Motherlode or scrap ?

From: Ethan Dicks <erd_6502_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Tue Jul 16 22:08:01 2002

--- Doc Shipley <doc_at_mdrconsult.com> wrote:
> Well, yes. Everybody gets around to Digital, eventually.

I more or less _started_ with DEC - c. 1982. My very first computer
was a PET (new), followed by an Elf (new, kit), followed by the first
of many PDP-8s (14-year-old PDP-8/L for $35 at Dayton). ISTR, a
clearance-sale VIC-20 was next, then a C-64 (new) and a PDP-8/a... all
before my freshman year of college.

My first PDP-11 was a PDP-11/23, returned by a customer at work when
they stopped using it - $300 (BA11-N, KDF11, 4 x MSV11-D, RXV21, LPV11)
and another $100 for an RLV11 - I recycled the RL01s, the RX02, the VT220,
and the LA180 from the PDP-8/a and earned a living for a year, writing
MACRO software on contract under RT-11. The target system at the customer
site was a loaded 11/73 rack-mount with 4MB of RAM and a Fuji Eagle
running TSX-11 back when it all ran *many* thousands of dollars (1987).
The cost differential between the development and target systems always
made me happy.
 
I got bit by the DEC bug early; haven't found a cure for it yet. At
least I've been lucky enough to be paid to make them sing and dance.
It hasn't all been money _out_ the door. Wish I'd been able to claim
"pro" status for the PDP-8 - that's been strictly a hobby. Financially,
though, the VAX has been very, very good to me; much better than the
PeeCee.

-ethan


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Received on Tue Jul 16 2002 - 22:08:01 BST

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