DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation)

Digital Equipment Corporation henceforth known as DEC was founded in 1957 with the mission to build component boards called Digital Laboratory Modules. In 1960, DEC released the PDP-1 or Programmed Data Processor. Their investors insisted on the the PDP moniker instead of computer since at the time a $120,000 computer was unheard of. After a couple of moderate success with the 12-bit PDP-5 and the 18-bit PDP-7, DEC took the computing world by storm with the 12-bit PDP-8 in 1965. The PDP-8 is widely considered the first minicomputer, not to be confused with the current definition referring to computers such as the Raspberry Pi. The original PDP-8 cost under $20,000 and by 1974, there were models under $2,000. The next major model was the PDP-10, one of two mainframe class computers sold by DEC. The next model was ubiquitous with 16-bit minicomputer in the 70s and 80s, the PDP-11. Originally designed simply as a 32-bit, virtual memory extension to the PDP-11 was the VAX. There were many VAX models and in other articles, many of them will be covered here. Later DEC released the Alpha, a 64-bit RISC computer and various PC compatibles. DEC was acquired by Compaq in 1998 and then Compaq was acquired by Hewlett Packard in 2002.

List of DEC Computers

There are also a few other models that are mostly x86 machines such as the Rainbow, the VAXmate, and the DECpc.

Another thing that DEC was known for was its operating systems such as OS/8, RT-11, RSTS, RSX, and VMS.

Back to Main Computer Page