25 Jun
2008
25 Jun
'08
11:55 p.m.
On 25/06/2008 23:49, Ethan Dicks wrote:
On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 11:11:12PM +0100, Pete
Turnbull wrote:
> I will have used that very copy at some point. I
used to work at
> Craigmount, and I remember the four -8s they had quite fondly. Andrew
> Watt also had an HP2000 system, and later an Apple ][, a very early
> Beeb, and after the -8s a couple of -11s.
*Four* -8s... what kind? Any disk or tape, or just
TTYs and papertape?
All the -8s (and the -11s they had after I left) were cast-offs. The
father of one of the pupils worked for DEC, and was very friendly with
Andrew Watt who was one of the Maths teachers, so that was the source.
I remember that the largest one was a PDP-8/E in a dual rack, with a
fast paper-tape reader, a couple of RK05s, and a box with extra core.
It was connected to a glass teletype of some sort (maybe a Hazeltine)
and maybe some other terminal device, and AFAIR ran O/S-8. I think it
also has a Decwriter of some sort. It was called EDWARD - Electronic
Device With Auxiliary Rotating Discs.
The smallest one was an -8/F mounted on a trolley; I can't remember what
that used for I/O. Another was an 8/E or maybe 8/F in a cabinet with
two (IIRC) TU56s, and had 2,3 or 4 ASR33s at various times because it
ran one of the multiuser Edusystems (rather slowly). I can't remember
what else there was.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York