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Bringing Back the PDP8

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the arise-from-your-grave dept.

Anne Thwacks writes " Andrew Grillet has decided that the Digial PDP8 - the first ever minicomputer, will rise from the dead. He is calling it the PDQ8. Sure others have done software emulations, and even hardware clones, but he is not just building a hardware clone, but trying to revive the whole idea of 12 bit computers!"

4 of 365 comments (clear)

  1. 12 bits by vasqzr · · Score: 5, Interesting


    I found that, where you are not primarily handling ASCII, 12 bits was a very good size.


    Maybe someone would enlighten the rest of us on why a certain bit size is better than another, and why we currently use 8/16/32/64, instead of 12/24/48/96 ?

    1. Re:12 bits by FauxPasIII · · Score: 5, Interesting

      >> Maybe someone would enlighten the rest of us on why a certain bit size is better than another,
      >> and why we currently use 8/16/32/64, instead of 12/24/48/96 ?

      Because powers of 2 are easier to work with in binary.

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  2. Why? by BWJones · · Score: 5, Interesting

    but he is not just building a hardware clone, but trying to revive the whole idea of 12 bit computers!"

    So, after reading the article, I am still trying to figure out....Why revive the idea of 12 bit computers? Other than nostalgia (which is why people still drive Studebakers, old Ferraris and old Porsche's I suppose), what is the point?

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  3. Text based games by Technician · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I remember playing the father of the Zork series of games on a PDP 11/35 which was the newer 16 bit machine. The game was called Adventure. We got the game on a 5 Meg 14 inch hard drive (RK05) and wasted a bunch of paper making moves on a keyboard/printer terminal. The scrollback feature of the hardcopy was great for finding your way out of a maze again. Adventure has since been ported to CPM and DOS. The game is still a great game and will challenge the thought process. Take a pencil and paper to keep from getting lost. There is no map. Do a google search to find this true classic game. You should be able to run it in a DOS window on Windows 95 before DOS and Windows 95 expire at the end of this year. I'm still trying to figure out who the shadowy figure is who tries to get my attention.

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