WOW!!!! $15k DEC PDP-8 CLASSIC MINICOMPUTER SYSTEM DIGITAL PDP8

[Scott Stevens]

On Thu, 7 Jul 2005 00:13:47 +0100 (BST)
ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk (Tony Duell) wrote:

> > Size is probably a big issue, but DEC made some big
> > machines and IBM made some small ones, and the DEC
> > boxes still seem to get more attention from
> > collectors. I think that the relative availability of
> > DEC hardware, software, and documentation simply makes
> 
> I suspect is is partly the doucmentation. DEC machines of this period 
> tended to come with schematics rather than board-swapper guides (which
> is what the IBM service manuals I've seen were). There are thus plenty
> of PDP8, PDP11, etc shematics around.
> 
> And IBM used custom parts a lot earlier than DEC. I've not seen a 370,
> 
> but I'd be suprised if it was all off-the-shelf components. Unibus
> PDP11s PDP8s, etc tended to be.
> 

Even where IBM cards of that era used 'commodity' components, they were
usually completely house-marked and impossible for a mere mortal to
figure out.  This goes all the way down to resistor networks and
resistors/capacitors (except those few that have color-code bands.)

IBM was an empire unto itself.