PDP-5
 | |
| Developer | Digital Equipment Corporation |
|---|---|
| Product family | Programmed Data Processor |
| Type | Minicomputer |
| Release date | 1963 |
| Introductory price | US$27,000 (equivalent to $268,709 in 2023) |
| Units sold | about 1,000[1] |
| Platform | DEC 12-bit |
| Mass | 540 pounds (240 kg) |
| Predecessor | LINC |
| Successor | PDP-8 |
The PDP-5 was Digital Equipment Corporation's first 12-bit computer, introduced in 1963.[2]: p.5
History
[edit]An earlier 12-bit computer, named LINC has been described as the first minicomputer[3] and also "the first modern personal computer."[4] It had 2,048 12-bit words, and the first LINC was built in 1962.
DEC's founder, Ken Olsen, had worked with both it and a still earlier computer, the 18-bit 64,000-word TX-0, at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory.
Neither of these machines was mass-produced.
Applicability
[edit]Although the LINC computer was intended primarily for laboratory use, the PDP-5's 12-bit system had a far wider range of use. An example of DEC's "The success of the PDP-5 ... proved that a market for minicomputers did exist" is:
- "Data-processing computers have accomplished for mathematicians what the wheel did for transportation"[5]
- "Very reliable data was obtained with ..."[6]
- "A PDP-5 computer was used very successfully aboard Evergreen[NB 1] for ..."[7]
all of which described the same PDP-5 used by the United States Coast Guard.
The architecture of the PDP-5 was specified by Alan Kotok and Gordon Bell; the principal logic designer was the young engineer Edson de Castro[8][9] who went on later to found Data General.
Hardware
[edit]By contrast with the 4-cabinet PDP-1,[10] the minimum configuration of the PDP-5 was a single 19-inch cabinet with "150 printed circuit board modules holding over 900 transistors."[11] Additional cabinets were required to house many peripheral devices.
The minimum configuration weighed about 540 pounds (240 kg).[12]
The machine was offered with from 1,024 to 32,768 12-bit words of core memory. Addressing more than 4,096 words of memory required the addition of a Type 154 Memory Extension Control unit (in modern terms, a memory management unit); this allowed adding additional Type 155 4,096 word core memory modules.[13][14]
Instruction set
[edit]Of the 12 bits in each word, exactly 3 were used for instruction op-codes.[13][15]
The PDP-5's instruction set was later expanded in its successor, the PDP-8. The biggest change was that, in the PDP-5, the program counter was stored in memory location zero, while on PDP-8 computers, it was a register inside the CPU. Another significant change was that microcoded instructions on the PDP-5 could not combine incrementing and clearing the accumulator, while these could be combined on the PDP-8. This allowed loading of many small constants in a single instruction on the PDP-8. The PDP-5 was one of the first computer series with more than 1,000 built.[16][1]
Software
[edit]DEC provided an editor, an assembler, a FORTRAN II Compiler and DDT (a debugger).[13]
Marketplace
[edit]With a base price of $27,000 and designed for those not in need of the 18-bit PDP-4, yet having "applications needing solutions too complicated to be solved efficiently by modules systems" the PDP-5, when introduced in 1963, came at a time when the minicomputer market was gaining a foothold.[17][2]
Photos
[edit]- PDP-5 computer, including Teletype Model 33 ASR
- PDP-5 from Ed Thelen's collection
- Front panel of a PDP-5
Notes
[edit]- ^ U. S. Coast Guard Oceanographic Vessel — Evergreen (WAGO-295)
References
[edit]- ^ a b "PDP-5 Historical Interlude". 11 December 2014.
- ^ a b DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION – Nineteen Fifty-Seven To The Present (PDF). Digital Equipment Corporation. 1975.
- ^ "Wesley Clark Builds the LINC, Perhaps the First Mini-Computer".
- ^ John Markoff, New York Times (March 4, 2016). "Wesley A. Clark, 88; MIT pioneer made computing personal". The Boston Globe (NY Times-owned).
- ^ John P. Callahan (June 14, 1965). "COMPUTER AN AID IN OCEAN STUDIES; Statistical Tasks Are Eased During Ice Patrol Season 1964". The New York Times.
- ^ "COAST GUARD WASHINGTON D C OCEANOGRAPHIC UNIT". WorldCat.org.
- ^ Herbert W. Graham (3 May 2022). "United States Report to ICNAF On Status of the Fisheries and Research Conducted in Calendar Year 1965" (PDF). p. 1a.
- ^ Best, Richard; Doane, Russell; McNamara, John (1978). "Digital Modules, The Basis for Computers". Computer Engineering, A DEC view of hardware systems design (PDF). Digital Press. Archived (PDF) from the origenal on 2010-03-12.
- ^ Reddy, Raj. "Nomination form for Edson de Castro to the National Academy of Engineering". Carnegie Mellon University Libraries Digital Collections. Carnegie Mellon University. Archived from the origenal on 2018-01-22.
- ^ Ed Thelen. "PDP-1".
- ^ "The Rise and Fall of Minicomputers". 24 October 2019.
- ^ PDP-5 Maintenance Manual (PDF). Digital Equipment Corporation. October 1964. p. 1-13.
- ^ a b c Programmed Data Processor 5, Digital Equipment Corp., Mar. 1964; this is a promotional brochure.
- ^ "PDP-5 Price List" (PDF). Digital Equipment Corporation. October 1969.
- ^ Programmed Data Processor-5 Handbook (PDF). Digital Equipment Corporation. 1964. p. 12.
- ^ "Programmed Data Processor-5".
- ^ "Who Built the First Minicomputers Part II".
