Value of a PDP/8? - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

9 Mar 2007

...
  Jules wrote:
I feel the need to ask - what is it that makes DEC stuff so popular and 
collectible, versus other machines of the same time period? Generally they're 
equally as interesting, and often more so (IMHO) due to all the quirks and 
design differences versus the more mainstream DEC stuff.

So... why? More of a community? Better documentation? Better hardware or 
software availability? What do collectors *do* with their running DEC systems 
anyway?

I'm not knocking the DEC crowd in any way - just trying to work out what it is 
that makes the systems so much more popular than anything else of the time. I 
feel like I'm missing some vital piece of info :-) 
With me (and maybe with other folks too), the PDP-11 was the first computer
I ever "knew", and it is what I learned on.  I think in the 1970s
the PDP-11 and PDP-8 were commonly used in academic computer centers.  Once
I met the PDP-11, I was hooked.  My life / career has revolved around computers
ever since.

As for what I do with my running DEC systems, I boot them up from time to time
and maybe play a game of Adventure, punch a program on paper tape on the 
ASR33, print a pinup poster on the LA36 on greenbar paper, copy RK05 packs
to disk image files on my PC, etc.  Periodically I will get a new peripheral
(drive, terminal, etc) and test it out and rack it with my system.  Lately
I have done nothing at all because I have been too busy with other things.

Ashley