Hardware Day
On Tuesday June 18, 2024, the Computer Museum hosted our 2nd Hardware Day of the year. The event ran from 10am to 4pm in the David Centre "Fishbowl" (DC 1301).
For this term's Hardware Day, we chose to explore the themes of Digital Equipment Corporation's (DEC) PDPs as well as advancements and design changes in portable computing technology. Our featured artifacts included the DEC PDP-11/04, and the Waterloo Computer On Wheels (aka the "WatCOW").
Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
PDP
Programmed Data Processor (PDP), also called Programmable Data Processor, is the name of several lines of minicomputers released by DEC between the years of 1957 and 1990.
Our PDP-11/04 unit (2010.3.51) includes an RX01 floppy drive, taking 8' floppies that were single-sided and single-density.
The PDP-11/04 was a big hit on Hardware Day and curiosity as to what was contained inside the cabinet led to us taking it apart!
Getting a closer look inside the PDP 11/04 cabinet
Speaker: Lanny Cox
We welcomed Lanny Cox who presented a talk entitled "My Many Mini-Computers: Peeking Inside the PiDP". This included an exploration of the significance of DEC in computing history as well as a demo of the PiDP-11 system - a scale-model simulation of a DEC mini running on a Raspberry Pi using the SimH simulator.
Lanny Cox is a lifelong computer enthusiast with great interest in the DEC minicomputers of the 1960s and '70s, but not much space to store them, or extra spare change to pay the power bill. Luckily, though these computers are no longer in production, a dedicated community of engineers have spent decades preserving their hardware and software and making their computing environments available to a new generation of users.
My Many Mini Computers: Peeking Inside the PiDP - Lanny Cox
Portable Computing
WatCOW
A significant use of the PDP at the University of Waterloo was in the creation of the Waterloo Computer of Wheels, nicknamed the "WatCOW". The WatCOW was used from 1975-1978 to bring computing power to high schools in Ontario, as well as classrooms in the University of Waterloo.
It cost $20,000 and consisted of the following components:
- Documentation Card Reader
- Centronix Printer
- DEC PDP 11/10 Processor
- DEC RK11/RK05 Disk
- Volker-Craig Monitor
The WatCOW's pieces were divided into 4 separate boxes. These boxes were transported using a custom cart as they were quite heavy, weighing a total of 500 lbs.
The WatCOW, assembled.
Other Artifacts
Aside from the WatCOW, we displayed many models of portable computers, as well as a variety of our functioning vintage systems for visitors to try out. Visit our catalogue to view these computers and other items in our collection!
Full exhibit of artifacts in DC 1301
Visit our office in DC 1316 to try out our IBM Selectric III Typewriter for yourself!
Panasonic Executive Word Processor, Smith Corona Word Processor, and Ultratec Superprint
Hp Portable Plus and Zenith SupersPort
Zenith Laptops and manual, and a Computing Now! Portables magazine
Various portable computers on display
Various portable computers on display
OLPCs and HP Compaq TC 1100
Sharp PC-7000 and IBM Selectric III Typewriter
About the Author
Amy studies Computational Mathematics at the University of Waterloo and is currently working for the Computer Museum as their Summer 2024 co-op student. In her free time, she enjoys painting, collaging, and other forms of visual art making.