PDP Manual on eBay

From: der Mouse <mouse_at_Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
Date: Sun Jan 25 22:12:28 2004

> [...PDP-8s and what they used for computation and RAM...]

I once owned an 8/F (er, a "pdp 8/f" I think the faceplate said) and it
quite definitely used real ferrite core for RAM. I'm sure of this both
from physical inspection and from its preserving its contents
faithfully across multi-week-long power-downs.

Whether this was true of all 8/fs or not I have no idea. I do know
that memory was addable and removable (my machine had five of eight
possible banks populated), so presumably it would be possible to
replace a board of core with a board of semiconductor RAM provided you
were careful to present the same interface to the rest of the machine.

I also never looked in enough detail to see whether it used discrete
stock chips, ROMs, custom chips, or what, for its logic. It was made
up of enough boards that I'd have no trouble believing the first.

I no longer have the machine. I gave it to a much more serious
collector quite some years ago, in the late '90s I believe it was.

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Received on Sun Jan 25 2004 - 22:12:28 GMT