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![]() A PDP-8 on display at The National Museum of Computing in Bletchley, England. This example is from the first generation of PDP-8s, built with discrete transistors and later known as the Straight 8. | |
Developer | Digital Equipment Corporation |
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Product family | Programmed Data Processor |
Type | Minicomputer |
Release date | March 22, 1965 |
Introductory price | US$18,500, equivalent to about $178,900 in 2023 |
Units sold | 50,000+ |
Platform | DEC 12-bit |
Predecessor | PDP-5 |
Successor | PDP-12 |
The PDP-8 is a family of 12-bit minicomputers that was produced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). It was the first commercially successful minicomputer, with over 50,000 units being sold over the model's lifetime.[1] Its basic design follows the pioneering LINC but has a smaller instruction set, which is an expanded version of the PDP-5 instruction set.[2] Similar machines from DEC are the PDP-12 which is a modernized version of the PDP-8 and LINC concepts, and the PDP-14 industrial controller system.