> -----Original Message----- > From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Dave Wade > via cctalk > Sent: 24 October 2017 10:01 > To: 'Kip Koon' <computer...@sc.rr.com>; 'General Discussion: On-Topic and > Off-Topic Posts' <cctalk@classiccmp.org> > Subject: RE: Which Dec Emulation is the MOST useful and Versatile? > > Kip, > It depends on what your interest is! Of course PDP stood for "Programmed > Data Processor" > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmed_Data_Processor > > and avoids the use of the word computer because the backers of Digital did not > want them building a Computer. I believed it also helped sales as it by-passed > corporate purchasing edicts which said only central IT departments could buy > computers... > > The PDP8 is the smallest but most hackable, but things like Oscars 8I or the > SBC6120 which turns up from time to time (google SBC6120) mean that its > possible to have something approaching a physical PDP-8 to play with rather > than just emulation. But if small is beautiful then may be the machine for you. > These were used all over the place. Manchester University Medical School had > one connected to its IBM7090, Leeds to its KDF9. Really a revolution in > computing. Its amazing what folks got to run on these using only paper tape. > Eventually made in a Microprocessor with the Harris and Interrail 6100 and > then the Harris HD6120.. > > The PDP-11 covers a huge range of systems and I know there are still some > PDP-11's in service. At one time Barclays, a UK bank used them as Branch > Controllers so every branch had a PDP-11 and in those days there were many > more branches than there are now. I learnt BASIC on one at Salford University > in 1977. When I worked for the uk's Natural Environment Research Council we > must have had hundreds of the things. We used them to build "media > conversion" systems that would copy data from scientific instruments and to > build front end concentrators for our Honeywell L66. More capable than the > PDP-11 but possibly less easy to hack. Lots of different Operating Systems out > there but for some licensing is interesting. Was used to develop early Unix > > The VAX-11 is probably my favourite box. I have several physical VAXen all > with the VMS OS installed. Really gives a flavour of what interactive computing > was like in the 1970's and 1980's. Very capable but even less easy to hack, and > initially big and expensive, which is why the PDP-11 continued to be available > for many years. > > There is also the PDP-10/Dec System 10 which was claimed to be a Mainframe > but I never met one of these. Probably not for the faint hearted. >
Ah the PDP10! Although the very first computer I used was a PDP11, it was so briefly that I really consider the PDP10 (in DECSYSTEM-20 form) to be my first computer. It is easy to emulate in SIMH, although the SIMH emulation is of a less capable processor (KS10) and I think KLH10 is the best emulator for that (but I have never used it). For general DEC goodness I would go for a PDP11 or a VAX, preferably both. And as Dave and others have pointed out, PDP was not really a line of computers, it was multiple lines of different computers. I forsee a *long* thread here. Regards Rob