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PDP-10
 | |
_mainframe_computer_system,_1970s_(edited,_white_background).jpg) Working DEC KI-10 System formerly at Living Computers: Museum + Labs | |
| Also known as | DECsystem-10 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Digital Equipment Corporation |
| Product family | Programmed Data Processor |
| Type | Mainframe computer |
| Release date | 1966 |
| Discontinued | 1983 |
| Operating system | ITS, TOPS-10, TENEX, WAITS, CompuServe time-sharing system |
| Platform | DEC 36-bit |
| Predecessor | PDP-6 |
| Related | DECSYSTEM-20 |
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)'s PDP-10, later marketed as the DECsystem-10, is a mainframe computer family[1] manufactured beginning in 1966[2] and discontinued in 1983.[3][4][5] 1970s models and beyond were marketed under the DECsystem-10 name, especially as the TOPS-10 operating system became widely used.[a]
The PDP-10's architecture is almost identical to that of DEC's earlier PDP-6, sharing the same 36-bit word length and slightly extending the instruction set. The main difference was a greatly improved hardware implementation. Some aspects of the instruction set are unusual, most notably the byte instructions, which operate on bit fields of any size from 1 to 36 bits inclusive, according to the general definition of a byte as a contiguous sequence of a fixed number of bits.
The PDP-10 was found in many university computing facilities and research labs during the 1970s, the most notable being Harvard University's Aiken Computation Laboratory, MIT's AI Lab and Project MAC, Stanford's SAIL, Computer Center Corporation (CCC), ETH (ZIR), and Carnegie Mellon University. Its main operating systems, TOPS-10 and TENEX, were used to build out the early ARPANET. For these reasons, the PDP-10 looms large in early hacker folklore.
Projects to extend the PDP-10 line were eclipsed by the success of the unrelated VAX superminicomputer, and the cancellation of the PDP-10 line was announced in 1983. According to reports, DEC sold "about 1500 DECsystem-10s by the end of 1980."[6]
- ^ Ceruzzi, p. 208, "It was large—even DEC's own literature called [the PDP-10] a mainframe."
- ^ Ceruzzi, p. 139
- ^ Winstanley, Graham (1991). Artificial intelligence in engineering. West Sussex, England: Wiley, Chichester. p. 391. ISBN 9780471926030.
PDP-10...was discontinued in 1983
- ^ "PDP-10 was discontinued in 1983, but PDP-11 wasn't discontinued until 1997".
... with third-parties continuing to sell parts, so it's really not that ...
- ^ "What does pdp-10 mean?". definitions.net.
The PDP-10 was a mainframe computer family manufactured ... the cancellation of the PDP-10 line was announced in 1983.
- ^ Larry Lettieri (November 1980). "Foonly challenges DEC patents with emulator". Mini-Micro Systems. pp. 15, 17.
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