The SBC6120 is back once again! (PDP-8 clone KIT)
Bob
Bob's permission. Please direct all discussion to that forum. Bob
requested that I make it VERY clear that more front panels are very
unlikely at this time: it would take at least a hundred orders to make
it possible. And please don't address any questions to me. I'm just
spreading the word for Bob.]
THE SBC6120 IS BACK!
A friend pointed me to a source for still more NOS HD6120 chips and
gently "persuaded" me to order more SBC6120 PC boards. That means the
SBC6120 is back - you can order a bare PC board, a partial kit of the
hard to find parts, or (for a very limited time) a full kit of all
parts, from the web page -
http://www.sparetimegizmos.com/Hardware/SBC6120-2.htm
WHAT'S A SBC6120?
The SBC6120 is a clone of the venerable DEC PDP-8 minicomputer that
you can build yourself, today, using more-or-less modern parts. The
CPU
is the Harris HD6120 PDP-8 chip, which is the same part used in
Digital's DECmate series of computers. The SBC6120 uses an IDE/ATA
disk
or CompactFlash card for mass storage, any ordinary serial ASCII
terminal as a console, and can run OS/8, FOCAL69, and pretty much any
other software that would have run on a PDP-8/E.
Construction is pretty simple with the PC board. Only thru hole parts
are used and no difficult SMT soldering is required. The SBC6120 has
the same footprint as a 5-1/4" disk drive and requires only a 5V power
supply. It's easy to fit the whole thing, including a disk drive, into
an old external drive case. Add a terminal - most people will use a PC
with some terminal emulation software - and you're ready to go.
If you want to get a better idea of what's involved in building one,
there's a complete manual, including assembly instructions and a full
pars list, here -
http://www.sparetimegizmos.com/Downloads/SBC6120.pdf
ORDERING
A bare PC board alone for the SBC6120 is $28 plus $5 for S&H.
A "partial kit" consisting of the PC board, one HD6120 CPU chip, three
64Kx4 SRAM chips, two pre-programmed EPROMS with the BTS6120 firmware,
and three pre-programmed PLD chips, is $150 plus $13 S&H.
You can order either of these options from the SBC6120 web page -
http://www.sparetimegizmos.com/Hardware/SBC6120-2.htm
All shipping prices are for US domestic only - for international
orders please inquire about shipping charges before ordering. All
shipments to California addresses must also pay sales tax.
FULL KITS
People often ask to buy full kits of all the SBC6120 parts, however
I'm always reluctant to sell full kits because of the huge amount of
time required to order all the parts, count them out, and pack them
into
bags. Spare Time Gizmos will sell full kits for the SBC6120, but this
time I've decided to try something a little different.
A full kit of all the PCB mounted parts, except the expansion bus
connector, will be $350 plus $25 S&H. All you'll need to do is build
it, add a terminal, disk drive, and power supply, and you'll be ready
to
go.
If you want to order a full kit, then go to the web page listed above
and order the partial kit. When you complete your PayPal checkout,
include a message with your order saying that you want to buy a full
kit. You'll be charged the regular partial kit price at that time;
I'll
process your order and send you a receipt, and I'll set your partial
kit
parts aside. I will not ship them at that time.
Then, around the middle of January, I'll stop taking orders for the
full kits. You'll get a PayPal bill from Spare Time Gizmos for the
remaining balance, which you'll have a couple of days to pay. I'll
order the parts for the full kits, divide them up, and they'll be
shipped by the end of January. If you don't pay the balance or if you
change your mind, then I'll simply ship you your original partial kit
with no hard feelings.
FRONT PANELS
The front panel kits for the SBC6120 sold out years ago, and I simply
have no parts of any kind left for it. Unfortunately the front panels
are nowhere near as easy to bring back into production as the SBC6120
-
the switches used are special order items, the LED bar and other
mechanical parts were custom machined, and the faceplate itself was
laser cut and silk screened in five colors. If I could find something
like 100 people who wanted to buy one, at a couple hundred dollars for
a
partial kit of the custom parts only, then it might be possible to
have
more built economically.
That seems unlikely, though, so right now Spare Time Gizmos has no
plans to offer the front panel kits again.
Richard B. Gilbert
Nostalgia? The PDP-8 was such a limited machine by today's standards!
The telephone/PDA that rides in my shirt pocket has more computing power
and more memory than any PDP-8!
Dr Ivan D. Reid
wrote in <kYidnccfsrFwCMLU...@giganews.com>:
> Nostalgia? The PDP-8 was such a limited machine by today's standards!
> The telephone/PDA that rides in my shirt pocket has more computing power
> and more memory than any PDP-8!
It still got me a PhD, though...
--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".
John Crane
"Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilb...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:kYidnccfsrFwCMLU...@giganews.com...
> Nostalgia? The PDP-8 was such a limited machine by today's standards! The
> telephone/PDA that rides in my shirt pocket has more computing power and
> more memory than any PDP-8!
Yes, Richard. We all know this.
People use them & maintain them for reasons other than sheer computing
power.
-J
rd...@spamcop.net
(snip all the stuff about the SBC6120)
Wow! I've ordered a partial kit, and have sourced pretty well all the
rest...
Looking forward to this...
van...@vsta.org
> Wow! I've ordered a partial kit, and have sourced pretty well all the
> rest...
I've orderd the complete kit... and I would *really* like to get a panel
for it as well. It sure would be nice if we could scare up enough
orders to make another run of them worth it!
Andy Valencia
Bob Eager
Hear hear. I'd *love* a panel.
I'm not really clear (haven't asked yet) about the availability of the
RAMdisk board....
--
Bob Eager
Bill Gunshannon
I never worked with the PDP-8 at all, but this has got me intrigued.
I will have to take a look. Maybe we can get enough people interested
to make another run possible.
bill
--
Bill Gunshannon | de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n. Three wolves
bill...@cs.scranton.edu | and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton |
Scranton, Pennsylvania | #include <std.disclaimer.h>
Robert Krten
> Andy Valencia
Hey Andy,
I didn't know you were a PDP collector :-) I tried to send you
email but it bounced.
Cheers,
-RK
--
Robert Krten, PDP-8 collector looking for PDP-8 and PDP-8/S
minicomputers; check out their good home at www.pdp12.org
van...@vsta.org
> I never worked with the PDP-8 at all, but this has got me intrigued.
> I will have to take a look. Maybe we can get enough people interested
> to make another run possible.
Note that the "official" Spare Time Gizmos mailing list is hosted on
Yahoo groups. That'll probably be the place where a critical mass of
panel orders gathers.
Andy
Bob
> Note that the "official" Spare Time Gizmos mailing list is hosted on
> Yahoo groups. That'll probably be the place where a critical mass of
> panel orders gathers.
Correct. The person producing them is not monitoring the newsgroups
for order requests. I just cross posted his announcement here for
those not aware of the group or the project. If you are interested in
the SBC6120, order it through the website. If you're interested in the
front panel, contact "the other" Bob, or post to they yahoo group.
warp...@gmail.com
> On Sat, 3 Jan 2009 16:11:51 UTC, Bob <bobkap...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> (snip all the stuff about the SBC6120)
>
> Wow! I've ordered a partial kit, and have sourced pretty well all the
> rest...
>
> Looking forward to this...
That's me above...easier to reply via Google Groups as I didn't keep
the message.
Well, the parts arrived, and I've built it! I now have a nice little
PDP-8 clone in a small box, with lots of disk storage on a CF card.
It's running OS/8 nicely...really impressive!