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)

Read Also:

  • Pdp-11

    Programmed Data Processor model 11. A series of minicomputers based on an instruction set designed by C. Gordon Bell at DEC in the early 1970s (late 60s?). The PDP-11 family, which came after, but was not derived from, the PDP-10, was the most successful computer of its time until it was itself succeeded by the […]

  • Pdp-6

    computer Programmed Data Processor model 6. A computer designed around 1960 with more or less exactly the same hardware architecture as the PDP-10. It already had multi-user time sharing and batch processing and multi-level priority interrupts (1996-12-21)

  • Pdp-7

    computer A minicomputer sold by DEC in 1964. It had a memory cycle time of 1.75 microseconds and add time of 4 microseconds. I/O included a keyboard, printer, paper-tape and dual transport DECtape drives (type 555). DEC provided an “advanced” Fortran II compiler, a Symbolic Assembler, Editor, DDT Debugging System, Maintenance routines and a library […]

  • Pdp assembly language

    language (PAL) The assembly language for the PDP-8 and PDP-11. [Description?] (1995-01-26)

  • Pdq

    Informal. 1. immediately; at once: You’d better get started P.D.Q. abbreviation 1. pretty damn quick also pdq, initialism for pretty damn quick, attested from 1875. adverb Pretty damn quick (1875+) 1. Physicians Data Query (of the NCI) 2. pretty damn quick 3. pretty damn quickly


Disclaimer: Pdp-10 definition / meaning should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. All content on this website is for informational purposes only.