pdp-11

2 definitions found

pdp-11 - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  PDP-11
  
     Programmed Data Processor model 11.
  
     A series of minicomputers based on an instruction set
     designed by C. Gordon Bell at DEC in the early 1970s (late
     60s?).  The PDP-11 family, which came after, but was not
     derived from, the PDP-10, was the most successful computer
     of its time until it was itself succeeded by the VAX.
  
     Models included the 11/23 and 11/24 (based on the F11
     chipset); 11/44, 11/04, 11/34, 11/05, 11/10, 11/15, 11/20,
     11/35, 11/40, 11/45, 11/70, 11/60 (MSI and SSI); LSI-11/2
     and LSI-11 (LSI-11 chipset).  In addition there were the 11/8x
     (J11 chipset) and SBC-11/21 (T11 chip) and then there was
     compatibility mode in the early VAX processors.
  
     The B and C languages were both used initially to
     implement Unix on the PDP-11.  The microprocessor design
     tradition owes a heavy debt to the PDP-11 instruction set.
  
     See also SEX.
  
     (1994-12-21)
  

pdp-11 - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  PDP-11
  
  
     Possibly the single most successful minicomputer design in history, a
     favorite of hackers for many years, and the first major Unix machine,
     The first PDP-11s (the 11/15 and 11/20) shipped in 1970 from DEC;
     the last (11/93 and 11/94) in 1990. Along the way, the 11 gave birth
     to the VAX, strongly influenced the design of microprocessors such
     as the Motorola 6800 and Intel 386, and left a permanent imprint on
     the C language (which has an odd preference for octal embedded in its
     syntax because of the way PDP-11 machine instructions were
  formatted).
     There is a history site.