Building a PDP-11 for the first time

From: Don Maslin <donm_at_cts.com>
Date: Sun Dec 14 23:10:57 2003

On Sun, 14 Dec 2003, J.C. Wren wrote:

> On Sunday 14 December 2003 10:36 am, emanuel stiebler wrote:
> > 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.
> >
> > If you know nothing about them, why do you want one ?
> > ;-)
>
> Over the years, the PDP-11 family has come to represent something I've missed
> in computing history. It's almost reached the point where "well, I'm a
> programmer, but not a *real* programmer, because I've never driven a PDP-11".
> Below is a little tale, that will bore most people to death, I'm sure.
>
> It is for the same reason that I WILL own a Ferrari 308, at some point.
> While it's not an F-40, and not a particularly fast car, it represents a
> design pinnacle of sorts. Yea, they're a little uncomfortable to get in and
> out of, and maintainence ain't always cheap, but the lines, the history... No
> where is there a more beautiful car. The PDP-11 has become the 308 of
> computing for me.

Cannot speak of things PDP with any knowledge, but if you don't
get a V-12 Ferrari, you have never really had one!

                                                - don

> I still don't know exactly which 308 I want. Carbs are a nuisance on those
> things, but they make a little more power, and sound a little more like a
> Ferrari should. FI is more reliable, but Ferrari FI has this weird idea that
> when you cold start them, they should immediately jump to a 2K fast idle.
> Hard top or soft top? Advantages, disadvantages. When I actually have cash
> in hand, I'll decide. Except for the color. It WILL be red.
>
> When I got into computing, the exact year of which I cannot remember (and
> probably don't want to), the Sol-20 was fairly recently available, and
> Apples ]['s hadn't come out yet. I had a little minor experience on an IBM
> mainframe, and something in the AT&T 3B family though dialup, courtesy of a
> friend of mine that worked at AT&T.
>
> About 3 months after the introduction to the 3B, a computer store in Atlanta
> opened literally up the street from me, called "The Byte Shop". I was there
> the day they opened, and they had to just about physically throw me out that
> night.
>
> I had no connections to people who had access to PDPs, P&E's, or other
> machines in that class. A fellow who turned into a good friend of mine at
> the Byte Shop got me a lot of time on IBM 360s and 370s at Cotton State
> Insurance, where he was a sysadmin. I learned Fortran there, and some long
> forgotten things about VM and CICS.
>
> Like many people, where the path split with the introduction of
> microcomputers, I took the micro path. I've layed hands on dozens of models
> of systems, manyof which I've forgotten. But there were the Poly-88's,
> IMSAIs (somewhere, a VDP-80 is looking for a home with me), PT systems (oh
> yea, wouldn't mind a 4 drive Helios drive cabinet for my Sol-20), Northstars,
> Apples, Sphere Research, just to name a few.
>
> At Georgia Tech, I spent easily hundreds and probalby thousands of hours in
> the terminal cluster, connected to a Cyber 74. Down the hall where Pr1mes,
> but I never had the right connection (people wise) to work on those.
>
> PCs came out, and I dropped the long loved Z80s, 6502s and 6800s to pursue
> this newer faster machine. Anyway, etc, etc, etc. Got into embedded
> systems, working with 8051s, 6809s, DSPs, RISC processors, all sorts of
> stuff.
>
> I've got two PDP-8 SBCs here, Bob Armstrongs kits. They both run, and you
> can do useful work (for certain values of useful :) ), but you can't run any
> kind of Unix on them (I have hundreds of hours on a PDP-8 desk model (I can't
> recall the suffix. /i? /a?).
>
> I think the problem was I was too young, back then, and failed to realize
> computing was splitting, and I should make a choice. Not having exposure to
> the PDP class machines, and Unix in general, didn't help. Can't choose what
> you didn't know. I don't think the way I went was wrong, by any means, but I
> defaulted into this branch, instead of choosing. And at times, I wish I had
> gone the other way. Unix is a better choice than DOS and Windows, and I
> could have been more involved at the Linux forefront.
>
> At this point in time, a PDP-11 is still cheaper than a Ferrari, and I can
> buy one piecemeal (unless I luck into someone disposing of one, and I don't
> have that kind of luck. I have a different kind of good luck, but it's not a
> type that involves people giving me highly desirable equipment). What I *do*
> know is that my PDP-11 should have a front panel. But it doesn't have to be
> red :)
>
> --jc
>
>
Received on Sun Dec 14 2003 - 23:10:57 GMT