From: Noel Chiappa Sent: Monday, July 13, 2015 1:10 PM >> From: Rich Alderson
>> PDP-12 12-bit word, PDP-8/i + LINC hybrid > Err, DEC sold a PDP-8/LINC hybrid themselves (interesting machine, it's > covered in one of the standard PDP-8 processor manuals), before the PDP-12 > came out; the -12 was basically a re-engineered version of the 8/LINC. As noted by Christian Gauger-Gosgrove, I was only listing "PDP-n" systems. The LINC-8 was not really a hybrid so much as a triumph of packaging. It contained a complete PDP-8 ("Straight 8") CPU and a complete LINC CPU, the two capable of accessing the same 12-bit memory. Changing from PDP-8 operation to LINC operation was a matter of a physical switch. The PDP-12 is different. It is essentially an enhanced PDP-8/i which can also execute the LINC instruction set; each instruction set has an instruction to change to the other mode of operation, so that a single program can contain routines written in both. That is why I called it a hybrid. Rich Rich Alderson Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer Living Computer Museum 2245 1st Avenue S Seattle, WA 98134 mailto:ri...@livingcomputermuseum.org http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/