''PDP is also used as an acronym for Plasma display and Parallel Distributed Processing.'' ---- PDP is an abbreviation for Programmed Data Processor, the name of a series of computers, several of them ground-breaking and very influential, made by Digital Equipment Corporation. They were given that name because at the time of their introduction, computers had a reputation of being large and expensive machines, and the PDP machines were aimed at a market which couldn't afford the larger computers. The various PDP machines can generally be grouped into families based on word length. With the notable exception of the 16-bit PDP-11, the architectures show strong similarities, with the 36-bit PDP-6 and PDP-10 architecture being the most elaborate. == PDP Series== Members of the PDP series include: [[Image:pdp11.jpg|thumb|300px|left|PDP-11/04 or 11/34 with RK05 moving-head disk drive, RX01/2 dual 8" diskette drive, and third-party magnetic tape drive. Photo taken by Jane Whitby.]] *PDP-1: The original PDP, an 18-bit machine used in early time-sharing operating system work, and prominent in early hacker culture. One of the first computer games, Spacewar, was developed for this machine. *PDP-3: First 36-bit machine DEC designed, though DEC did not offer it as a product. The only PDP-3 was built by a customer in 1960. Architecturally it was essentially a PDP-1 stretched to 36-bit word width. *PDP-4: Supposed to be a slower, cleaper alternative to the PDP-1, but not commercially successful; all later PDP 18-bit machines were based on its instruction set. *PDP-5: DEC's first 12-bit machine. Introduced the instruction set later used in the PDP-8. As a cost-saving measure, the computer storage location at address zero was used as the program counter, rather than the more typical approach of using a dedicated hardware register. *PDP-6: 36-bit timesharing machine. Very elegant architecture. It was considered a large minicomputer or a mainframe. *PDP-7: Replacement for the PDP-4; DEC's first wire-wrapped machine. The first version of Unix was for this machine. *PDP-8: 12-bit machine with a tiny instruction set; DEC's first wildly successful computer. The first successful "personal computer", many were purchased by schools, university departments, and research laboratories. Later models were also used in the DECmate word processor and the VT-78 workstation. *LINC-8: A hybrid of the LINC and PDP-8 computers; two instruction sets. Progenitor of the PDP-12. *PDP-9: Successor to the PDP-7, DEC's first micro-programmed machine. *PDP-10: 36-bit timesharing machine, and fairly successful over several different models. The instruction set was a slightly elaborated form of that of the PDP-6. *PDP-11: 16-bit machine, widely regarded as the best 16-bit instruction set ever created, and another huge hit for DEC. Also the LSI-11, primarily for embedded systems. The VAX series was descended from it. *PDP-12: Descendant of the LINC-8. *PDP-14: A 12-bit machine intended as an industrial controller. *PDP-15: DEC's final 18-bit machine. Their only 18-bit machine constructed from Transistor-transistor logic integrated circuits rather than discrete transistors. Later versions of the system were referred to as the "XVM" family. *PDP-16: A "roll-your-own" sort of computer using Register Transfer Modules, mainly intended for industrial control systems with more capability than the PDP-14. The PDP-16/M was introduced as a standard version of the PDP-16. ===Related computers=== *LINC (Laboratory Instrument Computer), originally designed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory, some built by DEC. Not in the PDP family, but important as progenitor of the PDP-12. The LINC and the PDP-8 can be considered the first minicomputers, and perhaps the first personal computers as well. The PDP-8 and PDP-11 were the most popular of the PDP series of machines. Digital never made a PDP-20, although the term was sometimes used for a PDP-10 running TOPS-20. *DVK personal computers series is a PDP clones developed in USSR in 70s. ==Further Reading== * C. Gordon Bell, J. Craig Mudge, John E. McNamara, ''Computer Engineering: A DEC View of Hardware Systems Design'' (Digital, 1979) ==External Links== * [http://www.village.org/pdp11/faq.pages/Crispin.html Mark Crispin's 1986 list of PDP's] * [http://americanhistory.si.edu/csr/comphist/bell.htm#first%20commercial%20timesharing DEC's PDP-6 was the worlds first commercial time-sharing system ] Gordon Bell interview at the Smithsonian Minicomputers DEC hardware
DEC was still selling PDP-8 chips by the bushel when I left (involuntarily) in 93 or whenever, and also the J11 (11/70 with MP hooks) chips. Anybody know if that's still happening? If so, it should be added to this article. Also, someone once told me that the PDP-8 was "just like the diagrams in CS-101, so everybody understood it", but since I never took any computer science, I couldn't say. User:Ortolan88 ---- I don't recall DEC ever actually selling PDP-8 chips as such. Intersil and Harris sold the 6100 and 6120, which DEC used in the VT78 and DECmate products. AFAIK, both have been discontinued. I don't think the original LSI-11 chip set or the 11/23 chip set were ever offered for sale; they were only available in board-level products and systems. The T11 and J11 chips were sold as chips, but are long since obsolete. I'm not sure about the T11, but the J11 was fabbed by Harris for DEC. The T11 and J11 never sold well enough for DEC to bother redesigning them in a more modern semiconductor process, so it became economically unviable to continue production. The T11 was used in some Atari coin-operated video games. I've seen the J11 on some VMEbus processor cards, and in PDP-11 emulation boards for PCs. User:Brouhaha ==Disambiguation== User:Atlant's addition of the expansion "Plasma Display Panel" suggests the need to rename this page and add a PDP disambiguation page. Any suggestions on the best new name for this page? I'd favor "DEC PDP computers" or "DEC PDP series computers". --User:Brouhaha 21:22, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC) : Why not just plain old Programmed Data Processor? I can't imagine anyone typing "DEC PDP computers" in, even as a search. They're gonna type PDP, and go from there, so almost any page name will do, and that one has the advantage of being the acryonym expansion. Another OK choice would be PDP (DEC) (two acronyms for the price of one, I love it). Although I certainly hear "PDP" used often to refer to plasma displays, it probably won't become a crisis until we turn up another PDP acronym expansion or two. For now, I'd probably let things stand and see what develops. We may also want to consider "PDP (computer)" as the new name for this page; that seems to follow a very common Wiki disambiguation style. Another approach would be to rename the page to "Programmed Data Processor" and have some sort of redirect or disambig page cover the "PDP" acronym. One thing I do suspect is that we'll have a fair number of hyperlinks to repair if we rename this page. :( User:Atlant 21:32, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC) : Not too many, actually. Maybe a page-full - it'll only take 15 minutes (if the Wiki is running fast). User:Jnc User_talk:Jnc 01:06, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC) Okay, let's head in the direction of making this page "Programmed Data Processor" (which is probably the title that best fits the Wiki style guide), make a PDP disambig page, and we'll police up all the broken links. If you don't beat me too it, I'll probably try to get this done tomorrow. User:Atlant 02:11, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with PDP:
PDP
PDP
PDP-1
PDP-1
PDP-10
PDP-10
PDP-11
PDP-11
PDP-11/20
PDP-12
PDP-14
PDP-15
PDP-20
PDP-20
PDP-3
PDP-4
PDP-5
PDP-6
PDP-6
PDP-7
PDP-8
PDP-8
PDP-9
PDphoto.org
PDphoto.org_images
PDPoland
PDPoland
Pdp_10
PDP_Context
PDP_context
PDP
''PDP is also used as an acronym for Plasma display and Parallel Distributed Processing.'' ---- PDP is an abbreviation for Programmed Data Processor, the name of a series of computers, several of them ground-breaking and very influential, made by Digital Equipment Corporation. They were given that name because at the time of their introduction, computers had a reputation of being large and expensive machines, and the PDP machines were aimed at a market which couldn't afford the larger computers. The various PDP machines can generally be grouped into families based on word length. With the notable exception of the 16-bit PDP-11, the architectures show strong similarities, with the 36-bit PDP-6 and PDP-10 architecture being the most elaborate. == PDP Series== Members of the PDP series include: [[Image:pdp11.jpg|thumb|300px|left|PDP-11/04 or 11/34 with RK05 moving-head disk drive, RX01/2 dual 8" diskette drive, and third-party magnetic tape drive. Photo taken by Jane Whitby.]] *PDP-1: The original PDP, an 18-bit machine used in early time-sharing operating system work, and prominent in early hacker culture. One of the first computer games, Spacewar, was developed for this machine. *PDP-3: First 36-bit machine DEC designed, though DEC did not offer it as a product. The only PDP-3 was built by a customer in 1960. Architecturally it was essentially a PDP-1 stretched to 36-bit word width. *PDP-4: Supposed to be a slower, cleaper alternative to the PDP-1, but not commercially successful; all later PDP 18-bit machines were based on its instruction set. *PDP-5: DEC's first 12-bit machine. Introduced the instruction set later used in the PDP-8. As a cost-saving measure, the computer storage location at address zero was used as the program counter, rather than the more typical approach of using a dedicated hardware register. *PDP-6: 36-bit timesharing machine. Very elegant architecture. It was considered a large minicomputer or a mainframe. *PDP-7: Replacement for the PDP-4; DEC's first wire-wrapped machine. The first version of Unix was for this machine. *PDP-8: 12-bit machine with a tiny instruction set; DEC's first wildly successful computer. The first successful "personal computer", many were purchased by schools, university departments, and research laboratories. Later models were also used in the DECmate word processor and the VT-78 workstation. *LINC-8: A hybrid of the LINC and PDP-8 computers; two instruction sets. Progenitor of the PDP-12. *PDP-9: Successor to the PDP-7, DEC's first micro-programmed machine. *PDP-10: 36-bit timesharing machine, and fairly successful over several different models. The instruction set was a slightly elaborated form of that of the PDP-6. *PDP-11: 16-bit machine, widely regarded as the best 16-bit instruction set ever created, and another huge hit for DEC. Also the LSI-11, primarily for embedded systems. The VAX series was descended from it. *PDP-12: Descendant of the LINC-8. *PDP-14: A 12-bit machine intended as an industrial controller. *PDP-15: DEC's final 18-bit machine. Their only 18-bit machine constructed from Transistor-transistor logic integrated circuits rather than discrete transistors. Later versions of the system were referred to as the "XVM" family. *PDP-16: A "roll-your-own" sort of computer using Register Transfer Modules, mainly intended for industrial control systems with more capability than the PDP-14. The PDP-16/M was introduced as a standard version of the PDP-16. ===Related computers=== *LINC (Laboratory Instrument Computer), originally designed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory, some built by DEC. Not in the PDP family, but important as progenitor of the PDP-12. The LINC and the PDP-8 can be considered the first minicomputers, and perhaps the first personal computers as well. The PDP-8 and PDP-11 were the most popular of the PDP series of machines. Digital never made a PDP-20, although the term was sometimes used for a PDP-10 running TOPS-20. *DVK personal computers series is a PDP clones developed in USSR in 70s. ==Further Reading== * C. Gordon Bell, J. Craig Mudge, John E. McNamara, ''Computer Engineering: A DEC View of Hardware Systems Design'' (Digital, 1979) ==External Links== * [http://www.village.org/pdp11/faq.pages/Crispin.html Mark Crispin's 1986 list of PDP's] * [http://americanhistory.si.edu/csr/comphist/bell.htm#first%20commercial%20timesharing DEC's PDP-6 was the worlds first commercial time-sharing system ] Gordon Bell interview at the Smithsonian Minicomputers DEC hardware
PDP
DEC was still selling PDP-8 chips by the bushel when I left (involuntarily) in 93 or whenever, and also the J11 (11/70 with MP hooks) chips. Anybody know if that's still happening? If so, it should be added to this article. Also, someone once told me that the PDP-8 was "just like the diagrams in CS-101, so everybody understood it", but since I never took any computer science, I couldn't say. User:Ortolan88 ---- I don't recall DEC ever actually selling PDP-8 chips as such. Intersil and Harris sold the 6100 and 6120, which DEC used in the VT78 and DECmate products. AFAIK, both have been discontinued. I don't think the original LSI-11 chip set or the 11/23 chip set were ever offered for sale; they were only available in board-level products and systems. The T11 and J11 chips were sold as chips, but are long since obsolete. I'm not sure about the T11, but the J11 was fabbed by Harris for DEC. The T11 and J11 never sold well enough for DEC to bother redesigning them in a more modern semiconductor process, so it became economically unviable to continue production. The T11 was used in some Atari coin-operated video games. I've seen the J11 on some VMEbus processor cards, and in PDP-11 emulation boards for PCs. User:Brouhaha ==Disambiguation== User:Atlant's addition of the expansion "Plasma Display Panel" suggests the need to rename this page and add a PDP disambiguation page. Any suggestions on the best new name for this page? I'd favor "DEC PDP computers" or "DEC PDP series computers". --User:Brouhaha 21:22, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC) : Why not just plain old Programmed Data Processor? I can't imagine anyone typing "DEC PDP computers" in, even as a search. They're gonna type PDP, and go from there, so almost any page name will do, and that one has the advantage of being the acryonym expansion. Another OK choice would be PDP (DEC) (two acronyms for the price of one, I love it). Although I certainly hear "PDP" used often to refer to plasma displays, it probably won't become a crisis until we turn up another PDP acronym expansion or two. For now, I'd probably let things stand and see what develops. We may also want to consider "PDP (computer)" as the new name for this page; that seems to follow a very common Wiki disambiguation style. Another approach would be to rename the page to "Programmed Data Processor" and have some sort of redirect or disambig page cover the "PDP" acronym. One thing I do suspect is that we'll have a fair number of hyperlinks to repair if we rename this page. :( User:Atlant 21:32, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC) : Not too many, actually. Maybe a page-full - it'll only take 15 minutes (if the Wiki is running fast). User:Jnc User_talk:Jnc 01:06, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC) Okay, let's head in the direction of making this page "Programmed Data Processor" (which is probably the title that best fits the Wiki style guide), make a PDP disambig page, and we'll police up all the broken links. If you don't beat me too it, I'll probably try to get this done tomorrow. User:Atlant 02:11, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
P
PA | PB | PC | PD | PE | PF | PG | PH | PI | PJ | PK | PL | PM | PN | PO | PR | PS | PT | PU | PW | PX | PY | PZ |Words begining with PDP:
PDP
PDP
PDP-1
PDP-1
PDP-10
PDP-10
PDP-11
PDP-11
PDP-11/20
PDP-12
PDP-14
PDP-15
PDP-20
PDP-20
PDP-3
PDP-4
PDP-5
PDP-6
PDP-6
PDP-7
PDP-8
PDP-8
PDP-9
PDphoto.org
PDphoto.org_images
PDPoland
PDPoland
Pdp_10
PDP_Context
PDP_context
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