::[PDP-8]::
The PDP-8 was a important early
mini computer in the history of computing and many are still running today performing
their original
function. The PDP-8 was used for industrial control, controlling experiments,
running businesses, word processing, and many other uses.
The PDP-8 is a 12 bit single
accumulator machine which can address up to 32K 12 bit words. It has 8
basic instructions and the PDP-8/E executes them in 1.2 microsecond for simple
instructions to 4 microsecond for complex memory reference instructions.
This gives the machine about a .5 MIPS rating. Although the computer
is very slow and memory limited by today's standards it was quite capable in
its time.
Since the PDP-8 was a more personal machine than the larger more expensive machines,
it was popular for playing with and various games were either written for it
or ported to it from even earlier machines.
People also wrote programs to play sound on the pdp8. The pdp8 didn't require
a fancy sound card, only an AM radio.