Ah yes, thank you - this changes things considerably...
Any idea if the documentation [mostly schematics] of the KY11-D will be close enough, or should I start digging through my stash?
...You know, I’ve often wondered how DEC made the profit they did considering all the product variations they supported early on.
It was indeed a concern to them throughout the company history. Products like the PDP-10 evolved so much that DEC found itself buried under all the engineering "support weight" of it's success. The same thing was happening in the PDP-11 line. They began to realize it had to be solved when orders for new product typically turned out inoperable "as configured".
Their ultimate solution was to use product evolution to drive sales into "Pre-Configured Systems". The MicroPDP-11 and Decsystem 20 lines of the early 80's were the result. As an additional discouragement, they would not "support" PDP-10, 20 option configurations they didn't "Bless".
Ultimately, DEC had to [forcibly] cease production of the 36 bit lines altogether to make them "go away". There was no technical reason for this, and perhaps not even a marketing one. Many PDP-10 systems were still in use when DEC was later acquired, and higher performance "Clones" and replacement parts were available, most customer engineered out of frustration at the neglect .
I find this very ironic in light of DEC's mid 80's declaration that they "
would rather have 2% of IBM's business than all the customers they had" [Olsen]
Just what kind of example did they think it was for a target market so see how they treated their last, loyal, "Large System" customers?
...and the PDP-11's? They sold the line to Mentec to eliminate the engineering "distraction". I would like to see the justification logic for this decision. DEC was deliberately creating a competitor in smaller systems, rather than evolve a line that could easily outstrip the commercial success of the company that would eventually acquire DEC (Compaq).
It is a wonder, indeed.
Sorry, my sour grapes are showing again.