Editing PDP-8 (section)

==Overview==
[[File:PDP-8e, inside, 2.jpg|thumb|upright|An open PDP-8/E with its logic modules behind the front panel and one dual TU56 [[DECtape]] drive at the top]]
[[File:DEC PDP-8, Stuttgart, cropped.jpg|thumb|A "Straight-8" running at the [[Stuttgart Computer Museum]]]]
The earliest PDP-8 model, informally known as a "Straight-8", was introduced on 22 March 1965 priced at $18,500<ref name=LowPrice>{{cite web|url=https://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/faqs/|title=The Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-8 -- Frequently Asked Questions|author=Douglas W. Jones|author-link=Douglas W. Jones}}</ref> ({{Inflation|US|18500|1965|r=-2|fmt=eq|cursign=about $}}{{Inflation-fn|US}}). It uses [[diode–transistor logic]] packaged on [[Flip-Chip module|flip chip]] cards in a machine about the size of a small household [[refrigerator]]. It was the first computer to be sold for under $20,000,<ref name="decdead">{{cite book|last1=Schein|first1=Edgar H.|title=DEC is dead, long live DEC: the lasting legacy of Digital Equipment Corporation|page=271|date=2004|publisher=Berrett-Koehler Publishers|location=San Francisco, Calif.|isbn=1576753050|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0DjskoVupdUC&q=PDP-8}}</ref> making it the best-selling computer in history at that time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://homepage.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/|title=The Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-8|author=Douglas W. Jones}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=October 2019|reason=Page doesn't describe sales numbers.}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://historywired.si.edu/object.cfm?ID=338|title=PDP-8 1965|website=History Wired| date=16 March 2012 |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]|access-date=February 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217100210/http://historywired.si.edu/object.cfm?ID=338|archive-date=2015-02-17}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=October 2019|reason=Source doesn't have "best-selling" claim.}} The Straight-8 was supplanted in 1966 by the PDP-8/S, which was available in desktop and rack-mount models. Using a [[bit-serial architecture|one-bit serial]] [[arithmetic logic unit]] (ALU) allowed the PDP-8/S to be smaller and less expensive, although slower than the original PDP-8. A basic 8/S sold for under $10,000, the first machine to reach that milestone.<ref name="decdead"/><ref name="ricomputermuseum">{{Cite web |date=Aug 18, 2020 |title=PDP-8/S #1 |url=https://www.ricomputermuseum.org/collections-gallery/equipment/pdp-8s |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226162005/https://www.ricomputermuseum.org/collections-gallery/equipment/pdp-8s |archive-date=2021-02-26 |url-status=live |access-date=May 7, 2021 |website=Rhode Island Computer Museum}}</ref>

Later systems (the PDP-8/I and /L, the PDP-8/E, /F, and /M, and the PDP-8/A) returned to a faster, fully parallel implementation but use much less costly [[transistor–transistor logic]] (TTL) [[integrated circuit#MSI|MSI]] logic. Most surviving PDP-8s are from this era. The PDP-8/E is common, and well-regarded because many types of [[input/output|I/O]] devices were available for it. The last commercial PDP-8 models introduced in 1979 are called "CMOS-8s", based on [[CMOS]] microprocessors. They were not priced competitively, and the offering failed. [[Intersil]] sold the integrated circuits commercially through 1982 as the [[Intersil 6100]] family. By virtue of their CMOS technology they had low power requirements and were used in some embedded military systems.

The chief engineer who designed the initial version of the PDP-8 was [[Edson de Castro]], who later founded [[Data General]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S22mQgAACAAJ|title=The ultimate entrepreneur: the story of Ken Olsen and Digital Equipment Corporation|author1=Glenn Rifkin|author2=George Harrar|year=1988|publisher=Contemporary Books |isbn=978-1-55958-022-9}}</ref>