Building the PDP8 has really piqued my interest in the
real thing. I've
collected bits and pieces for awhile now and have finally obtained a 4K core
stack - although it is not in great shape (any help in locating a better one
would be greatly appreciated).
I usually just buy the core stacks from DEC resellers. You pay a bit
more, but you generally get something that has been cared for and
works.
Anyway my question to you PDP8 folks out there
is this - I have the following pieces: front panel, M8300, M8310, M8320,
M8330, M837, M8650, G104, G227. I also have a 20 slot omnibus backplane from a
PDP8a. My guess is that I should be able to see some action on the front panel
with just the first four modules present (i.e. no memory). Am I correct? I
don't care at first if I can't read or write to memory. I just want to check
out some of the control functions with as little hardware as possible.
Are you saying you have a case/power supply and omnibus? Or are you
trying to cobble something together without case/ps?
One of the main problems I had with my first 8/E, was that most of the front
panel bulbs were burned out. Probably because once a few burn out, the voltage
rises on the others causing them to burn out faster.
By the way, my front panel has mostly light blue and
dark blue switch handles.
Anyone seen this before?
Yes. Did you buy it on ebay about a year ago?
-Lawrence LeMay