hello ppl, someone must be able to help with this --> I have an old NCR tower 32 with an ADDS terminal running a unix version 020102 (Im not sure if thats correct but its unix for sure). I have no user names and no passwords and need to login to read a tape. Is there any way to do that? I hear about single user mode but i dont know how to boot this. thanks in advance!!

Without knowing more about it than this, I would say you are out of luck.
NCR ran a type of UNIX called Xenix. I could not find a version 020102 - but did find version 3 was available in 1993. No other information was available except for it's little part in history. For that is what you have, a piece of history.

Try this - put a printer on the console so that it prints out anything that goes to console (the ADDS terminal). Once you get that working, then maybe you can gather more info on the exact UNIX you are running (it may not be Xenix) and then maybe one of the really experienced folks can help (I can always call my Dad - he may have worked on one of those types of systems back in the day (he's a relic too). He has a Commodore 64 at home which he still enjoys programming.

Got root? This may help - hard to say if it will really work for you.

Ahem, another "relic" checking in here... The NCR Tower ran AT&T System V, not Xenix. You need to keep that ADDS terminal since the software needs to run curses based programs with a limited number of supported terminal types.

It's been almost 15 years since I've seen an NCR Tower and I don't remember enough about them to be helpful. However I have a TOWER 32/8XX Support Student Manual dated 1989. It is very terse, but I might have a procedure that may work. You will need an OOS tape to do it. These instructions are for Release 010100 by the way.

"Press the RESET button on the System Control Submodule on the Master AP." I seem to remember opening a door to expose all of the cards to reach this switch, but I'm not sure.

You should get a menu "Select Start-Up Function". Select "1. Load". You will be asked for the load device and you need to use "st00". You should now see a "System Loader Functions" menu. Select "5 Load Out-of-Service System". This should give you a list of terminal types. Pick yours.

You should get a OOS menu. I think "3. Service Utility Shell" is the best choice. You want to get to a bourne shell prompt. Now you need the name of the root disk. If you don't know, try the default:
mount /dev/dsk/10s1 /mnt
Now you need to fix /mnt/etc/passwd to change or remove the root password or create a root equivalent account with no password.. Exactly what you do depends on what programs you have available and I don't know what you have at this point. Any unix expert should be able to take it from here. Good luck.