wh3016
Experienced Member
Hello everyone, long-time lurker, first-time poster here
I have a DEC PDP-11/05 that came from the estate of an old-time computer guy. I'll admit I'm by no means an expert on minicomputer systems of this era, after all, this thing is pretty much twice as old as I am, but I saw a local listing for it and decided to pick it up. For the past 10 years, I've been collecting things like a few 68k macintoshes and an 8088 PC clone, but in 2019 I picked up three Teletype ASR-33's for free and spent some time getting them working. Since then I had been on the hunt for some 'big game' computer equipment, and after having a local PDP-8E (Maynard MA is right in my backyard) 'slip through my fingers' back in 2020, I was pretty excited to actually get my hands on a machine of this caliber.
The guy I bought the machine from said it powered up. I was a little nervous at first, because if one of the PSU components had gone bad, powering the thing up after 30 odd years very well could have let out the 'smoke. When I received the machine, it was pretty dusty, and had signs of a mouse living inside. Despite this though, it cleaned up pretty well. Visually, I see no signs of chewed wiring or corrosion. I should note that I pulled all the modules out before I began checking the power supply. None of the capacitors show any signs of leaking, and after probing the power connector, J2 on the underside, I am seeing the necessary +15V, -15V, and +5V, all within 5% of their values.
As for modules, the machine came with the following:
Slot 1- M9970
Slot 2-M7260, OP KD11B
Slot 3-M7261, OP KD11B
Slot 4- H214, OP MM11L
Slot 5- G116, OP MM11
Slot 6- G231, OP MM11
Slot 10- M792, OP DD11B
Slot 11- M7800, OP DD11B
Slot 14- M7892
Additionally, I have three other M7800 modules, two of which are still in their cardboard case and don't appear to have been used.
Now before I proceed, I wanted to ask you, folks, for advice on what to do next. Again I'm no expert on PDPs or unibus systems, but I'm eager to learn. I'm actually recent-grad electrical engineer, but I did take an assembly language course in college, which fueled my interest in machines where you can toggle data into the registers through switches.
I have a DEC PDP-11/05 that came from the estate of an old-time computer guy. I'll admit I'm by no means an expert on minicomputer systems of this era, after all, this thing is pretty much twice as old as I am, but I saw a local listing for it and decided to pick it up. For the past 10 years, I've been collecting things like a few 68k macintoshes and an 8088 PC clone, but in 2019 I picked up three Teletype ASR-33's for free and spent some time getting them working. Since then I had been on the hunt for some 'big game' computer equipment, and after having a local PDP-8E (Maynard MA is right in my backyard) 'slip through my fingers' back in 2020, I was pretty excited to actually get my hands on a machine of this caliber.
The guy I bought the machine from said it powered up. I was a little nervous at first, because if one of the PSU components had gone bad, powering the thing up after 30 odd years very well could have let out the 'smoke. When I received the machine, it was pretty dusty, and had signs of a mouse living inside. Despite this though, it cleaned up pretty well. Visually, I see no signs of chewed wiring or corrosion. I should note that I pulled all the modules out before I began checking the power supply. None of the capacitors show any signs of leaking, and after probing the power connector, J2 on the underside, I am seeing the necessary +15V, -15V, and +5V, all within 5% of their values.
As for modules, the machine came with the following:
Slot 1- M9970
Slot 2-M7260, OP KD11B
Slot 3-M7261, OP KD11B
Slot 4- H214, OP MM11L
Slot 5- G116, OP MM11
Slot 6- G231, OP MM11
Slot 10- M792, OP DD11B
Slot 11- M7800, OP DD11B
Slot 14- M7892
Additionally, I have three other M7800 modules, two of which are still in their cardboard case and don't appear to have been used.
Now before I proceed, I wanted to ask you, folks, for advice on what to do next. Again I'm no expert on PDPs or unibus systems, but I'm eager to learn. I'm actually recent-grad electrical engineer, but I did take an assembly language course in college, which fueled my interest in machines where you can toggle data into the registers through switches.