17 Jun
2013
17 Jun
'13
7:09 p.m.
As far as I can remember, every straight 8 I've seen in the wild and
almost every picture I've seen has the dark plexiglass panel with the
paddle switches similar to those on the 11/20. However, I have a copy
of the user's manual dated 12/64, and the picture of the machine on
Page viii has what appears to be a simple brushed aluminum panel with
little light bulb covers sticking through it and the switch register
switches are all ordinary mini toggle switches.
So my question is were there any ever shipped with that style of front
panel, or was that picture of a prototype that was revised before any
shipped?
BLS
17 Jun
17 Jun
8:29 p.m.
--- On Mon, 6/17/13, blstuart at bellsouth.net <blstuart at bellsouth.net> wrote:
So my question is were there any ever shipped with
that
style of front
panel, or was that picture of a prototype that was revised
before any
shipped?
Most likely a prototype, likely based on the PDP-5 panel.
--Bill
9:11 p.m.
--- On Mon, 6/17/13, blstuart at bellsouth.net
<blstuart at bellsouth.net> wrote:
Makes perfect sense. After a little searching, this one is almost
identical to the panel on the 5. The biggest difference is the
addtion of two more rows of blinkenlights above the switch register.
BLS
So my question is were there any ever shipped
with that
style of front
panel, or was that picture of a prototype that was revised
before any
shipped?
Most likely a prototype, likely based on the PDP-5 panel. 
18 Jun
18 Jun
1:58 a.m.
On Mon, Jun 17, 2013 at 10:09:29PM -0400, blstuart at bellsouth.net wrote:
As far as I can remember, every straight 8 I've
seen in the wild and
almost every picture I've seen has the dark plexiglass panel with the
paddle switches similar to those on the 11/20. However, I have a copy
of the user's manual dated 12/64, and the picture of the machine on
Page viii has what appears to be a simple brushed aluminum panel with
little light bulb covers sticking through it and the switch register
switches are all ordinary mini toggle switches.
So my question is were there any ever shipped with that style of front
panel, or was that picture of a prototype that was revised before any
shipped?
Does it look like this?
http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/still-image/DEC/PDP-8-S/dec_pd…
That is supposed to be an 8/s. Could it be that the first(prototype?)
8/s where put in an Straigh-8 chassi?
/P
7:45 a.m.
Does it look like this?
?http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/still-image/DEC/PDP-8-S/dec_pdp-8-s.display_of_pdp8s.102630596.lg.jpg
That is supposed to be an 8/s. Could it be that the first(prototype?)
8/s where put in an Straigh-8 chassi?
The front panel does look just like that, but the upper
part of the machine in the manual is the usual smoked
plexiglass. ?But I could certainly believe that when it
came time to prototype the 8s, they recycled prototypes
of the straight-8.
BLS
8:11 a.m.
Pontus Pihlgren wrote:
Does it look like this?
http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/still-image/DEC/PDP-8-
S/dec_pdp-8-s.display_of_pdp8s.102630596.lg.jpg
That is supposed to be an 8/s. Could it be that the first(prototype?)
8/s where put in an Straigh-8 chassi?
Slightly off the subject, I notice that the chad bin on the ASR33 in
that photo is opaque. I've never seen (or at least noticed) one like
that before. Does anybody have one?
Bill S.
7:50 a.m.
On 6/17/13 7:09 PM, blstuart at bellsouth.net wrote:
As far as I can remember, every straight 8 I've
seen in the wild and
almost every picture I've seen has the dark plexiglass panel with the
paddle switches similar to those on the 11/20.
The panel is made of glass, which is why there are so many that are broken.
4158
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