North Star Horizon

<Well, I am looking for a decent DEC PDP-series machine though I don't kno <(yet!) a lot about them. I've programmed a couple of DEC machines in <assembler and Pascal during various studies at the local college. That i <somewhat important to be a little prepared but it doesn't amount to much <because I have had virtually no hands-on hardware fun yet. Now I want to <get one to preserve and actually learn more upon. I've not asked here on <the list yet for one that's available, but someday within the next year o <so I will ask if one doesn't show up nearby to me beforehand. While I'm not against it... this is an example. Like what kind of PDP-?? There are PDP-11s, -8s, 10s and others, all different, some quite large. Even within a family like PDP-11 there are unibus machines (11/20, 11/34, 11/44...), Qbus machines (LSI-11, 11/23, 11/73...), CTbus (pro350, 380), bounded PDT-11/130, pdt11/150. There is where a little research beforehand is needed. A pro350 is desktop, an 11/44 could easily be three racks and a washing machine disk. PDP-8s there are at least three major buses used and variations in the family ranging from the small decmates to an older straight-8 or 8I. When put in context "I want a PDP." is a pretty broad statement and could put you in the position of trying to handle something larger in scale (or smaller) than desired. I'm not saying don't but, having a PDP-10 (ka10) means you have at least 40-200 square feet just to set it down and three phase power to run it. <My curiosity at wanting to learn how things work, such as what I've <reported above, has served me very well. I would not have the engineerin <job such as I have now nor the activity I have in the antique radio Part of where my interest in engineering lies and originated from. Allison