> Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2018 12:26:57 -0600 > From: Eric Smith <space...@gmail.com> > To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" > <cctalk@classiccmp.org> > Subject: Re: SPACEWAR! Switch Boxes for a PDP-12 > Message-ID: > <CAFrGgTS=XdctKw6G_FjddnLc6H=gpgf5jizv9zrxy4c0qho...@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" > > On Mon, Sep 24, 2018 at 11:23 AM, Robert Feldman via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > >> >that is what the PDP-1 at CHM has been using for over 10 years >> >> https://na.suzohapp.com/products/pushbuttons/58-9166-L > > > Ken Sumrall built the Spacewar control boxes used at the museum, with some > suggestions from me. We originally intended these to be temporary, and to > build nicer control boxes later. Since they were intended to be used by > restoration team members, and possibly museum guests, we wanted them to be > reliable rather than authentic, and specifically did NOT want these > temporary boxes to themselves become historical artifacts. We chose > inexpensive but robust arcade pushbuttons. They can take a beating, and in > the event that the microswitch does break or wear out, it can easily be > replaced, though the complete button assembly with microswitch is not > expensive. The boxes are particle board. We used DE-9 connectors. On the > PDP-1, hyperspace is invoked by the CW and CCW rotate controls being > activated simultaneously, so the hyperspace button is wired via series > diodes to both rotate buttons. > > After we built them, Steve Russell pointed out to us that although these > boxes don't look like at all like the originals, they actually are > authentic, in the sense that like the originals, these boxes were quickly > knocked together rather than carefully planned, and are functional rather > than pretty. > > We positioned the individual buttons based on the layout used on one of > the > Atari coinop games, "Space Duel" IIRC, on the because Atari had done a > good > job of laying them out to be easy to use. > > I'm not trying to discourage anyone from trying to make replicas of the > original Spacewar control boxes, but aside from some grainy photos and a > brief description, not much detail about them is actually known. > > We do not know what controls were used when PDP-1 Spacewar was > demonstrated > at the Computer Museum in Boston. We don't think they had the original > control boxes. Possibly they might have just used the PDP-1 console > switches, which is quite inconvenient and increases wear on those > switches. When we restored the PDP-1, we discovered that some of the > console switches were flaky, and upon inspection, that they appeared to > have been replaced multiple times, with suboptimal craftsmanship. >
I like the ideas with the diodes for hyperspace, I'll steal that right away!