Building a PDP-11 for the first time

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Sun Dec 14 13:23:27 2003

J.C. Wren wrote:
> Supposing you're one of those people that have always wanted a PDP-11/74,
> but know next to nothing about them. Is there a good guide anywhere for
> "here's the cards, here's the combinations they'll work in, and here's why
> mixing this card with that card will work, but isn't a good idea."
>
> I'd like to wind up with an 11/74, but I'm willing to work my way there,
> like say, if I could boot the thing sans front panel, and then find one
> later. I certainly happy to troll eBay and whatever else picking up what
> I can, but I have no idea what I should *want*.

There were only about four PDP 11/74 systems ever made! They use a bunch
of modules and subsystems that were never used in any other systems, such
as the IIST (Interprocessor Interrupt and Sanity Timer) and the MKA11
multi-port memory. The KB11-Cm CPU is similar to the common KB11-C used
in the 11/70, but some modules are different, as is the backplane.

The probability that you can find enough of this stuff to make an
11/74, or even just a single-processor subset of one, is vanishingly
small. I don't think trolling eBay will ever turn up any of it.

Are you sure you're really asking about the 11/74? If you want an
11/84 or 11/94, that's much more likely to happen.
Received on Sun Dec 14 2003 - 13:23:27 GMT