From BOTHAPR.ADMIN20@mhs.unisa.ac.za Wed Sep 8 02:33:18 1993 Return-Path: Received: from mailhub.cc.columbia.edu by watsun.cc.columbia.edu (5.59/FCB/jba) id AA26509; Wed, 8 Sep 93 02:33:16 EDT Received: from life.ai.mit.edu by mailhub.cc.columbia.edu with SMTP id AA27209 (5.65c+CU/IDA-1.4.4/HLK for lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu); Wed, 8 Sep 1993 02:33:08 -0400 Received: from risc1.unisa.ac.za by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) for lasner@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu id AA22442; Wed, 8 Sep 93 02:05:31 EDT Received: from mhs.unisa.ac.za by risc1.unisa.ac.za (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/4.03) id AA20670; Wed, 8 Sep 1993 08:06:40 +0200 Message-Id: <9309080606.AA20670@risc1.unisa.ac.za> From: BOTHAPR.ADMIN20@mhs.unisa.ac.za (BOTHAPR) To: pdp8-lovers@ai.mit.edu (-) Subject: Date: Mon, 06 Sep 93 09:04 SUBSCRIBE Pieter Botha Return-Path: Received: from ELI.CS.YALE.EDU by CASPER.NA.CS.YALE.EDU via SMTP; Tue, 14 Sep 1993 18:43:27 -0400 Received: from life.ai.mit.edu by eli.CS.YALE.EDU via SMTP; Tue, 14 Sep 1993 18:43:19 -0400 Received: from ns-mx.uiowa.edu by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) for narem@cs.yale.edu id AA25557; Tue, 14 Sep 93 18:07:03 EDT Received: from pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu by ns-mx.uiowa.edu (5.64.jnf/920408) on Tue, 14 Sep 93 17:06:59 -0500 id AA20396 with SMTP Received: by pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu (5.59/890218) on Tue, 14 Sep 93 17:06:39 CDT id AA19232 Date: Tue, 14 Sep 93 17:06:39 CDT From: Douglas W. Jones Message-Id: <9309142206.AA19232@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu> To: pdp8-lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: PDP-8 production history. Content-Type: text Content-Length: 3223 Return-Path: Date: Tue, 14 Sep 93 17:06:39 CDT From: Douglas W. Jones To: pdp8-lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: PDP-8 production history. Content-Type: text Content-Length: 3223 As many of you may know, I've been trying to get production history figures for the PDP-8. Well, I've finally found a source of such information, the monthly Computer Census tables published in Computers and Automation. I've gleaned the following, so far: For the PDP-5: Sales: Date Installations Unfilled Orders July 1963 0 1 Oct 1963 2 1 Nov 1963 3 11 Dec 1963 4 12 Jan 1964 4 12 Feb 1964 5 16 Mar 1964 7 21 Apr 1964 12 26 May 1964 23 30 July 1964 34 28 Aug 1964 40 40 Sept 1964 52 10 Oct 1964 55 10 Nov 1964 61 8 Dec 1964 75 5 Jan 1965 80 5 Feb 1965 85 7 Mar 1965 98 12 Apr 1965 100 8 May 1965 103 5 July 1965 110 5 Aug 1965 110 4 Sept 1965 112 4 Oct 1965 113 3 Nov 1965 112 3 Dec 1965 112 3 For the PDP-8 Sales: Date Installations Unfilled Orders Dec 1964 0 14 Jan 1965 0 16 Feb 1965 0 21 Mar 1965 0 45 Apr 1965 0 90 May 1965 0 120 July 1965 9 160 Aug 1965 30 155 Sept 1965 45 160 Oct 1965 50 202 Nov 1965 53 302 Dec 1965 75 302 I haven't had time to get beyond 1975 in my survey, but notice that DEC was taking orders and publishing their unfilled order statistics for the PDP-8 for at least 3 months before they officially unvelied their machine. As a way to judge the time lag in the publication of these statistics, consider that I have PDP-8 serial number 85, delivered in early 1966. The other interesting thing to note is that DEC continued to make and deliver small numbers of PDP-5 systems between July and September, while their PDP-8 production finally came up to speed. The other interesting thing I learned from this census was that in 1964, DEC and Monroe were the only two computer companies that didn't offer lease prices on their machines. Everyone else was selling computers on a leased basis, but DEC and Monroe required that you pay cash. Doug Jones jones@cs.uiowa.edu Return-Path: Received: from ELI.CS.YALE.EDU by CASPER.NA.CS.YALE.EDU via SMTP; Wed, 15 Sep 1993 09:08:54 -0400 Received: from life.ai.mit.edu by eli.CS.YALE.EDU via SMTP; Wed, 15 Sep 1993 09:08:43 -0400 Received: from citi.umich.edu by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) for narem@cs.yale.edu id AA04603; Wed, 15 Sep 93 08:29:05 EDT Received: from sinshan.citi.umich.edu by citi.umich.edu with SMTP; Wed, 15 Sep 93 08:28:27 -0400 Message-Id: <9309151229.AA04603@life.ai.mit.edu> From: Sarr Blumson To: "Douglas W. Jones" Cc: pdp8-lovers@ai.mit.edu Date: Wed, 15 Sep 93 08:28:26 -0400 Subject: Re: PDP-8 production history. In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 14 Sep 93 17:06:39 CDT." <9309142206.AA19232@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu> Content-Type: text Content-Length: 662 Return-Path: From: Sarr Blumson To: "Douglas W. Jones" Cc: pdp8-lovers@ai.mit.edu Date: Wed, 15 Sep 93 08:28:26 -0400 Subject: Re: PDP-8 production history. In-Reply-To: Your message of "Tue, 14 Sep 93 17:06:39 CDT." <9309142206.AA19232@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu> Content-Type: text Content-Length: 662 The other interesting thing I learned from this census was that in 1964, DEC and Monroe were the only two computer companies that didn't offer lease prices on their machines. Everyone else was selling computers on a leased basis, but DEC and Monroe required that you pay cash. Thereby creating a whole industry of third party lessors for DEC equipment. DELOS (sp?) was the best known, at least to me; I think they were actually a spinoff of BB&N -------- Sarr Blumson sarr@citi.umich.edu voice: +1 313 764 0253 FAX: +1 313 763 4434 CITI/IFS, University of Michigan, 519 W William, Ann Arbor, MI 48103-4943