Computer History: DEC Digital Equipment Corp. Tech Archives Short Montage, PDP, VAX VMS HP

Computer History DEC, Digital Equipment Corporation: A 4-minute musical montage of memories from Digital’s Archives, PDP, VAX, and desktop terminals. DEC was founded in 1957 by Ken Olsen, Harlen Anderson and Scott Olsen. It rapidly became the global leader in minicomputer systems, known for the PDP (Programmed Data Processor) and VAX (Virtual Address Extension) product lines, the VMS (Virtual Memory System) operating system, DEC Alpha Servers, terminals and more.

A variety of factors caused the company’s decline in the1980’s, early 1990’s. DEC was eventually purchased by Compaq in 1998, and Compaq itself was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2002.

The legacy of DEC lives on as a highly influential company in the field of computer history, especially during the 1960’s to 1990’s. This brief montage is built on a 1997 intro presentation by DEC for its 40th anniversary, to which are added additional images and some rarely seen photos of early systems.

{Uploaded for educational and historical value only, by Computer History Archives Project.
Music score is titled “Icelandic Arpeggios” by DivKid.}

Dedicated to Employees and Friends of Digital Equipment Corporation.

For more information see:

Doug Jones, PDP FAQ, University of Iowa

The Computer History Museum (PDP-1 Restoration Project)

The DEC Connection

Article "The PDP-1" by George Michael

History of Digital Equipment Corporation: 1957 to Present (1978)

Video: Lyle Bickley explains the PDP-1

Hewlett-Packard History Timeline

[joefarr]

I was a contractor at DEC in Galway, Ireland for just over a year in the late 90's. They were a great company to work for and a brilliant bunch of employees. Happy memories.

[bsvenss]

VAX/VMS was the most stable OS created. I worked in the Aircraft industry and from what I remember we had systems with at least 13 years uptime.

[richardmattocks]

I used to support a VAX for British Rail in the late 80’s. So many memories of reel to reel tape and the huge “washing machine” disk drives. Happy days.

[tweetyuno]

The best company ever existed. I did work for DEC for almost 20 years. Mr. Ken Olsen, a great president who was people's oriented.
God bless his soul.

[raderosier]

Memories! Worked for DEC for 19 years starting in 1981 in both engineering and marketing positions - mostly in Merrimack and Nashua, NH facilities. Good years!

[James_Knott]

Back in the late 70s and through the 80s, I was a computer tech. While most of my work was on Data General gear, I also supported a PDP-8/i, several PDP-11s and seven VAX 11/780s. My first exposure to Ethernet was the DECNet connecting the VAXs. When I took a FORTRAN course at night school, I did my homework on a VAX at work. I was working with VAX/VMS before I ever saw a PC with MS-DOS. What a let down that was, after working with VAX/VMS.

[epsyuma]

I was a Vax 8650, 11/780 technician for 17 years, from 1988 to 2005 when they ( 3 systems) were retired.

[michaeltodd]

Learned my first programming language, PDP Basic Plus, on the College of Charleston's PDP-11 back around 1978. My how things have changed since then.

[lkurowic]

Worked for a CAD/CAM/CAE company in the 80's. They used only DEC equipment. The moon buggy was designed & simulated with DEC computers.

[myothercarisadelorean]

My Dad worked for Digital. I want to say from 1980 until late 90s until they were bought by Compaq. I forgot his role, I think he was systems or software engineer. As for location, he worked at the San Diego, CA office in Kearny Mesa on Kearny Villa Road. I born in '83 so I was still a kid and have limited memory of those days. I remember going to work with him sometimes on the weekends. That office campus was pretty big at the time. I think they occupied 3 buildings on the lot. I remember him bringing home weird random hardware; servers, laptops, desktops. I think they were either dev kits or some kind of beta testing. I remember the company being very generous on his tenure and great perks. Company gifts, vacation trips, car discounts from local dealership.

[apogeedata]

42 years and I’m still dealing with this equipment

[vjs]

The first computer I ever used was a PDP-8e in my senior year in high school. Then when I got a job at a university I worked on a PDP-11/70 running RSTS/E. That was followed by so many models of the VAX running VMS, 11/780, 750, 9000, 6000 series, 7000 series, MicroVAX II. A large part of my IT career as a programmer/systems manager was on DEC computers. Such fond memories.

[rockdubois]

Had a PDP-11/23 with RK-01, 1MByte fixed and one removable. Member of DECUS a great bunch of nice guys and ladies helping each other. Manuals for RT-11 were second to none. Don't see that kind of documentation anymore. Good times, too bad they (DEC)
are gone.

[pdppanelman]

I worked for DEC from 1975 to 1985. My wife would say 'you don't go to work, you go and play with your friends'

[pednn]

Had a few good years with Digital after they aquired Philips Computers. To bad it was late in the game when the company got into bad weather. Still proud to have been a smal part of it.

[rikes]

I started at Westboro in chip testing and went on to Hudson SEG, part of the VAX 8200/8300 team. Thanks Del, it was great working with you.

[SubTroppo]

I recall rebooting a PDP11 used for Satnav on offshore seismic surveys by crouching or lying on the instrument room floor and flipping switches in the correct sequence (and in a hurry). Why it was installed at or near deck level, I have no idea, and didn't ask. I only had to do it once, but that was enough! (1982).

[malinyamato]

I was once a computer engineerr at Digital long time ago. DecNet, VMS and MicroVax were on my plate. We were told that the number on our badge is ethernal which means that once we return to DEC we will have the same number

[seaninlondon]

Back in 1984 I left school with no qualifications and got a job as a computer operator on DEC VAX. Doing backups etc on massive magnetic tape reels. Then started programming on it with Cognos 4GL. Today I am an independent Business Intelligence software engineer. I have fond memories of DEC VAX.

[richardgregory]

DEC equipment was great - i was systems operator and started with a PDP 11/34 and 11/44 networked using DECnet using RSTS/E (which was very unfirendly to work with); we moved on to a MicroVAX-II and eventually had a a VAXcluster with hundreds of terminals across a big college campus, we networked pretty much every building, As a customer we practically designed our network with the information in DECdirect - the sales catalogue. It was that good. VAX/VMS was doing stuff that Microsoft didn't do for another decade. The customer service was great, you always felt that the engineers and support personal cared about their work and that there was a great company ethos. I know they felt DEC was a good employer.