A very sad PDP-8/S

[Ethan Dicks]

On Sat, Nov 3, 2018 at 8:18 PM Steve Malikoff via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> Guy said
> > ...I've received a PDP-8/S...
>
> The "PDP dash eight oblique S" back in 1968 in 'What the future sounded like':   https://youtu.be/8KkW8Ul7Q1I?t=638

Fantastic little piece showing off one.

> If there are any special 8/S lightbulb housings that were plastic, I'm happy to CAD them up and 3D print...

Nope.  That's now how these worked.  The bulbs had "flying leads"
coming out of the glass, no bases, and the light barrier was a bit of
MDF with holes in it (the MDF is visible in at least one of Guy's
photos).  The bulbs just hovered over the PCB and just hung loose in
the holes in the MDF.

Later PDP-8 models used "bi-pin base" bulbs that had a
factory-molded-on base and a pair of sturdy pins.

There were plastic mounts by the early 1970s when DEC switched to
LEDs.  I've seen them in the PDP-8/M and the PDP-11/70, among other
machines.  There's a single and a triple shape.


-ethan