Stanford's PDP-6 ( was Re: Hardware Hobbyists vs. EmulatorJockeys)

[Sridhar Ayengar]

Brent Hilpert wrote:
> William Donzelli wrote:
>>> Perhaps I overstate it in saying 'there is no story'; if this 1960's machine
>>> was seen in substantially complete form (is that accurate?) at a DECUS event 20
>>> years later in the 80's and hasn't been seen since, then certainly there is the
>>> disconcerting question of what happened to it.
>> The 1980s were a bloodbath for these machines. 20-25 year old
>> computers were pretty much just looked at as metal, especially in a
>> corporate museum (remember, corporate museums play under different
>> rules, often dictated by the marketing and accounting departments). We
>> can lament the loss of this PDP-6, but we must remember that many
>> other very important machines (probably) reached extinction in the
>> 1980s as well. Where are the members of the IBM 7000 line? The big
>> Burroughs machines? The Univac 1100 line?
> 
> Yes, most of the big machines from the 50's and 60's, like the 7000 series, saw
> a few years of life, were decommissioned and promptly scrapped. It was a
> brand-new, fast-changing industry and significant portions of a warehouse would
> be needed to hold onto them.
> 
> However, for a machine like the PDP-6 to have survived 20 years was remarkable
> by the 80's. It would seem from the discussion that in the case of the SAIL
> machine there was recognition and interest in it's historicity even then, it
> was known to and around people who might appreciate it, so it is more
> perplexing that it cannot now be found.

There's a distinct possibility that this particular machine had been 
considered historic, not because it's a PDP-6, but because it's *SAIL's* 
PDP-6.

Peace...  Sridhar