Re: DEC retail stores in the 1980s

From: David Powell (ddotpowell_at_icuknet.co.uk)
Date: 11/24/04 

Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 19:05:14 +0000

In article <d0e744c9.0411231910.3ddb521@posting.google.com>,
 leeroth@my-deja.com (Lee Roth) in comp.sys.dec wrote:

>Speaking of retail... in the pre-PC era...
>
>Anyone remember the DEC retail stores? A few of these
>stores appeared about the time that the "Super Trio" of
>systems all appeared in the same form-factor boxes:
>
> The Rainbow (8088/Z80) - http://tinyurl.com/6hc4f
> The Professional (PDP11-based) - http://tinyurl.com/4ftfn
> DECmate II (PDP8-on-a-chip based) - http://tinyurl.com/6eksz
>

They did a trial run somewhat earlier. Clipped from Doug Jones's PDP8
model list, re PDP8-S :-

"Reason for introduction: This machine was developed as a successful
    exercise in minimizing the cost of the machine, in response to
    a complaint by Ken Olson that the company hadn't gotten the
    price of the PDP-8 down any further, and the vision that someday,
    people ought to be able to buy a desktop PDP-8 for under $10,000.
     <snip>
    By 1967, DEC took the then unusual
    step of offering this machine for off the shelf delivery, with
    one machine stocked in each field office available for retail
    sale."

Regards,

David P.

Relevant Pages

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