PDP-1

The PDP-1 (Programmed Data Processor-1) is the first computer in Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP series and was first produced in 1959. It is famous for being the computer most important in the creation of hacker culture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, BBN and elsewhere.^[2] The PDP-1 is the original hardware for playing history's first game on a minicomputer, Steve Russell's Spacewar!^[3]

PDP-1

PDP-1 exhibit at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California
Developer	Digital Equipment Corporation
Product family	Programmed Data Processor
Type	Minicomputer
Release date	1959; 64 years ago (1959)
Introductory price	US$120,000 (equivalent to $1,115,479 in 2021)
Discontinued	1969 (1969)
Units shipped	53
Media	Punched tape
Operating system	BBN Time-Sharing System, Stanford Time Sharing System;^[1] most software, including Spacewar!, uses no operating system
Memory	4K words (9.2 KB) magnetic core memory
Display	Type 30 CRT
Platform	DEC 18-bit
Mass	730 kg (1,600 lb)
Predecessor	TX-0 and TX-2
Successor	PDP-4

Description

 

PDP-1 at the Computer History Museum with Steve Russell, creator of Spacewar! The large cabinet houses the processor. The main control panel is just above the desk, the paper tape reader is above it (metallic), and the output of the Teletype model BRPE paper tape punch above that (vertical slot). A storage tray for eight fanfold paper tapes is attached to the top panel. At the left is the IBM Model B typewriter modified by Soroban, and the Type 30 CRT display is to the far right.

The PDP-1 uses an 18-bit word size and has 4096 words as standard main memory (equivalent to 9,216 eight-bit bytes, though the system actually divides an 18-bit word into six-bit characters), upgradable to 65,536 words. The magnetic-core memory's cycle time is 5.35 microseconds (corresponding roughly to a clock speed of 187 kilohertz); consequently most arithmetic instructions take 10.7 microseconds (93,458 operations per second) because they use two memory cycles: the first to fetch the instruction, the second to fetch or store the data word. Signed numbers are represented in ones' complement. The PDP-1 has computing power roughly equivalent to a 1996 pocket organizer and a little less memory.^[4]

 

A System Building Block, seen end-on

 

System Building Blocks 1103 hex-inverter card

 

PDP-1 System Building Block #4106, circa 1963, with a US quarter – note that one transistor (yellow) has been replaced

The PDP-1 uses 2,700 transistors and 3,000 diodes.^[5] It is built mostly of DEC 1000-series System Building Blocks, using micro-alloy and micro-alloy diffused transistors with a rated switching speed of 5 MHz. The System Building Blocks are packaged into several 19-inch racks. The racks are themselves packaged into a single large mainframe case, with a hexagonal control panel containing switches and lights mounted to lie at table-top height at one end of the mainframe. Above the control panel is the system's standard input/output solution, a punched tape reader and writer.

The PDP-1 weighed about 730 kg (1,600 lb).^[6]

History

The design of the PDP-1 is based on the pioneering TX-0 and TX-2 computers, designed and built at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Benjamin Gurley was the lead engineer on the project.^[7] After showing a prototype at the Eastern Joint Computer Conference in December 1959, DEC delivered the first PDP-1 to Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) in November 1960,^[8][9] and it was formally accepted in early 1961.^[10] In September 1961, DEC donated the PDP-1 to MIT,^[11] where it was placed in the room next to its ancestor, the TX-0 computer,^[12] which was by then on indefinite loan from Lincoln Laboratory.

In this setting, the PDP-1 quickly replaced the TX-0 as the favorite machine among the budding hacker culture, and served as the platform for a long list of computing innovations. This list includes one of the earliest digital video games, Spacewar!,^[3] the first text editor, the first word processor, the first interactive debugger, the first credible computer chess program, one of the very earliest time-sharing systems (BBN Time-Sharing System), and some of the earliest computerized music.^[13] At the Computer History Museum TX-0 alumni reunion in 1984, Gordon Bell said DEC's products developed directly from the TX-2, the successor to the TX-0 which had been developed at what Bell thought was a bargain price at the time, about US$3 million. At the same meeting, Jack Dennis said Ben Gurley's design for the PDP-1 was influenced by his work on the TX-0 display. ^[14]

The PDP-1 sold in basic form for US$120,000 (equivalent to US$1,088,151 in 2021).^[15] BBN's system was quickly followed by orders from Lawrence Livermore and Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL), and eventually 53 PDP-1s were delivered until production ended in 1969.^[16][17] All of these machines were still being actively used in 1970, and several were eventually saved. MIT's example was donated to The Computer Museum, Boston, and from there ended up at the Computer History Museum (CHM). A late version of Spacewar! on paper tape was still tucked into the case. PDP-1 #44 was found in a barn in Wichita, Kansas in 1988, apparently formerly owned by one of the many aviation companies in the area, and rescued for the Digital Historical Collection, also eventually ending up at the CHM.^[18] AECL's computer was sent to Science North, but was later scrapped.

The launch of the PDP-1 marked a radical shift in the philosophy of computer design: it is the first commercial computer that focuses on interaction with the user rather than just the efficient use of computer cycles.^[19]

The first ever reference to malicious hacking is 'telephone hackers' in MIT's student newspaper, The Tech of hackers tying up the lines with Harvard, configuring the PDP-1 to make free calls, war dialing and accumulating large phone bills.^[20][21][22]

Peripherals

 

PDP-1 Type 30 point-mode CRT display and console typewriter, with processor frame in background

The PDP-1 uses punched paper tape as its primary storage medium.^[15] Unlike punched card decks, which could be sorted and re-ordered, paper tape is difficult to physically edit. This inspired the creation of text-editing programs such as Expensive Typewriter and TECO. Because it is equipped with online and offline printers that were based on IBM electric typewriter mechanisms, it is capable of what, in 1980s terminology, would be called "letter-quality printing" and therefore inspired TJ-2, arguably the first word processor.

The console typewriter is the product of a company named Soroban Engineering. It uses an IBM Model B Electric typewriter mechanism, modified by the addition of switches to detect keypresses, and solenoids to activate the typebars. It uses a traditional typebar mechanism, not the "golfball" IBM Selectric typewriter mechanism, which was not introduced until the next year. Lettercase is selected by raising and lowering the massive type basket. The Soroban is equipped with a two-color inked ribbon (red and black), and the interface allows color selection. Programs commonly use color-coding to distinguish user input from machine responses. The Soroban mechanism is unreliable and prone to jamming, particularly when shifting case or changing ribbon color.

Offline devices are typically Friden Flexowriters that have been specially built to operate with the FIO-DEC character coding used by the PDP-1. Like the console typewriter, these are built around a typing mechanism that is mechanically the same as an IBM Electric typewriter.^[23] However, Flexowriters are highly reliable and were often used for long unattended printing sessions. Flexowriters have electromechanical paper tape punches and readers which operate synchronously with the typewriter mechanism. Typing rates are about ten characters per second. A typical PDP-1 operating procedure is to output text to punched paper tape using the PDP-1's "high speed" (60-character-per-second) Teletype model BRPE punch, then to hand carry the tape to a Flexowriter for offline printing.

In later years, DECtape drives were added to some PDP-1 systems, as a more convenient method of backing up programs and data, and to enable early time-sharing. This latter application usually requires a secondary storage medium for swapping programs and data in and out of core memory, without requiring manual intervention. For this purpose, DECtapes are far superior to paper tapes, in terms of reliability, durability, and speed. Early hard disks were expensive and notoriously unreliable; if available and working, they are used primarily for speed of swapping, and not for permanent file storage.

Graphics display

The Type 30 Precision CRT display is a point plotting display device capable of addressing 1024 by 1024 addressable locations at a rate of 20,000 points per second.^[24] A special "Display One Point On CRT" instruction is used to build up images, which have to be refreshed many times per second.^[24] The CRT, which was originally developed for use in radar, is 16 inches (41 cm) in diameter and uses a long-persistence P7 phosphor.^[25] A light pen can be used with the Type 30 to pick points on the display. An optional character generator and hardware for line and curve generation are available.^[24]

Computer music

MIT hackers also used the PDP-1 for playing music in four-part harmony, using some special hardware – four flip-flops directly controlled by the processor (the audio signal is filtered with simple RC filters). Music was prepared via Peter Samson's Harmony Compiler, a sophisticated text-based program with some features specifically oriented toward the efficient coding of baroque music. Several hours of music were prepared for it, including Bach fugues, all of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik, the Ode to Joy movement concluding Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Christmas carols, and numerous popular songs.

Current status

 

PDP-1 Control Panel

Only three PDP-1 computers are still known to exist, and all three are in the collection of the Computer History Museum (CHM). One is the prototype formerly used at MIT, and the other two are production PDP-1C machines. One of the latter, serial number 55 (the last PDP-1 made) has been restored to working order, is on exhibit, and is demonstrated on two Saturdays every month. The demonstrations include:

• the game Spacewar!
• graphics demonstrations such as Snowflake
• playing music

Software simulations of the PDP-1 exist in SIMH and MESS, hardware recreation through FPGA exists for the MiSTer project as well, and binary image paper tapes of the software exist in the bitsavers.org archives.^[26]

See also

• History of computers
• History of computer science
• Spacewar!
• Tech Model Railroad Club
• Timeline of computing

Notes

1. "Early Computers at Stanford". Stanford University. February 6, 2022 [1997-08-15]. from the original on February 14, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
2. "Computer History Museum PDP-1 Restoration Project – Introduction". Computer History Museum. from the original on March 16, 2022. Retrieved April 6, 2011.
3. "1960: DEC PDP-1 Precursor to the Minicomputer". CED Magic. from the original on January 3, 2022. Retrieved December 4, 2008.
4. Hafner, Katie; Lyon, Matthew (1996). Where wizards stay up late : the origins of the Internet (1st Touchstone ed.). New York City: Simon and Schuster. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-684-81201-4. LCCN 96019533. OCLC 935805191. OL 23262579M – via Internet Archive.
5. "PDP-1 computer". Computer History Museum. from the original on June 7, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
6. Weik, Martin H. (March 1961). "Programmed Data Processor". Ed Thelen's Nike Missile Web Site. A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems. from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
7. "Ben Gurley". Computer History Museum. from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
8. "1960". DIGITAL Computing Timeline. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
9. Bell, C. Gordon; Mudge, J. Craig; McNamara, John E. (2014). Computer Engineering: A DEC View of Hardware Systems Design. Digital Press. pp. 123–124, 134–137. ISBN 978-1-4832-2110-6. OCLC 900212390.
10. "News of Computers and' Data Processors: Across the Editor's Desk – the First "Programmed Data Processor" Delivered and in Use". Computers and Automation. 10 (4(B)): 8B. April 1961. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
11. "PDP-1 Story". Gordon Bell. April 30, 1998. from the original on February 15, 2022. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
12. The Mouse That Roared: PDP-1 Celebration Event Lecture. Computer History Museum. May 15, 2006. Citation timestamps 32:48 panel starts, 43:55 and 47:00 first prototype Dec 1959, 52:40 PDP-1 donation in Sep 1961, 53:46 PDP-1 next to TX-0 in 1961 (about 3 min). from the original on March 23, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
13. Strebe, Judith A.; Kim, Rebekah (2006). "Guide to the Collection of Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-1 Computer Materials" (PDF). Computer History Museum. (PDF) from the original on August 28, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
14. (PDF). The Computer Museum Report (8). Spring 1984. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 8, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
15. "The Great Videogame Swindle?". Next Generation. No. 23. Imagine Media. November 1996. pp. 64–68, 211–229. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
16. Digital Equipment Corporation (1978). Digital Equipment Corporation: Nineteen Fifty-Seven to the Present (PDF). Gordon Bell. DEC Press. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 23, 2022. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
17. Grenia, Mark W., ed. (February 2001). History of Computing:An Encyclopedia of the People and Machines that Made Computer History. Lexikon Services. ISBN 978-0-944601-78-5. OL 11565276M – via Open Library.
18. Bergin, Thomas. "Digital Equipment Corporation". SlideToDoc. Archived from the original on March 23, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
19. . Computer History Museum. Archived from the original on July 14, 2018. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
20. Press, Gil (November 20, 2011). "Hacking and Blue Boxes". The Story of Information. from the original on April 18, 2021.
21. Duarte, Gustavo (August 27, 2008). "First Recorded Usage of "Hacker"". Many But Finite. from the original on February 21, 2022. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
22. Lichstein, Henry (November 20, 1963). "Telephone Hackers Active" (PDF). The Tech. Vol. 83, no. 24. p. 1. (PDF) from the original on February 16, 2022. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
23. Mast, Bob (November 24, 1998). "From: Bob Mast". Blinkenlights Archæological Institute. from the original on January 2, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022. The Flexowriter was first manufactured by IBM , during WWII, to be used as an automatic letter writer. After the war several IBMers bought the rights and formed Commercial Controls, Inc. They manufactured same in the old IBM Selectric typewriter building in Rochester NY. In the late fifties, Friden bought Commercial Controls.
24. PDP-1 Handbook (PDF). Digital Equipment Corporation. 1963. pp. 33–36. (PDF) from the original on August 28, 2021. Retrieved March 22, 2022 – via Bitsavers.
25. CuriousMarc (May 2, 2017). Lyle Bickley explains the PDP-1 (and we play the original Spacewar!). Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2018 – via YouTube.
26. "Index of /bits/DEC/pdp1/papertapeImages". from the original on January 7, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2022 – via Bitsavers.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to PDP-1.

• Čavrak, Hrvoje (October 27, 2019). "FPG-1 is a PDP-1 implementation in FPGA". GitHub. from the original on October 9, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
• "DEC PDP-1". D Bit. from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
• DEC PDP-1 music on YouTube
• "Index of /pdf/dec/pdp1". Bitsavers. from the original on March 23, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
• PDP-1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. November 13, 2006. from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2022 – via Flickr.
• "PDP-1 Music". Daniel P. B. Smith. from the original on November 20, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
• "Spacewar! It Came from MIT". The Dot Eaters: Video Game History 101. from the original on April 18, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
• "Spacewar! - Original 1962 game code running on a PDP-1 emulator in JavaScript". OverSigma. from the original on November 25, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
• "Welcome | PDP-1 Restoration Project". Computer History Museum. from the original on March 16, 2022. Retrieved March 23, 2022.