PDP-8 Dead
PDP-8
KindMachine
Introduced1965
Discontinued1990
StatusDead
ManufacturerDigital Equipment Corporation
ClassMinicomputer
Platform12-bit
Sourcebitsavers.org ↗
The first commercially successful minicomputer — under $20,000, rack-mountable, over 50,000 sold. It made computing something a laboratory could own, not rent.
1960198020002020
Created by Digital Equipment Corporation
Edson de Castro designed the PDP-8 (1965) — 12-bit, $18,500, small enough to sit beside a lab bench. It created the word 'minicomputer' (allegedly because it was short enough to fit a miniskirt-era image).
Over 50,000 PDP-8s and clones sold across 25 years and five models — the first computer an ordinary lab or school could own. It is the ancestor of every cheap computer since.