Origin of 'Straight 8' name

[allison]

On 12/21/2018 01:10 PM, Al Kossow via cctech wrote:
>
> On 12/21/18 10:03 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk wrote:
>
>> "Straight-8" seems to be a fairly modern name coming from collectors
>>
>> I never heard it called that before then.
> Anyone feel like doing a alt.sys.pdp-8 search for it by date?
>
> I don't feel like going down the rathole of trying to find a way to
> search Usenet by date right now.
>
>
Not I, that is a deep hole to dredge.  I do know it was a clear way to
differentiate the various
family of 8 machines and it was on alt.sys.pdp-8 I'd seen it way back
like mid 80s.
It may have been old by then.  I used to peek there as my first PDP-8e
was in hand
around late 1983.

And the automotive reference was not it.  It was the straight as in not
later lettered
versions.  Best similar use is:  Whiskey straight, water on the side.

One of the DEC history things about the era was often engineering went
may different
directions at the same time  making for a plethora of systems that were
or mostly
PDP-8ish like the PDP-12 that was PDP-8 and LINK.  RICM has a really
pretty one.


Allison