{"id":8130,"date":"2025-10-01T16:20:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T15:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetawelle.de\/?p=8130"},"modified":"2025-10-10T23:25:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T22:25:14","slug":"dec-pdp-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetawelle.de\/?p=8130","title":{"rendered":"DEC PDP-1"},"content":{"rendered":"

…is a computer designed and produced in 1959<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The PDP-1 (Programmed Data Processor-1)<\/a><\/strong> is the first computer in Digital Equipment Corporation’s PDP series and was first produced in 1959. It is known for being the most important computer in the creation of hacker culture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bolt, Beranek and Newman, and elsewhere. The PDP-1 is the original hardware for one of the first video games, Steve Russell’s<\/a> 1962 game Spacewar!.<\/p>\n

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Considering the pace of change in computing, that might seem like the prehistoric age. However, it is also surprisingly modern and proves a point that the basic concepts still withstand the test of time.<\/p>\n

The PDP kind of became a bit famous also for very special Software running on it. For example the Snowflake<\/a><\/strong> binary (see below) and the Spacewars!<\/a><\/strong> binary (see above).<\/p>\n

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Snowflake is a kaleidoscopic program, mapping a list of moving points multiple times onto the screen in a starlike manner. It may be even the first of these programs. However, several programmers of the day experimented with the graphics capabilities of the PDP-1 and its Type 30 CRT display, amongst them Marvin Minsky, Ben Gurley (the PDP-1\u2019s ingenious designer), and David Mapes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a variation of the snowflake code can the Minskytron<\/a> be considered, which allows to manipulate several parameters and get very fancy movements of the Cathode Ray of the circular display.<\/p>\n

The softwares\/codes of these marvels of software engineering have been saved and archived as cultural achievements by the bitsavers archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Creating sound<\/h2>\n