General Information

Serial #

173

Part Number

1

Total Parts

3

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

METAL CASING & PARTS/ SYNTHETIC PARTS

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

157.0 cm

Width

73.0 cm

Height

175.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

555.2

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Computing Technology

Category

Digital computing devices

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Digital

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Massachusetts

City

Maynard

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Nova Scotia

Period

Unknown

Canada

AMERICAN MADE EQUIPMENT USED AT A CANADIAN SCIENTIFICLABORATORY

Function

A PROGRAMMABLE MACHINE THAT ACCEPTS & PROCESSES DATA, OF A TYPE USED LARGELY FOR SCIENTIFIC, SMALL BUSINESS, & INDUSTRIAL FUNCTION DATA PROCESSING. THIS EXAMPLE WAS USED TO ANALYSE DATA FROM OCEANOGRAPHIC STUDIES.

Technical

INTRODUCED IN 1965, THE PDP-8 WAS THE FIRST COMMERCIALLY SUCCESSFUL MINICOMPUTER. ALTHOUGH LIMITED IN COMPARISON TO MAIN FRAMES, ITS SPEED, SMALL SIZE & AFFORDABILITY MADE IT USEFUL IN LABORATORIES, SMALL BUSINESSES & MANUFACTURING PLANTS. CHEAPER, FASTER, & MORE RELIABLE PDP-8'S WERE INTRODUCED LATER. BETWEEN 20,000 & 30,000 WERE SOLD

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

BLACK & WHITE LETTERING ON CPU FRONT CASING READS 'DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION DATA PROCESSOR/ PDP-8'; BLACK IMPRESSION PRINTED LABEL READING 'SN173'; WHITE LETTERING FOR CONTROL FUNCTION/ BLACK LETTERING ON TAPE UNITS READS 'DECtape 55'/ PLATE ON PAPER TAPE PUNCH READS 'TELETYPE/ CODE/ 8PPE11'/ DECALS ON COMPONENTS READING 'BEDFORD INSTITUTE OF OCEANOGRAPHY/ DARTMOUTH N.S./ CG 5213', 'CG5372', 'CG5373', 'CG5370', 'CG5214'

Missing

SEVERAL CASING PANELS DETACHED, SOME MISSING, SOME REPLACED BY PLEXIGLASS

Finish

TEXTURED BLUE PAINTED CASING WITH METALLIC PARTS, SIMULATED WOOD GRAIN FINISHED DOORS ON FRONT/ WHITE & BLACK CPU FRONT PANEL WITH MULTICOLOURED SWITCHES/ BLUE, BLACK & WHITE PAINTED PARTS WITH MULTICOLOURED SYNTHETIC PARTS

Decoration

N/A