4 ms·

I've got one of these and its glorious if you fondly remember the PDP-10 as I do. Yes, its just being emulated on a Raspberry Pi, but seriously running a "real

I've got one of these and its glorious if you fondly remember the PDP-10 as I do. Yes, its just being emulated on a Raspberry Pi, but seriously running a "real" one generates several kW of heat and required even more kW of power. Not to mention space. I do have a couple of "real" PDP-8s (an 8/e, 8/f, 8/m and most of an 8/a) but I rarely run them because they take a lot of power and they are noisy. I've got a PiDP-11/70 which is running RSX-11M and Pi-hole and DHCP and logs the iOT temperature widgets I built. So it looks good, and does helpful things. Not to mention you can SSH to it and get your RSX-11M console right there :-). So while you don't get the visceral response of a "real" one, 90% of the time you were never in the same room as one in the first place, it ran in the machine room and you were in a room next door typing on a VT100 (or VT-52 ewwww!)

wkat4242 2y ago
> but seriously running a "real" one generates several kW of heat and required even more kW of power. No, both are the same :) It converts the power into exactly the same amount of heat, save for a tiny fraction in light from the bulbs which eventually ends up as heat as well. Totally agree you wouldn't run these at home though. We had a PDP-11 at college and even there they didn't like to switch it on. Never saw a PDP-10 though. I have the PiDP-8 and -11 replicas but I won't be getting this one, it's pretty big and expensive (especially now that it ships from the US, I'm in Europe) and it lacks the nostalgia factor for me due to not having known it in real life. It is however a real piece of retro art, just like the others (and it looks like it's been done even better).
Suzuran 2y ago
Depending on whether or not you consider a KS a "real" PDP-10, my KS actually uses less power than my modern PC does under load. The KS sits just under a kilowatt running UETP, but my PC spikes north of 1.2 when running benchmarks. And that's with a now obsolete graphics card in the PC, the newer ones are even more power-hungry.
- larsbrinkhoff 2y ago
  For that matter is a KL a "real" PDP-10?
  - Suzuran 2y ago
    If it's blue, then yes.

wkat4242 2y ago

> but seriously running a "real" one generates several kW of heat and required even more kW of power. No, both are the same :) It converts the power into exactly the same amount of heat, save for a tiny fraction in light from the bulbs which eventually ends up as heat as well. Totally agree you wouldn't run these at home though. We had a PDP-11 at college and even there they didn't like to switch it on. Never saw a PDP-10 though. I have the PiDP-8 and -11 replicas but I won't be getting this one, it's pretty big and expensive (especially now that it ships from the US, I'm in Europe) and it lacks the nostalgia factor for me due to not having known it in real life. It is however a real piece of retro art, just like the others (and it looks like it's been done even better).

Suzuran 2y ago

Depending on whether or not you consider a KS a "real" PDP-10, my KS actually uses less power than my modern PC does under load. The KS sits just under a kilowatt running UETP, but my PC spikes north of 1.2 when running benchmarks. And that's with a now obsolete graphics card in the PC, the newer ones are even more power-hungry.

larsbrinkhoff 2y ago
For that matter is a KL a "real" PDP-10?
- Suzuran 2y ago
  If it's blue, then yes.