pdp8/m

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Owner: Gerold Pauler
State: functional (see also Logbook)

This is the history of my pdp8/m including the historical prices, as far as I could recover them from the old documents.

There's a chaos about the order of the machine.
The first contract was signed on 1973/12/17, delivery papers for the machine are from 1974/04/04.
I can remember the rack standing at home. Then the machine was picked up and a few months later the same machine or maybe an identical machine was installed at my dads office. I don't remember exactly -
I was a 10 year old boy back then.

Don't know how the Irish write their date. Depending on this my pdp8/m was assembled in Galway, Irland at the 5th of March or at the 3rd of May in 1974.

  
Date Description Price in DM
1973/12/17 Contract over  
  PDP8/M with 8K 12 bit core memory 18,500.00
  4K 12bit core memory 9,150.00
  Single DECtape unit, capacity 200K 12 bit per tape 11,000.00
  Disk drive system RK-8/EA capacity 1.6 M 12 bit 28,900.00
  OS/8-Operating System 1,200.00
  Teletypewriter DI/AN (matrixprinter) speed 30 char/s, variable paper with up to 132 chars/line 12,150.00
  Rack 2,380.00
  CalComp-Plotter 563 incl. interface and plotter subroutines 35,000.00
1973/12/18 DEC order confirmation for  
  PDP 8/M-DL digital calculator  
  MM 8/E 4K core memory expansion  
  TD 8/EH DEC tape single drive unit  
  RK 8/EB removable disk drive  
  H 960 BD rack  
  XY 8/E plotter interface  
  All Maindecs  
  OS8-Copy self copy - license fee  
  Date of delivery: week of 1974/04/01  
1974/01/22 Order confirmation of distributor.  
1974/03/05 Assembly of pdp8/m serial number PDP8M 0400322.  
1974/04/04 Delivery by DEC.  
1974/05/13 New request to deliver and to send order contract.  
1974/09/02 Order confirmation of distributor for modified order. Instead of Terminal DI/AN 9030 there will be delivered:  
  Teletype ASR 33 6,700.00
  Matrix printer LX 180 12,000.00
1978/04/17 Core memory upgrade from 12K words to 16K words by replacing the MM8-E 4K module against a MM8-EJ 8K module. Ser.No. 3242. Upgrade price 4,000.00
1980/03/10 Bridge rectifier D14 of power supply defective.  
1980/10 Defective ASR33 replaced by used Teleprint 390. 1.000,--
1981/06/22 Repair of matrix printer Logabax LX180. A driving transistor for one print needle was defective.  
1982/05/25 Bridge rectifier D14 of power supply defective.  
1983/01/05 RK05: change of hepa filter, servo adjustments, cleaning of read/write heads and disks.  
1983/01/25 RK05: wrong outer limit adjustment, servo adjustments.  
1983/05/10 RK05: incorrect head movement, M7702 defective - replaced. Original RK8E controller also replaced - by a Plessey clone (PN700655-100).  
1983/09/30 Replacement of the "low-noise" teletype (Teleprint 390) by an used VT100 video terminal. Ser.No. WF45348. Reconfiguration of serial interface M8650 to 1200 baud 1 stop bit by replacement of clock crystal. 4,950.00
about 1984 Reconfiguration to 9600 baud.  
about 1987 Defective "sense inhibit module" G111 of the orginal 8K words core memory. Replaced by Plessey clone (PN 700168-100)  
about 1992 Unprofessional storage in the cellar.  
2003/01/06 Moving the first pieces (processor, DECtape) to Berlin.  
actual Reconstruction of the machine (cleaning, debugging, hunting spare parts, ...)