PDP11/23 - prompt?

[Philipp Hachtmann]

Hi,

I am just getting a PDP11/23plus. The CPU is already at home and I have 
powered the machine up. Makes noise, turns fans, etc. If I start the 
machine (running indicator lit) it gives me a dollar sign ('$') prompt
which seems to accept two character until it starts a new line.

Here a few (perhaps totally stupid - but I've never used such a toy 
before) questions:

What's that?
What can I do from there?
Is it normal?

My machine lacks harddisk and floppy (at the moment, they have not 
arrived yet). The monitor program (@-Prompt) seems to work correctly.

Regards,

Philipp :-)