternative to packaged software's expensive, long, and multi-stage delivery process. A computer or a video game console owner could subscribe to an electronic distribution of software service (EDS service) that and gain an electronic access to software and data for a low monthly fee (of, approximately, the cost of a single commercial packaged software). By the early 1980s, several North American and European companies were already distributing software using common communication links (such radio waves, cable television (CATV), or telephone networks).
While Europe was experimenting with EDS via teletext and videotex television services, several North American companies were looking into using CATV's superior high-speed digital information delivery capability for the purpose of mass-market distribution of home and recreational software. By the early 1980s, a large percentage of urban households in North America had a direct link to cable TV. Furthermore, a strong growth of the home computer and video game console markets was projected until at least mid-1980s. Such forecasts supported the prospects of vast new sources of revenues for cable providers derived from bundling EDS with other CATV-based nonprogramming services.
The NABU Network was possibly the most advanced and foremost among the early CATV-based EDS services. It was a brainchild of a Canadian entrepreneur John Kelly. The NABU Manufacturing Corp., which would spawn the NABU Network Corp., was incorporated in June 1981. It was initially created through the amalgamation of three companies: Bruce Instruments Ltd. (manufacturer of cable TV converters based in Almonte), MFC Microsystems International Inc. (a distributor of computer hardware and software for small business systems), and Computer Innovations Ltd. (which operated computer retail stores across Canada). Soon after, NABU Manufacturing acquired Andicom Technical Products Ltd. (a manufacturer of small business computers based in Toronto), Consolidated Computer Inc. (a manufacturer and distributor of key-edit systems), Mobius Software Ltd. (an Ottawa-based software consulting company), and Volker-Craig (a Kitchener-based manufacturer of video-display terminals).
NABU's business plan was to capture a sizable share of the microcomputer market by offering the world's first cable-ready computers and by implementing a new delivery method for software and information -- the NABU Network. The company announced its network during the 1982 National Cable & Telecommunications Association conference in Las Vegas. In May 1983, the company transmitted its programming via satellite from Ottawa to terminals installed at the 26th Annual Convention of the Canadian Cable Television Association in Calgary. The transmission used the ANIK-D1 satellite, and it was a live feed from Ottawa. The NABU Network was officially launched on 15 October 1983 on Ottawa Cablevision, an 85,000-subscriber company where much of NABU's testing was performed. Soon thereafter, the network made its US debut in Alexandria, Virginia, on Tribune Cable, a 5,000 subscriber service. The launch marked the creation of the first commercial computer network to provide high-speed access to information, software, and digital entertainment directly to homes of personal computer users.
The network was based on the concept of computers linked to cable television networks which could supply a constant stream of computer programs and information to almost unlimited number of users at high speed. NABU considered cable television a uniquely ideal technology to deliver software and data to home computers because of its high bandwidth and networking capabilities.
To access NABU Network, customers had to purchase or rent a NABU Personal Computer (NABU PC) and a network adaptor that provided an interface between the NABU PC and the CATV's dedicated channel. The network provided its subscribers with a multi tier service that offered software and information in a range of categories, including entertainment, education, family information, home management, and a network guide. The November-December 1984 issue of The NABU Network magazine lists over 140 titles available on Ottawa Cablevision's NABU Network. In Ottawa, NABU program listings were available online (on NABU's Network Guide) as well as in local newspapers and dedicated NABU magazines. The NABU PC could be operated as a stand-alone desktop computer. For this purpose, NABU supplied its customers with Digital Research CP/M 3 operating system and floppy disk drives.
Because of the company's financial difficulties, unfavourable market conditions, and regulatory constraints, the NABU Network went off the air on 31 August 1986 in both Ottawa and Alexandria. Rights to exploit commercial applications of NABU Network technology--that is, to selling the technology to corporations that could provide their own content--were vested in International Datacasting Corp. created in 1984.
The NABU Adaptor -- overview
The NABU Adaptor (NA) was a high-speed (6.312 Mbps), addressable communications device which interfaced a NABU PC with a CATV NABU channel allowing an access to digital data provided by NABU Network to its subscribers. Such data was either processed by the adaptor for its own internal use (e.g. for updating subscription information) or passed on to the NABU PC.
NA was equipped with a signal splitter allowing cable signal to be fed simultaneously to the NABU PC and to the subscriber's TV set. Because the NABU PC was designed primarily to use a TV set as a display, this arrangement permitted easy switching from the PC operations over to normal TV broadcast (this was accomplished using the TV/NABU key located on the computer's keyboard).
NAs contained several dedicated memories. Each NA had a unique digital address stored in address memory at time of manufacture. This address allowed NABU Network operators to send short messages and instructions to, for instance, authorize or de-authorize the subscriber to receive programs in specific service tiers. Tire authorization data was stored in NA's tire authorization memory. Such data was updated by NABU Network operators by transmitting tire information to specific NA addresses. Each NA could be authorized for up to 31 tiers. Finally, NA's message memory was designed to store short messages for electronic mail service.
NA's front panel featured four LED indicators: POWER, CABLE, LINK, MESSAGE. They allowed to detect possible malfunctioning of a subscriber's system and could help cable operators to diagnose the system remotely.
The museum has two NABU Adaptors:
- model number NA-2, serial number 005420,
- model number NP-2, serial number 0014291.
Creator
NABU Manufacturing Corp., NABU Network Corp.
Relation
NABU Network Collection
Identifier
H.7
Coverage
1983-1986, Ottawa (Canada), Alexandria (US), and Sowa (Japan)
Contribution Form
Online Submission
No
Files
Citation
NABU Manufacturing Corp., NABU Network Corp., “NABU Adaptor,” York University Computer Museum Canada, accessed April 20, 2024, https://museum.eecs.yorku.ca/items/show/12.