Distributor EP
By the 1990s, customers were epecting to add many more screens and wanted new functionality from the O/S.
New features were added:
Bank Switching - the bottom 32K was fixed, but multiple different top 32K stores could be switched in and out under O/S control.(Many new customers were running the MCMB package which required 4K partitions. i.e. Half the number of partitions / terminals that might have been expected in a given machine.)Real Time ClockSmarter IO boards that buffered more input from users and hence reduced the load on the interrupt handler.New OS Commands to 'Stow' a partition to disk and pick it up later at either the same screen or another.New Disk controller that supported (SCSI ?) disks and tapes.
I don't have any photopgraphs of a late model Distributor EP. The machine alongside was originally a straight-forward Mk V, but converted on site to an EP. The front panel has obviously gone, replaced with a small LED two line display and a few buttons.
