From: jones@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu (Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: PDP-8 Day! Date: 24 Mar 1995 16:34:13 GMT From article <3krvit$rbs@netaxs.com>, by alpert@netaxs.com (Robert Alpert): > > Any idea how many were produced? Here are all the sales figures I have. The final figures for models prior to the 8/E probably reflect the total number of systems made with a fair degree of accuracy. The figures for the 8/E are partial. I have no figures for the 8/A or DECmate. These figures are from the monthly computer census published in Computers and Automation. They've got similar figures for just about every computer made during the 1960's. PDP-5 Sales: Date Installations Unfilled Orders July 1963 0 1 Dec 1963 4 12 Dec 1964 75 5 Dec 1965 112 3 Dec 1966 115 1 PDP-8 Sales: Date Installations Unfilled Orders Dec 1964 0 14 Dec 1965 75 302 Dec 1966 490 270 Nov 1967 1010 Dec 1968 1372 Sept 1969 1323 (378 of which were overseas) May 1970 1450 LINC-8 Sales: Date Installations Nov 1968 132 Mar 1970 142 PDP-8/S Sales: Date Installations Unfilled Orders Jan 1967 ~400 inferred Dec 1967 520 Dec 1968 872 Sept 1969 844 (269 of which were overseas) May 1970 1020 Mar 1972 1024 PDP-8/I Sales: Date Installations Dec 1968 473 Sept 1969 1045 (243 of which were overseas) May 1970 2157 Mar 1971 3698 PDP-8/L Sales: Date Installations Dec 1968 4 Sept 1969 622 (159 of which were overseas) July 1970 2350 Mar 1971 3902 PDP-12 Sales: Date Installations Sept 1969 12 (2 of which were overseas) July 1970 275 Mar 1971 475 July 1972 620 Oct 1973 725 PDP-8/E Sales: Date Installations July 1972 3787 Oct 1973 9150 (includes 8/F and 8/M figures) > From what I've read there were engineers at DEC who wanted to produce PCs > using PDP-8 based technology in the early or mid '70s, but Ken Olsen nixed > the idea, saying basically that he did not believe anyone would want their > own small computer! But lots of people did buy personal PDP-8/S, PDP-8/L and particularly, PDP-8/E and PDP-8/F systems. The "Kit 8/A" was even priced competitively with first generation microcomputers, and DEC's sales literature in the early 1970's, while not directly targeted at the early personal computer market rarely failed to mention the fact that there were people who'd bought personal PDP-8 systems. Doug Jones jones@cs.uiowa.edu From: paul@vix.com (Paul A Vixie) Newsgroups: alt.os.multics,alt.sys.pdp10,alt.folklore.computers,comp.lang.lisp Subject: Re: Retro-Computing! Date: 25 Mar 95 22:52:31 > The VAX 8000 series needed an 8086 PC front-end to boot them! > I wish I had either the power to keep my mouth shut, or the brain cells back that are forever wired down with VAX details. I have neither, so here goes. The first 8xxx was the 86x0, which had a single chip PDP-11 embedded on one of its A-BUS boards. I think it was the T-11, which is a J-11 without VM. It booted in a manner very reminiscent of the 78x series, which makes sense since it was designed by the same group of people. The next few 8xxx's were 82x0's and 83x0's. (There never was an 81xx.) The 82x0/83x0 was very 750-like in its booting -- the control store that made it a VAX was mostly present even before booting, so it booted "as a VAX". The 85xx was the first "Nautilus" machine and had a Pro-350 (J-11) console device. (I don't remember whether there was ever an 84xx.) The 87xx/88xx used Microvax-II consoles. There never was an 89xx. I never laid eyes on a 9xxx. Therefore no 8xxx ever used an 8086 front end. Aren't you glad you asked? (Btw, my first 8800 was a development machine returned from none other than Thinking Machines. They were hard to get (I was inside Digital at the time) and I was VERY glad that TMI had finished with it. It was the fastest machine we had for a long while, and I'm pleased to say that we got a hell of a lot of work out of it before retiring it in favour of a DECsystem 5000/240.) -- Paul Vixie La Honda, CA decwrl!vixie!paul From: ivie@cc.usu.edu (Roger Ivie) Newsgroups: alt.sys.pdp8,alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: PDP-8 Day! Date: 26 Mar 95 16:57:18 MDT In article <3l42n6$7qh@krel.iea.com>, billh@comtch.iea.com (Bill Haygood) writes: > Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879 (jones@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu) wrote: > : From article <3krvit$rbs@netaxs.com>, by alpert@netaxs.com (Robert Alpert): > > : > From what I've read there were engineers at DEC who wanted to produce PCs > : > using PDP-8 based technology in the early or mid '70s, but Ken Olsen nixed > : > the idea, saying basically that he did not believe anyone would want their > : > own small computer! > > : But lots of people did buy personal PDP-8/S, PDP-8/L and particularly, > : PDP-8/E and PDP-8/F systems. The "Kit 8/A" was even priced competitively > > DEC delivered my own personal PDP-8/e (serial #699) with 4K > memory and ASR-33 Teletype on 1971 May 3rd while I served > on active duty in the Coast Guard in the Norfolk, VA area. The book "Fire in the Valley" makes the claim at the top of this ungodly stack of quoting: that engineers at DEC wanted to make a PDP-8 PC and Ken Olsen nixed the idea. The PC they wanted to make was a PDP-8 built into a VT52. Sounds an awful lot like the WT-78. The book also talks about it being nearly impossible to get DEC to sell you a personal PDP-8. Both of these items are in the obligatory "Gosh, DEC could have _owned_ the PC market if they hadn't messed up" chapter. I want to know where these items came from. Was it indeed hard to get DEC to sell a personal PDP-8? Are the WT-78 and this allegedly nixed PDP-8-in-a-VT52 the same thing? ----------------+------------------------------------------------------ Roger Ivie | Never underestimate the bandwidth of a ivie@cc.usu.edu | truckload of tapes