> TO clarify Mike Ford's previous post... the DEC item in question
> was a PDT-11 (not PDP) with two other raw Shugart 8" drives. There
> were several other old PCs and some removable HD docking chassis,
> but I did rescue the PDT and now it lives here. Thanks Mike!!
Good find... I loved mine.
>
> Questions for the List:
>
> I recall a thread or two revolving around the PDT-11... before I
> go slogging back thru the archives.. can someone give me a capsule
> description of the PDT-11 and where it fit in the DEC scheme of things?
>
>
> Cheers
>
> John
The PDT was a kind of orphan child. It wasn't Qbus or Unibus -- it was
NO BUS.
It was a nice bounded system (an 11/03 LSI CPU with up to 64k of memory
and it supported only either:
1. DECtapeII (the PDT11/130)
or
2. 8 inch RX01-almost compatible floppies (the PDT11/150)
or
3. Neither (the PDT 11/110)
It supported one Sync/Async modem port and up to 4 DL11-like ports
(with software settable baud rates) and one Serial Printer port .
The ports ran (if I remember correctly) up to 9600 baud, but they would
drop bits if multiples were run at high speed at the same time.
The disks were accessed via 8085 controlled software which controlled
the disks with special PD drivers and special PD bootblocks...
They didn't boot standard RX01 os distributions, so there was one RX01
that shipped with RT that was PDT bootable for the 11/150's.
The OS was either RT11 v4 (or later) or you rolled your own or
downloaded an application to run stand alone over the serial link.
The peripherals were never expandable, although a couple of engineers
supposedly tried hacking a hard disk interface off the stacking connector
in the 11/150. (An IDE interface would be slick if someone could do
it).
I had the MiniMinc version which had the EIS/FIS microms making it a
pretty slick 11/03-ish box.
I genned up multiterminal RT11 and ran the console on an LA34, a modem
and PC with a comm program running on one port and a VT100 running
RTMON on another. Multiuser basic was quite slick. I wish I still had
the software and the machine.
This is just a quick summary -- any other questions?
Bill
---
bpechter_at_shell.monmouth.com|pechter_at_pechter.dyndns.org
Three things never anger: First, the one who runs your DEC,
The one who does Field Service and the one who signs your check.
Received on Sun Oct 31 1999 - 17:33:33 GMT