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

[Tony Duell]

> 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.)

Yes, but it's easy to measure the value of a resistor or capacitor, and 
even resistor networks can generally be figured out. HP used custom 
house-coded resistor netowrks in some of their products and it didn't 
stop me...

In the case of semiconductors, both HP and DEC (only transistors and 
diodes AFAIK) used house-coded parts. But DEC printed the equivalents in 
the printset (which is generally not too hard to find) and HP equivalents 
lists have got out....

-tony