Subject: Re: Definitive list of PDP processors and their differences ?

From: [email-masked] (James P. Taylor)
Date: 9 Mar 92 12:19:55 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] () writes:

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   Organization: Digital Equipment Corp.
   References: <[email-masked]> 
   Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1992 13:37:53 GMT
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   1971    11/20   TTL SSI Core Mem        Papertape reader etc
	   11/15                           11/20 in different packaging

[detailed 11 stuff deleted .....]

   Disclaimer: all version numbers and dates are (generally) from memory.
   I have probably left out a couple of machines.

[detailed application stuff deleted .... ]

   -----------------------------------

 [pdp-8 and pdp-10 stuff deleted .... ]

   ------------------------------------
   DEC also produced the PDP-1 (36bit?), -6, -9(?), -15(18bit - half a ten)

      and others....

   Mike

   -------All views, Mispellings, inaccuracies are mine.--------------------

PDP-1 was an 18 bit machine.  It followed the TX0 built at MIT, by guess
who?? 
   
PDP-6 was a 36 bitter [as indicated the precursor to 10]

the PDP -7 , 9, and 15 [?]  were all 18 bit machines built for special
application areas.

jim taylor  Thinking Machines Corp. Cambridge MA 02142

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 9 Mar 92 13:37:53 GMT

1972    11/40   TTL SSI and MSI. Microcode.Core and later MOS MEM. RK05 disks.
        11/35   11/40 in different packaging.

        11/45   TTL SSI and MSI. HiSpeed Mem. Hi oerf machine
        11/50   11/45 with Bipoals mem
        11/55   Some Variation of the above

        11/05   Microcoded lo-cost '11. Perf = 11/20. Core and Mos. OEM
        11/10   Bigger box 11/05
        LSI-11  Pdp11 on 4 chips complements of Western Digital. OEM

1975    11/70   Generaltional follow on to 11/45. Faster cpu. Core and
                later MOS Mem. FPU, Large cache. Buses. "Mainframe Mini"

        LSI-11/2 Single chip '11. OEM SBC Offering
        11/03   Q-bus machine with LSI-11 heart

1976    11/04   Unibus version of 11/03. All MOS memory from here on.
        11/34   2board MSI follow on to 11/40. Unibus.

1977    11/60   Perf between 11/40,11/70. User definable microcode.

1979    11/34a  Tidied up 11/34
        11/44   (Almost) 11/70 follow on. much cheaper. Less power

1981    LSI-11/23 Single chop pdp-11. About x2 perf or 11/03. Qbus
        LSI-11/24 Unibus version of 11/23.  F-11 Chip

?1987   11/53   J-11 chip. Faster than 11/23. Similar/same packaging Qbus
        11/54?  Unibus version...

?1987   11/73   Faster J-11 chip.... Perf finally Greater than 11/70.
        ????

c1989   11/85   Even Faster....

c1990   11/93?  ...the latest.....

SW:     11/20 ran DOS/Batch which begat RSTS and later RSTS/e on the
         11/40 and all later systems. Alst, RSX-11 appeared on the 11/40,
        11/45 and became RSX-11M, RSX11-D, RSX11-S?.
        RT11 was very popular on 11/20 and many of the Qbus machines.
        IAS ran on the high end 1145s and 11/70s for a time.
        MUMPS was very popular on many large 11/70 applications.
        Unix, developed on a PDP-6 was migrated early to 11/45s and
        11/70s....

RSTS is Resource Sharing/TimeSharing
RSX is a multitasking OS. Author of RSX developed VMS and is now working
        with another party, involved in a major project for them.
RT-11 is a Realtime OS with Foreground/Background.... MS-DOS looks a bit
        like it but with many of the useful bits removed.
IAS is/was somewhat obscure, and I cannot remember its market or
        attributes.
MUMPS was developed by Mass Gen Hosp and widely used for a variety of
        applications. MUMPS is botha a database and a language.
Unix- well, I think most people have heard of UNIX.

PDP8:
12 bit machine. First real  minicomputer. Put DEC on the map, ready for
the PDP-11 to exploit. First PDP-8 Circa 1965(?) used, I believe DTL.
Followed by the PDP8-I late '60s and the PDP-8e/8m about 1970. '8e used
the OMNIBUS. The OMNIBUS on the '8e and UNIBUS on the '11s were easy to
interface with a myriad of third party vendors/OEMS built devices for
them. This was the cornerstone of Digitals early successes.
'8e was followed by 8a - similar in technology and formfactor to the
11/04. The 8/a was essentially the last PDP-8, although the
DECmate-I, -II and -III were PDP-8's at heart.
-------------------------------------
PDP10 was a 36bit bachine born from the lions of the PDP-6.
Original KA10 built from TTL, and then the KI10 (Name changed from PDP-10
to DECsystem-10 around then) was I believe TTL/MSI. The last of the
family was the KL-10 which had gobs of ECL. the '10 was a mainframe, and
loved by those that used it. The '10 ran TOPS-10, a timesharing OS. A
version odf the beast ran TOPS-20, and was called the DECsystem-20.
A MInisized version appeared about 1979, eas called the 2020 and ran
Tops-20.

the '10 and '20 ran Uni- or Dual- Processors.

Different subconfigurations were known as the 1060, 1090, 1099 or
somesuch.
------------------------------------
DEC also produced the PDP-1 (36bit?), -6, -9(?), -15(18bit - half a ten)

   and others....

Mike

-------All views, Mispellings, inaccuracies are mine.--------------------

S

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From: [email-masked] (Mattis Andersson)
Date: 9 Mar 92 17:08:31 GMT

Actually the LSI-11 (the original, quad-size board), and the LSI-11/2 
(dual-size board) is using the same chipset. I also think that PDP-11/03
is some kind of market name for a system based on either of these two.

The PDP-11/04 is a completley different CPU bulit by PLAs and ordinary 
TTL-logic. The CPU is one hex-size board.

PDP-1 was a 18 bit computer.

PDP-4 was also 18-bit but slower than PDP-1, and as I remember incompatible
with the PDP-1.

PDP-5 was a 12 bit computer.

PDP-6 and DEC-10/20 was 36-bit computers

PDP-7, PDP-9, PDP-15 is 18 bit computers compatble with the PDP-4

PDP-12 is a specialized laboratory computer, successor to LINC and LINC-8.

If you are interested in more information concerning old DEC computers I 
recommend "Computer Engineering, A DEC view of hardware systems design"
by Gordon Bell, J. Graig Mudge, John E. McNamara. Digital Press.

Mattis Andersson

[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (John R. Levine)
Date: 9 Mar 92 19:40:33 GMT

>                later MOS Mem. FPU, Large cache. Buses. "Mainframe Mini"

The 11/70 had the same CPU as the 11/45 but with a cache and a larger
physical (not logical) address space.

Phsical addressing only: 11/03 /04 /05 /10 /15 /20
16 bit virtual:	11/23 /24 /34 /35 /40 /60 /53? /73
virtual with split I/D: 11/45 /70 /85

>        Unix, developed on a PDP-6 was migrated early to 11/45s and

Close, Unix started on a PDP-7, a much smaller machine than the 6.

>DEC also produced the PDP-1 (36bit?), -6, -9(?), -15(18bit - half a ten)

PDP-1: 18 bit, based on MIT designs
PDP-4: 18 bit, not particularly compatible with -1
PDP-5: cut down PDP-4, first DEC 12 bit micro
PDP-6: 36 bit quasi-mainframe (quasi because of mediocre I/O)
PDP-7: improved PDP-4
PDP-8: improved PDP-5, wildly successful
LINC-8: PDP-8 with Lincoln Labs CPU bolt-on, used for lab work
PDP-9: improved PDP-7
PDP-10: improved PDP-6, fairly successful, greatly beloved
PDP-11: all new 16 bit, wildly successful
PDP-12: improved LINC-8 with single integrated CPU, really cool machine
PDP-14: strange little process control box
PDP-16: stranger set of do it yourself modules
DEC-20: improved PDP-10

See Bell, Mudge, and McNamara, "Computer Engineering" for true facts.

-- 
 John R. Levine, IECC, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 492 3869
[email-masked], {ima|spdcc|world}!iecc!johnl
Adm. Grace Hopper: 1906-1992

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From: [email-masked] (CP/M lives!)
Date: 9 Mar 92 20:13:42 GMT

> the PDP-11 to exploit. First PDP-8 Circa 1965(?) used, I believe DTL.

The PDP-8 actually started with the PDP-5 introduced at Wescon in August of
1963 (I recently wandered through some old computer mags). The PDP-5 ran the
same instruction set as the -8, although there were some limitations on the
combinations of operate microinstructions that you could use. It originally
sold for $27,000 and sold pretty much like hotcakes; about the only things
that seemed to be doing better than the -5 were some NCR machines, according
to the monthly computer census in whatever magazine I was looking through
("Computers And Control" or "Control And Automation", something like that).

The -8 was announced by a two-page spread in the magazine in May of '64 or '65
(I forget what year I was wandering through when I saw the ad), and it
outsold in a few months what the -5 had sold in the year or two since its
announcement. It originally cost $18,000 and was an order of magnitude faster
than the PDP-5.

The odd thing about the ad for the -8 was that it claimed that it was smaller
than the -5. I've seen both a -5 and an original -8, and it just ain't true.
The difference was in the packaging. The -5's circuits were bolted across a
19-inch rack while the -8 had two back-to-back backplanes that made good use
of the depth of the rack. This let the -8 be sold as a tabletop machine.

Roger Ivie
[email-masked]