OCM 1965.1
PDP-8
The first mass-produced minicomputer, bringing computing out of the glass-walled data center.
- Object type
- Minicomputer
- Maker
- Digital Equipment Corporation
- Introduced
- 1965
- In the collection as
- Working emulator
The emulator needs a computer with a keyboard. Open this page on one to launch it.
The emulator draws its room in 3D, and this browser can't: WebGL is turned off or not supported. Turn on hardware acceleration, or open this page in another browser, to launch it.
About this machine
The PDP-8 was the first commercially successful minicomputer, launched by DEC in 1965 at a price of $18,500 ~ a fraction of the cost of contemporary mainframes. Its compact size and affordability brought computing to laboratories, factories, and small businesses for the first time. Over 50,000 units were sold across its various models, making it one of the best-selling computers of its era.
In the installation
- Front panel
- Lamps show the memory address, memory buffer, accumulator and current instruction. The switches are how an operator toggled in a bootstrap loader.
- ASR-33 Teletype
- Keyboard, printer, paper tape punch and reader in one unit, working at ten characters per second.
- Paper tapes
- Programs and data were distributed on rolls of punched paper tape.
