View source for PDP-1

==History==
The design of the PDP-1 is based on the pioneering [[TX-0]] and [[TX-2]] computers, designed and built at [[MIT Lincoln Laboratory]]. [[Ben Gurley|Benjamin Gurley]] was the lead engineer on the project.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ben Gurley |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/pdp-1/ben-gurley/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227044243/https://www.computerhistory.org/pdp-1/ben-gurley/ |archive-date=2021-02-27 |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=[[Computer History Museum]] |language=en}}</ref> After showing a prototype at the [[Eastern Joint Computer Conference]] in December 1959, DEC delivered the first PDP-1 to [[BBN Technologies|Bolt, Beranek and Newman]] (BBN) in November 1960,<ref>{{Cite web |title=1960 |url=http://vt100.net/timeline/1960.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120716084916/http://vt100.net/timeline/1960.html |archive-date=2012-07-16 |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=DIGITAL Computing Timeline |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bell |first1=C. Gordon |url={{GBurl|id=SDOoBQAAQBAJ|page=134}} |title=Computer Engineering: A DEC View of Hardware Systems Design |last2=Mudge |first2=J. Craig |last3=McNamara |first3=John E. |date=2014 |publisher=Digital Press |isbn=978-1-4832-2110-6 |pages=123–124, 134–137 |language=en |oclc=900212390 |access-date=June 30, 2024 |archive-date=October 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231019081250/https://books.google.com/books?id=SDOoBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA134 |url-status=live }}</ref> and it was formally accepted in early 1961.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=Apr 1961 |title=News of Computers and' Data Processors: Across the Editor's Desk – the First "Programmed Data Processor" Delivered and in Use |url=https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_computersA_6613365/page/n31 |journal=[[Computer magazine#1940s–1950s|Computers and Automation]] |volume=10 |issue=4(B) |page=8B |access-date=2022-03-22 |via=[[Internet Archive]] |language=en}}</ref> In September 1961, DEC donated the PDP-1 to MIT,<ref>{{Cite web |date=1998-04-30 |title=PDP-1 Story |url=http://gordonbell.azurewebsites.net/digital/timeline/pdp-1story.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215061817/http://gordonbell.azurewebsites.net/digital/timeline/pdp-1story.htm |archive-date=2022-02-15 |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=[[Gordon Bell]] |language=en}}</ref> where it was placed in the room next to its ancestor, the TX-0 computer,<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8zU8WQO-PY |title=The Mouse That Roared: PDP-1 Celebration Event Lecture |date=2006-05-15 |publisher=[[Computer History Museum]] |time=32:48 panel starts, 43:55 and 47:00 first prototype Dec 1959, 52:40 PDP-1 donation in Sep 1961, 53:46 PDP-1 next to TX-0 in 1961 (about 3 min) |time-caption=Citation timestamps |access-date=2022-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323014417/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8zU8WQO-PY |archive-date=2022-03-23 |url-status=live |lang=en}}</ref> which was by then on indefinite loan from Lincoln Laboratory.

In this setting, the PDP-1 quickly replaced the TX-0 as the favorite machine among the budding [[hacker culture]], and served as the platform for a long list of computing innovations. This list includes one of the earliest video games, ''[[Spacewar (video game)|Spacewar!]]'',<ref name="CED" /> the first [[text editor]], the first [[word processor]], the first interactive [[debugger]], one of the very earliest time-sharing systems ([[BBN Time-Sharing System]]), and some of the earliest computerized music.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Strebe |first1=Judith A. |last2=Kim |first2=Rebekah |year=2006 |title=Guide to the Collection of Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-1 Computer Materials |url=http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/finding-aids/102660913-PDP-1/102660913-PDP-1.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828023933/http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/finding-aids/102660913-PDP-1/102660913-PDP-1.pdf |archive-date=2021-08-28 |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=[[Computer History Museum]] |language=en}}</ref> The [[ARPANET]] [[Interface Message Processor|IMP]] software was composed, edited, and assembled on BBN’s PDP-1d computer using a modified assembler, highlighting the PDP-1's role in the early development of the ARPANET.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=David Walden and the “IMP Software Guys” |date=2014 |title=The Arpanet IMP Program: Retrospective and Resurrection |url=https://www.walden-family.com/impcode/imp-code.pdf |journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing}}</ref>

At the Computer History Museum [[TX-0]] alumni reunion in 1984, [[Gordon Bell]] said DEC's products developed directly from the [[TX-2]], the successor to the TX-0 which had been developed at what Bell thought was a bargain price at the time, about {{USD|3 million}}. At the same meeting, [[Jack Dennis]] said Ben Gurley's design for the PDP-1 was influenced by his work on the TX-0 display.
<ref>{{Cite journal |date=Spring 1984 |title=The TX-0: Its Past and Present |url=http://tcm.computerhistory.org/reports/TCMReportSpring1984.pdf |journal=The Computer Museum Report |issue=8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908042855/http://tcm.computerhistory.org/reports/TCMReportSpring1984.pdf |archive-date=2015-09-08 |access-date=2022-03-23 |language=en}}</ref>

The PDP-1 sold in basic form for {{currency|120000|USD}} (equivalent to {{currency|{{inflation|US|120000|1961}}|USD}} in {{inflation/year|US}}).<ref name="NGen23">{{Cite magazine |date=November 1996 |title=The Great Videogame Swindle? |url=https://archive.org/details/NextGeneration23Nov1996P2/page/n87 |magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]] |publisher=[[Imagine Media]] |issue=23 |pages=64–68, 211–229 |access-date=2022-03-22 |via=[[Internet Archive]] |lang=en}}</ref> BBN's system was quickly followed by orders from [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory|Lawrence Livermore]] and [[Atomic Energy of Canada Limited|Atomic Energy of Canada]] (AECL), and eventually 53 PDP-1s were delivered until production ended in 1969.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Digital Equipment Corporation |url=http://gordonbell.azurewebsites.net/digital/dec%201957%20to%20present%201978.pdf |title=Digital Equipment Corporation: Nineteen Fifty-Seven to the Present |publisher=DEC Press |year=1978 |page=3 |author-link=Digital Equipment Corporation |access-date=2022-03-23 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220323021612/http://gordonbell.azurewebsites.net/digital/dec%201957%20to%20present%201978.pdf |archive-date=2022-03-23 |url-status=live |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=History of Computing:An Encyclopedia of the People and Machines that Made Computer History |date=February 2001 |publisher=Lexikon Services |url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL11565276M/History_of_Computing |editor-last=Grenia |editor-first=Mark W. |language=en |isbn=978-0-944601-78-5 |ol=11565276M |via=[[Open Library]] |access-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-date=March 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323051327/https://openlibrary.org/books/OL11565276M/History_of_Computing |url-status=live }}</ref> All of these machines were still being actively used in 1970, and several were eventually saved. MIT's example was donated to [[The Computer Museum, Boston]], and from there ended up at the [[Computer History Museum]] (CHM). A late version of ''Spacewar!'' on paper tape was still tucked into the case. PDP-1 #44 was found in a barn in [[Wichita, Kansas]] in 1988, apparently formerly owned by one of the many aviation companies in the area, and rescued for the Digital Historical Collection, also eventually ending up at the CHM.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bergin |first=Thomas |title=Digital Equipment Corporation |url=https://slidetodoc.com/digital-equipment-corporation-thomas-j-bergin-computer-history/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220323024600/https://slidetodoc.com/digital-equipment-corporation-thomas-j-bergin-computer-history/ |archive-date=2022-03-23 |access-date=2022-03-22 |website=SlideToDoc |language=en}}</ref> AECL's computer was sent to [[Science North]], but was later scrapped.

The launch of the PDP-1 marked a radical shift in the philosophy of computer design: it is the first commercial computer that focuses on interaction with the user rather than just the efficient use of computer cycles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=DEC PDP-1 Collection |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/decpdp-1/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714144435/http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/decpdp-1/ |archive-date=2018-07-14 |access-date=2013-03-06 |website=[[Computer History Museum]]}}</ref>

The first ever reference to malicious [[security hacker|hacking]] is '[[phreaking|telephone hackers]]' in [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]]'s student newspaper, ''[[The Tech (newspaper)|The Tech]]'', of hackers tying up the lines with [[Harvard University|Harvard]], configuring the PDP-1 to make free calls, [[war dialing]] and accumulating large phone bills.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Press |first=Gil |date=2011-11-20 |title=Hacking and Blue Boxes |url=https://infostory.com/2011/11/20/hacking-and-blue-boxes/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418083353/https://infostory.com/2011/11/20/hacking-and-blue-boxes/ |archive-date=2021-04-18 |website=The Story of Information}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Duarte |first=Gustavo |date=2008-08-27 |title=First Recorded Usage of "Hacker" |work=Many But Finite |url=http://duartes.org/gustavo/blog/post/first-recorded-usage-of-hacker/ |url-status=live |access-date=2022-03-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221221433/https://manybutfinite.com/post/first-recorded-usage-of-hacker/ |archive-date=2022-02-21 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lichstein |first=Henry |date=1963-11-20 |title=Telephone Hackers Active |volume=83 |page=1 |work=[[The Tech (newspaper)|The Tech]] |issue=24 |url=http://tech.mit.edu/V83/PDF/V83-N24.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=2022-03-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220216083012/http://tech.mit.edu/V83/PDF/V83-N24.pdf |archive-date=2022-02-16 |language=en}}</ref>