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If you're interested in knowing more about previous models, I highly recommend the PDP-11 FAQ. Arkos Varga also has a very nice site with information on all of the various models.

My first job out of University was working as a computer operator at a wind tunnel.

We did lots of commerical and military stuff, and I'm really not surprised to find the F117 and a few other machines that I prolly shouldn't mention not on their list of aircraft we helped build.

For a young geek in Western New York, this was a radically cool job. When I started working there we used a bunch of IBM 1401's, at the time their largest single installation of these machines.

Later we became a DEC shop, and beta tested their PDP 11/70 series of machines.

Prolly the neatest thing - aside from the computers that is - were the models. There were a group of craftsman that would carefully, over a period of months and sometimes years, hand craft these incredibly accurate models of the various aircraft.

But they weren't just static models, being integrated with hundreds of air pressure sensors.

I worked on what was called the 'Data Reduction Team'; our machines captured, in real time, data from these sensors and later we could model the prototype aircrafts performance - should it be built that is!

Far cheaper to spend a few months in a wind tunnel testing various models then to build the real thing and have it crash.

When working we were a 24/7 shop, and although the money was good, that was the rub. The biz was largely defense driven, and after a few years I got tired of the binge and purge nature of working in defense.

But the story had a happy ending, as I landed a gig at Bell Labs and never looked at the defense industry again.

ACHTUNG! Alles Lookenspeepers! Das computermachinen ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengraben...

I was born in 1979, but my earliest memory is from 1970. My PDP-11/20 (similar to this one) has two core memories that combine for a whopping 16KB of memory! If you think that's cool, well, I can actually modify my memories with a Teletype! Indeed, "ttys" have quite a large effect upon me.

With just a little Makefile hacking I got most of KOffice to compile. Now it runs nice and fast on my older UNIX servers! I'm looking forward to the next version with a compressed protocol that will improve speed on slow terminal devices.

I like to bring the panel of core memory out at geek parties and show it to the younger crowd and see the reaction

I like to show them my working PDP-11/20, complete with two 4Kword MM11-E core memories. Mine looks like the one in the picture there minus the disk cabinet on the left, the red panel at the top of the rack, and the ASR-33s. The machine was given to me free of charge, though I had to drive 2400 miles to get it.

Too bad there are no DECtape drives still in existence

Mine still works, and there are a few others out there that still have working ones. I've seen two units on eBay during the last year. There are people out there who are keeping this old technology alive.

Someone else has already mentioned KFKI. This group was based out of Hungary. Their TPA series consisted of PDP-8, PDP-11, and VAX clones. Some of the systems were reverse engineered. Others were made up of smuggled parts. There's a decent Hungarian website covering some history of the TPA line. The site is maintained by Akos Vargo, who himself has a respectable collection of these old TPA machines.

There was the KFKI TPA-11/580 VAX clone.