Episode 132 - The PDP-1

Advent of Computing

In 1959 the world bore witness to a new type of computer: the PDP-1. It was the first interactive computer to really make a dent in the market. Some say it was the first minicomputer: a totally new class of machine. But where did this computer come from, and what made it so different from the rest of the digital pack?

Selected sources:

https://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/olsen.html - Smithsonian interview with Ken Olsen

https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2019/03/102785079-05-01-acc.pdf - Computing in the Middle Ages

https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_decBooksBeng_37322315 - Computer Egnineerling, Bell et al.