DIGITAL DIGITAL Computing Timeline
1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985 1984 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1978 1977 1976 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1970 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965 1964 1963 1962 1961 1960 1959 1958 1957
<1962>

July:
Shipments begin of the PDP-4, DIGITAL's second 18-bit computer.

Similar in structure to the PDP-1, the PDP-4 used slower memory and different packaging to achieve a lower price of $65,000. Approximately 54 PDP-4s were sold in application areas as diverse as nuclear physics, production and stock control.

September:
The PDP-1 operating system, the world's first timesharing system, is written by engineers at MIT and BBN for the PDP-1.

The PDP-1 operating system's timesharing ability made interactive access to computers economically viable by allowing various users to share the computer simultaneously. Shown here is the PDP-1 installation at BBN.

Gordon Bell begins design work on the architecture for the PDP-5.

Bell based the PDP-5 on a 12-bit digital controller (the DC-12) that DIGITAL had designed in 1961 but never built. Bell specified the instruction set in the fall of 1962. Design work was continued by Edson deCastro in early 1963. Shown here is the 7th PDP-5 built.
Timeline Home