Origin of 'Straight 8' name

[Bob Smith]

Thank you Allison! I was trying to get my fingers to work and kept
having an attack of gasp how could someone not know?
Well said, hope you are doing GREAT!
bob smith, 8/e engineering, 8 engineering, DecComm11, LCG 2080

On Fri, Dec 21, 2018 at 12:58 PM allison via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> On 12/21/2018 10:10 AM, Noel Chiappa via cctalk wrote:
> > Does anyone know where the 'Straight 8' name for the first PDP-8 model came
> > from? Obviously, it's probably a play on the car engine configuration name,
> > but how did the connection get made? Thanks - I hope!
> >
> >     Noel
> >
> ssrsly?
>
> It was the first PDP-8 no model letter like S, L, I, E, F, M, or A.  It
> was also the direct decedent of the
> PDP-5 (1963 and transistors) which was the first 12bit machine and
> largely compatible with later
> family of 8 machines.  The PDP-8 series started in 1965 and grew from there.
>
> When looking at the history LINK and LINK-8, PDP12, and later LAB-8 are
> also related and interleaved
> as laboratory machines.
>
> Simple answer, it was DECs first blockbuster machine that was
> manufactured in high volume and was
> very low cost in terms of the day.
>
> The transistor to IC change...  The 8I:
> Also commenting on ICs the 1970 Omnibus 8 (PDP-E)  was the largely MSI
> IC based machine (M series).
> The 8I/8L was the first TTL machine prior to that the systems were
> transistor.    The march to higher density
> ICs was well underway.
>
> FYI my first contact was the DEC PDP8I fall of 1969  as part of the
> BOCES LIRICS timeshare system
> (NY, LI, Sufflok county schools). The following year (fall 1970) it was
> integrated into and part of the larger
> DEC System 10 timeshare system running TOPS-10.
>
> None of this is secret or difficult to find.  Doug Jones has a great
> archive.   http://homepage.divms.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/
>
>
> Allison