On 2011 May 25, at 10:22 AM, Tom publix wrote:
So I finally got my hands on a pdp8/a at the
University auction. It's
the
omnibus model that's built into a desk and called the Classic, short
for
CLASSroom Interactive Computer. I had no idea it was so heavy as it was
loaded for me into the back of my pickup. I discovered it must be real
heavy
as the my F-150 groaned when loaded and when I came home and unloaded I
almost herniated myself. There it sits, almost complete (without the
VT52)
but has an extra RL01/RL02 board. Is it the desk that gives it the
weight. I
know the dual RX01 are heavy, but the are the cage, power supply and
boards
real heavy in these things or is the DESK to blame. Until I put it on
something that I can move around, it will sit in my driveway. I can
run a
terminal cable and an extension cord out to it to maybe boot it up
after I
do some more research on it to see if all the boards are there.
Looking at some pictures
(
http://www.piercefuller.com/library/10128.html?id=10128), if that
thick desk-top is made from particle-board (typical of office furniture
in that era) it would be a major contributor to the weight. (The unit
in the photos is on casters.)
Didn't one of the 8's use a ferro-resonant power supply, with a
consequently larger transformer core?
One thing is not clear.n looking at the board numbers,
it seems it
doesn't
have a memory board, but it might have memory aboard the CPU card. Is
this
right? It uses the newer cmos memory. It has the three board set that
also
was used in the KIT-1, but it also has a variety of other boards that
I'll
write down as soon as I can.