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Comment by tech-historian | Hacker News Reader

FYI, the PDP-11 cost around USD $20,000 when introduced in the early 1970s. That's equivalent to ~$135,000 today.

Oh, so it was developed by SGI? ;-)

If SGI built systems designed like a tank - I recall helping to install a dual 8 inch floppy drive took two guys to lift it into position

Oh yeah old computers were heavy. I just cleaned out a cabinet in my basement office, and on the bottom shelf were parts of a 1980's computer. It weighed tons! Broke my back carrying it all upstairs to get rid of.

It’s no joke that SGI machines contain lumps of cast iron. I collected them for a while and I can assure you they are built like tanks.

Have you seen a PDP-11? It probably weighs closer to a tank than anything produced by SGI. You wouldn't be lifting a PDP-11 without equipment: it would be the size of a refrigerator or 2.

> Have you seen a PDP-11?

There's a PDP-11/73 about eight feet to my left; it's a 4U box, much smaller than a little SGI Onyx, let alone an Origin.

Huh, I had no idea there was a PDP-11 that would fit on a desktop. I was thinking of something more like this: https://gunkies.org/wiki/PDP-11/40

In the info box photo on that page, only the box at the bottom (with the red and purple switches) is the processor; above it are two blanking plates and a TU-56 tape drive. I suspect that KPS considers the machine to just be the processor, whereas you're looking at the processor and surrounding peripherals.

That said, there were PDP-11's that were desk-sized, such as the DEC Professional (about the size of an IBM 5150), or even smaller, the VT240 (which is largely an embedded PDP-11, and it has about the footprint of a C64, though somewhat thinner)

Ah, yes. I was indeed considering the whole system (processor + peripherals). I guess it shouldn't surprise me that there's a PDP-11 that fits on a desk, because I know at least some MicroVaxes fit on desks, and they're contemporaneous with the PDP-11.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroVAX

PDT 150 was a desk top model - pdp11/03's where targeted at labs and originally came in a wheeled trolley about half cab height that you placed an VT52 or VT55 on top.

My Dad had one of those PDT-11/150 as his "personal computer". It ran RT-11, had two 8" floppy drives. The CPU box was about the size of a countertop microwave oven. He had a video terminal, and a printing terminal (LA36 DECwriter II) connected to it. I'm gonna guess late 70s.

Early 80's I think

Yes first system I worked on :-)

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