On Sun, Jan 25, 2004 at 11:12:28PM -0500, der Mouse wrote:
> > [...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.
That was not an unusual configuration.
> 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.
DEC and third parties both made MOS memory boards.
> 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.
The -8/f (like the -8/e and -8/m) use TTL for the bulk of the processor,
along with National Semi and DEC bus drivers (as specified in the small
computer handbook).
-ethan
--
Ethan Dicks, A-130-S Current South Pole Weather at 26-Jan-2004 08:50 Z
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Ethan.Dicks_at_amanda.spole.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
Received on Mon Jan 26 2004 - 02:56:49 GMT