Yup, that is what is known as a 'straight 8'. Very cool find, the board covers were often smoked plexiglass rather than wood grain but it is the same beast. On step on the path from PDP-5 to Deskmate. The PDP-8/E is nice too. I'd love to have a high speed reader/punch on mine, the teletype is an extremely slow way to load software ;-) --Chuck

Certainly is a straight 8. Great find. Looks slightly hybrid. The front covers I believe are from the rack mounting version. However the bottom power supply section is in the same position as the desk top model. Any chance of getting the serial number? This might allow us to date it more precisely. I would suggest closer to '68 than '66 from the ribbon interconnects at the back. Kevin -----Original Message----- From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org [mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of kees.stravers(a)iae.nl Sent: 26 November 2000 01:49 To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: How old is this PDP8? Hi, Usually I don't announce in this list my new additions to my collection. Recently I even have become somewhat ashamed about them, because my house is getting increasingly harder to live in. Sometimes it is more like a childerns maze made out of old computers than a home, and only visitors with a technical background can understand why it looks the way it does. But now something arrived that I have to tell you about, and ask a question too. A good friend works at a big research lab of the PTT here in The Netherlands. They were vacating a building and he could have the computers that were left behind. It was the same adventure as Megan's, including the very large truck filled with classic goodies. My friend gave most of them to me. They were a PDP-11/84 with a lot of drives and a PDP-8/e. He also put a PDP-8 in my garage. It seems incredible, but I think this PDP-8 is an original one from the first series from the 1960's. I put up a few pictures at http://home.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/cm/garage2.html Could you experts look at them and verify that this really is a very old PDP8? I ask because I just can't believe it is one. It is hard to believe for me that the Dutch PTT has kept this machine in its offices all these years. The sticker with the service contract number is still on it. I don't ask because I want to sell it. It is still my friend's property and he will collect it from my place as soon as he has made room for it, and he will be getting it working again too I think, because he was programming it himself a long time ago. Kees. -- Kees Stravers - Geldrop, The Netherlands - kees.stravers(a)iae.nl http://www.iae.nl/users/pb0aia/ My home page (old computers,music,photography) http://www.vaxarchive.org/ Info on old DEC VAX computers Net-Tamer V 1.08.1 - Registered