PDP-10

PDP-10
 n.

   [Programmed Data Processor model 10] The machine that made
   {timesharing} real. It looms large in hacker folklore because of its
   adoption in the mid-1970s by many university computing facilities and
   research labs, including the MIT AI Lab, Stanford, and CMU. Some
   aspects of the instruction set (most notably the bit-field
   instructions) are still considered unsurpassed. The 10 was eventually
   eclipsed by the {VAX} machines (descendants of the {PDP-11}) when
   {DEC} recognized that the 10 and {VAX} product lines were competing
   with each other and decided to concentrate its software development
   effort on the more profitable {VAX}. The machine was finally dropped
   from DEC's line in 1983, following the failure of the Jupiter Project
   at DEC to build a viable new model. (Some attempts by other companies
   to market clones came to nothing; see {Foonly} and {Mars}.) This event
   spelled the doom of {ITS} and the technical cultures that had spawned
   the original Jargon File, but by mid-1991 it had become something of a
   badge of honorable old-timerhood among hackers to have cut one's teeth
   on a PDP-10. See {TOPS-10}, {ITS}, {BLT}, {DDT}, {EXCH}, {HAKMEM},
   pop, push. See also http://www.inwap.com/pdp10/.
    

PDP-10

   <computer> Programmed Data Processor model 10.

   The series of {mainframes} from {DEC} that made {time-sharing}
   real.  It looms large in hacker folklore because of its
   adoption in the mid-1970s by many university computing
   facilities and research labs, including the {MIT} {AI Lab},
   {Stanford}, and {CMU}.  Some aspects of the {instruction set}
   (most notably the bit-field instructions) are still considered
   unsurpassed.

   The PDP-10 was eventually eclipsed by the {VAX} machines
   (descendants of the {PDP-11}) when DEC recognised that the
   PDP-10 and VAX product lines were competing with each other
   and decided to concentrate its software development effort on
   the more profitable VAX.  The machine was finally dropped from
   DEC's line in 1983, following the failure of the {Jupiter}
   Project at DEC to build a viable new model.  (Some attempts by
   other companies to market clones came to nothing; see {Foonly}
   and {Mars}.)  This event spelled the doom of {ITS} and the
   technical cultures that had spawned the original {Jargon
   File}, but by mid-1991 it had become something of a badge of
   honourable old-timerhood among hackers to have cut one's teeth
   on a PDP-10.

   See {TOPS-10}, {AOS}, {BLT}, {DDT}, {DPB}, {EXCH}, {HAKMEM},
   {JFCL}, {LDB}, {pop}, {push}.

   news:alt.sys.pdp10

   [Was the PDP-10 a mini or a mainframe?]

   (2001-01-05)