13 Jul
2015
13 Jul
'15
9:54 p.m.
Hi Rich,
Which one was possibility built for NSA? I missed the [1] footnote. Do you
know more about the story?
Paul
On Mon, Jul 13, 2015 at 2:16 PM, Rich Alderson <
RichA at livingcomputermuseum.org> wrote:
From: Kip Koon
Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2015 10:52 PM
I would be most interested in finding out more
about this effort. Do
you have
ongoing pictures documenting this effort?
I'd love to have a PDP 8, 11,
12
someday, but I don't have the space for
something like that much less
the cost
involved so I'll have to be satisfied with
emulators on my PC or
eventually
building one or more of these systems with
current technology like the
SBC6120
if memory serves. Are there other possible
alternatives? I used a
PDP-8/E in
high school and college and have been quite
interested in the high
capability
PDPs like the PDP-11 Series for starters. I
didn't know there were PDP
12
Series computers. Are there other PDP series
computers as well?
Don't confuse higher numbers with higher capabilities, or even as being
related
to each other. DEC created computers with 9 different architectures
before the
32-bit VAX was even dreamed of.
The list of Programmed Data Processors goes like this:
PDP-1 18-bit word, 12-bit address
PDP-2 24-bit word, paper design only
PDP-3 36-bit word, paper design only
PDP-4 18-bit word, 13-bit address
PDP-5 12-bit word
PDP-6 36-bit word, mainframe unrelated to PDP-3
PDP-7 18-bit word, PDP-4 successor
PDP-8 12-bit word, PDP-5 successor
PDP-9 18-bit word, PDP-7 successor
PDP-10 36-bit word, PDP-6 successor mainframe
PDP-11 16-bit word, 16-bit address[2]
PDP-12 12-bit word, PDP-8/i + LINC hybrid
PDP-14 control processor for customer-built special purpose equipment
PDP-15 18-bit word, PDP-9 successor
PDP-16 Register-Transfer Module hard-wired processor, PDP-14 competitor[3]
There were later variants of some of these:
PDP-7A
PDP-8/s, PDP-8/i & /l, PDP-8/e & /f & /m, PDP-8/A
PDP-9/L
PDP-15/76
After 1971, they stopped naming things "PDP-n", with the exception of
models of
the PDP-11 (which eventually consisted of more than 20 models designated
PDP-11/nn), but even there the Pro-3x0 desktop systems were called
something
else. Later models were microprocessor-based.
The later PDP-10 models were designated DECsystem-10 and DECSYSTEM-20.
The later PDP-8 models were the DECmate, DECmate II, and DECmate III (word
processing desktop systems) and the VT-78, all based on Intersil or Harris
microprocessors which were roughly the PDP-8/e in silicon.
"high capability PDPs" = PDP-10 & follow-ons. PDP-11? Pfeh.
Rich
[1] 1 built by a customer, reputed to be an NSA front company.
[2] With memory management, 18 or 22, in 16-bit segments. Late models
could
use separate instruction and data segments, for a total of 128KB in
use at
one time.
[3] Different model lines had separate sales teams, and competed against
each
other across the company for sales.
Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer
Living Computer Museum
2245 1st Avenue S
Seattle, WA 98134
mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org
http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/