From en.wikipedia.org:
[Minicomputer introduced in 1964] [date=November 2020] {{Infobox computing
device | name = PDP-7 | title = | aka = | logo =PDP-7 wordmark.svg | image =
pdp7-oslo-2005.jpeg | caption = A modified PDP-7 under restoration in Oslo,
Norway | developer = | manufacturer = Digital Equipment Corporation | family =
Programmed Data Processor | type = Minicomputer | generation = | releasedate =
[1965] | lifespan = | price = [72000] | discontinued = | unitssold = 120<ref
name=liinfopdp7>[url=http://www.linfo.org/pdp-7.html ]<ref
name=microsoftpdp7>[url=https://research.microsoft.com/~gbell/Digital/timeline/1964-3.htm
] | unitsshipped = 120<ref name=microsoftpdp7 /> | media = | os = DECsys, Unix
(as "Unics") | power = | soc = | cpu = | memory = [4K words] [(9.2 KB)]
(expandable up to [64K words] [(144 KB).])<ref name=liinfopdp7 /> | storage =
Paper-tape and dual transport DECtape drives (type 555) | memory card = |
display = Printer | graphics = | sound = | input = Keyboard | controllers = |
camera = | touchpad = | connectivity = | platform = DEC 18-bit | service = |
dimensions = | weight = | topgame = | compatibility= PDP-1 | predecessor =
PDP-4 | successor = PDP-9 | related = | website = <!--[example.org]--> }}
The PDP-7 is an 18-bit minicomputer produced by Digital Equipment Corporation
as part of the PDP series. Introduced in 1964,<ref
name=SOEM_DEC57.PRES/>[p.8][1] shipped since 1965, it was the first<ref
name=SOEM>{{cite web |url=https://www.soemtron.org/pdp7.html |title=Digital
Equipment Corporation PDP-7 |website=soemtron.org |date=2009 |author=Tore
Sinding Bekkedal}} to use their Flip-Chip technology. With a cost of
[72,000], it was cheap but powerful by the standards of the time. The PDP-7
is the third of Digital's 18-bit machines, with essentially the same
instruction set architecture as the PDP-4 and the PDP-9.
** Hardware
The PDP-7 was the first wire-wrapped PDP computer. The computer has a memory
cycle time of [1.75 µs] and an add time of [4 µs]. Input/output (I/O)
includes a keyboard, printer, punched tape and dual transport DECtape drives
(type 555).[2] The standard core memory capacity is [4K words] [(9 KB)] but
expandable up to [64K words] [(144 KB).]<ref name=liinfopdp7 />
The PDP-7 weighs about [1100].[3]
** Software
DECSYS, the first operating system for DEC's 18-bit computer family (and DEC's
first operating system for a computer smaller than its 36-bit timesharing
systems), was introduced in 1965. It provides an interactive, single user,
program development environment for Fortran and assembly language
programs.<ref name=DECsys>[url=http://simh.trailing-edge.com/docs/decsys.pdf ]
In 1969, Ken Thompson wrote the first UNIX system, then named Unics as a pun
on Multics despite only using two design elements from Multics,[4][5] in
assembly language on a PDP-7,[6] as the operating system for _Space Travel_, a
game which requires graphics to depict the motion of the planets. A PDP-7 was
also the development system used during the development of MUMPS at MGH in
Boston a few years earlier.
** Sales
The PDP-7 was described as "highly successful."<ref name=RICM>{{cite web
|url=https://www.ricomputermuseum.org/collections-gallery/equipment/dec-pdp-9
|website=Rhode Island Computer Museum |title=DEC PDP-9, System Number 319}} A
combined total of 120 of the PDP-7 and PDP-7A were sold.<ref
name=SOEM_DEC57.PRES>{{cite web
|url=https://www.soemtron.org/downloads/decinfo/decdigital1957tothepresent1978-102630349.pdf
|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.soemtron.org/downloads/decinfo/decdigital1957tothepresent1978-102630349.pdf
|archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Digital Equipment Corporation
- 1957 to the present}}[p.8] A DEC publication states that the first units
shipped to customers in November 1964.
Eleven systems were shipped to the UK.<ref name=SOEM/>
** Restorations
At least four PDP-7s were confirmed to still exist as of 2011<ref name=SOEM/>
and a fifth was discovered in 2017.<ref name=Yerian/>
A PDP-7A (serial number 115) was under restoration in Oslo, Norway;[7] a
second PDP-7A (serial number 113) previously located at the University of
Oregon in its Nuclear Physics laboratory is now at the Living Computer Museum
in Seattle, Washington and is completely restored to running condition after
being disassembled for transport;[8] Another PDP-7 (serial number 47) is known
to be in the collection of Max Burnet near Sydney, Australia, a fourth PDP-7
(serial number 33) is in storage at the Computer History Museum in Mountain
View, California and a fifth PDP-7 (serial number 129) belonging to Fred
Yerian is also located at the Museum, and has been demonstrated running Unix
version 0 and compiling a B program.<ref
name=Yerian>[url=https://livingcomputers.org/Blog/Restoring-UNIX-v0-on-a-PDP-7-A-look-behind-the-sce.aspx
]
** References
[Reflist]
** External links
- Information about the PDP-7 and PDP-7/A (see https://www.soemtron.org/pdp7.html) , including some manuals and a customer list covering 99 of the systems shipped, Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-7.
- [url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140402194704/http://www.bell-labs.com/history/unix/pdp7.html ]
[DEC hardware]
Category:DEC minicomputers Category:Transistorized computers Category:18-bit
computers Category:Computer-related introductions in 1965 Category:Products
introduced in 1965