April:
MPS, DIGITAL's first microprocessor, is introduced.

MPS represented DIGITAL's first entry into LSI (Large Scale Integration) technology. MPS modules were designed to supply users with reliable, low-cost microprocessor systems that could be used in process/control and data formatting or preprocessing applications.

RSX-11M, a real-time operating system for online control, is introduced for use on the PDP-11.

RSX-11M was a real-time, multi-programming, program-development system with a disk-based operating system supporting both synchronous and asynchronous communications hardware. RSX-11M concepts were precursors to those in the VMS operating system.

DIGITAL announces the LA36 DECwriter II.

The LA36 DECwriter II was the company's first commercially successful keyboard terminal and became the de facto market standard.

The KL10 processor is introduced in the DECsystem-10/80 and 10/90.

Twice as fast as its predecessor, the KI10, and four times faster than the earlier KA10, the KL10 processor featured 386 microprogrammed instructions, emitter coupled logic (a state-of-the-art technology) and a 125 nanosecond access time cache or buffer memory. One of the more significant features of the KL10 was the Console Diagnostic Computer, which used a PDP-11/40 to perform those functions.