DECmate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The DECmate was a series of computers produced by the Digital Equipment Corporation in the early 1980s. They were text-only and were aimed at the word-processing market, running the company's WPS-8 operating system. All of the models used an Intersil or Harris 6120 microprocessor which emulated the 12-bit DEC PDP-8 CPU, and later models also had an Intel 8080 or Z80 microprocessor which allowed them to run CP/M.
The range was a development of the VT78 terminal introduced in 1978.
- VT78 - VT52 case, One 8-inch RX01 floppy disk drive, 2.2 MHz clock
- VT278 DECmate - introduced 1980, VT100 case, 1 Dual RX02 8-inch floppy disk drive, 10 MHz clock, 32 KWord memory.
- PC278 DECmate II - introduced 1982, Rainbow 100 system case, VT220 monitor and LK201 keyboard, two 5.25-inch RX50 floppy disk drives. It appeared at the same time as the PRO-380 and the Rainbow100 as part of a three-pronged strategy in the PC market.
- PC238 DECmate III - introduced 1984, larger system case, color monitor, 8 MHz clock, two 5.25-inch RX50 floppy disk drives, 32 KB user RAM, 32 KB system RAM
- PC24P DECmate III+ - introduced 1985, withdrawn 1990. It included a hard disk controller as part of the basic configuration.
[edit] Foibles
The DECmates were kinda okay for word-processing, but due to various hardware quirks, were somewhat incompatible with many existing PDP-8 programs. The I/O interfaces worked slightly differently, which meant that almost all existing user and system programs could not detect Control-C and exit reliably. Each and every program, both user and system, had to be patched to gloss over this anomaly. This and the somewhat lethargic CPU speed and screen update speed made the DECmate series kind of a dog for anyone used to the more zippy older PDP-8's.
[edit] References
- DECmates at Columbia University
- VT78, Old Computers website
- DECmate I, Trailing Edge website
- DECmate II, old computers website
- DECmate III+, at machine-room.org
