Editing Data General (section)

===Origin, founding and early years: Nova and SuperNova===
Data General (DG) was founded by several engineers from [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] who were frustrated with DEC's management and left to form their own company. The chief founders were [[Edson de Castro]],<ref name="computerhistorymuseum">{{cite web|title=Computer History Museum - Data General Corporation (DG) - 840 the loaded nova|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/brochures/companies.php?alpha=d-f|website=www.computerhistory.org|access-date=27 July 2016}}</ref> Henry Burkhardt III, and [[Richard Sogge]] of Digital Equipment (DEC), and [[Herbert Richman]] of [[Fairchild Semiconductor]].<ref>{{cite news|last=White|first=Donald|title=The Data General Corp., New firm, new line of computers|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=July 28, 1968|page=B-25}}</ref>  The company was founded in [[Hudson, Massachusetts]], in 1968.<ref name=cnnmoney>{{cite web|title=The Business That Time Forgot Data General is gone. But does that make its founder a failure? - April 1, 2003|url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2003/04/01/341000/|website=money.cnn.com|access-date=27 July 2016}}</ref> [[Harvey Newquist II|Harvey Newquist]] was hired from Computer Control Corporation to oversee manufacturing.

Edson de Castro was the chief engineer in charge of the [[PDP-8]],<ref name=What.11>{{cite web |title=What Have We Learned from the PDP-11? 
|url=https://dave.cheney.net/2017/12/04/what-have-we-learned-from-the-pdp-11
|date=December 4, 2017
|quote=Edson de Castro, the product manager of the PDP-8, ...}}</ref> DEC's line of inexpensive computers that created the minicomputer market.<ref name=computerhistorymuseum/> It was designed specifically to be used in laboratory equipment settings; as the technology improved, it was reduced in size to fit into a [[19-inch rack]]. Many PDP-8s still operated decades later in these roles. De Castro was watching developments in manufacturing, especially more complex [[printed circuit board]]s (PCBs) and [[wave soldering]] that suggested that the PDP-8 could be produced much more inexpensively. DEC was not interested, having turned its attention increasingly to the high-end market. Convinced he could improve the process, De Castro began work on his own low-cost 16-bit design.

[[Image:Data General NOVA System.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Data General Nova System ]]
The result was released in 1969<ref>{{cite web |title=Data General Nova, serial #1
|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/minicomputers/11/338/1940|quote=This first completed Nova was shipped to Unitech in Austin, TX to be used by Mobil Oil... 1969.}}</ref> by Data General as the [[Data General Nova|Nova]]. The Nova, like the PDP-8, used a simple [[accumulator-based architecture]]. It lacked general registers and the stack-pointer functionality of the more advanced [[PDP-11]],<ref name=What.11/> as did competing products, such as the [[HP 2100|HP 1000]]; compilers used hardware-based memory locations in lieu of a stack pointer. Designed to be rack-mounted similarly to the later PDP-8 machines, it was packaged on four PCB cards and was thus smaller in height, while also including a number of features that made it run considerably faster. Announced as "the best small computer in the world",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Data_General/DGC.Nova.1968.102646102.pdf |title=Nova brochure |year=1968 |access-date=12 August 2014}}</ref> the Nova quickly gained a following, especially in scientific and educational markets,<ref name=computerhistorymuseum/> and made the company flush with cash. DEC sued for misappropriation of its trade secrets, but this ultimately went nowhere.{{cite needed|date=February 2022}} With the initial success of the Nova, Data General went public in the fall of 1969.

[[Image:Data General mN601G 1.jpg|thumb|right| Data General mN601G, used in the microNova]]
The original Nova was soon followed by the faster SuperNova,<ref>{{cite web
|title=Data General Corporation (DG) - Selling the Computer Revolution
|url=http://www.computerhistory.org/brochures/d-f}}</ref> which replaced the Nova's 4-bit [[arithmetic logic unit]] (ALU) with a 16-bit version that made the machine roughly four times as fast. Several variations and upgrades to the SuperNova core followed. The last major version, the Nova 4, was released in 1978. During this period the Nova generated 20% annual growth rates for the company, becoming a star in the business community and generating [[United States dollar|US$]] 100 million in sales in 1975.<ref name=cnnmoney/> In 1977, DG launched a 16-bit microcomputer called the microNOVA to poor commercial success.
The Nova series played a very important role as instruction-set inspiration to [[Charles P. Thacker]] and others at [[Xerox PARC]] during their construction of the [[Xerox Alto]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/xerox/alto/memos_1974/Alto_A_Personal_Computer_Dec74.pdf|title=Alto: A Personal Computer System|author1=Charles P. Thacker|author2=Edward M. McCreight|page=13|date=December 1974|access-date=2019-11-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814232255/http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/xerox/alto/memos_1974/Alto_A_Personal_Computer_Dec74.pdf|archive-date=2011-08-14|url-status=live}}</ref>