The diagram below shows a sketch of what I am planning to build (hopefully you can read m left paw scrawl):

All the timber has been bought so next job is the fun bit, building it!

Peripheral wise, the machine will feature a non DEC paper tape drive together with a pair of TU55 drives which I ultimately hope to hook up to the emulator.

Ourwardly I aim to make the machine look as close to the original as possible although under the skin the truth will quickly become obvious.

The first step is build the racks. I'm intending to build these in timber to keep cost and weight down. To enable me to start planning the dimensions, I've extracted the following from various DEC documents which give some clues as to the dimensions (note all are in inches):

The plan is to build a twin rack frame as illustrated below so as to enable the paper tape and TU55s to be mounted:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

First step in rebuilding it is to strip it down and remove all the foam gunk before moving onto reviving the power supply.

Here are some pictures from the strip down

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• PDP-8/M, 8KW core, M8650 serial UART, very clean machine in working order. This machine is currently listed on ebay here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320762438517&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT
• PDP-8/E, 4KW core, M8650 UART, requires a full rebuild
• PDP-8/A, 16KW core, extended memory, serial, paper tape drive and controller (non DEC). Very clean and in working order
• RX8E + RX01 drives
• PC8E + PC04 paper tape
• DECmate III
• WP78 (aka a VT78)

Email offers to toby@pdp11.co.uk . Machines are located in UK

Full details are here

PDP-8/L

This PDP had lived its last 30 years on a barn, although the pictures don't look too bad. Internally very clean and looks like it has a complete set of cards including memory. The outside is not so pretty much probably mostly surface rust and dirt although it does have one missing toggle key.

Sold for $1026.99 / £710 which seems a fair price for such an early machine

PDP-8/M

Described as being 'museum quality', this very clean PDP-8/M came nicely loaded with 16KW of memory (non DEC Plessey core cards), programmers console,  a serial interface and the extended memory/timeshare module (required for >4KW of memory). The machine was in full working order.

Sold for $3050 / £2110. This I feel is a very high price with the buyer prepared to pay a premium for such a clean and working machine.

PDP-8/M

From the same seller as the 8-L above, this 8/M is in cosmetically fair condition looking clean on the inside but suffering from some surface rust on the outside. The machine comes with the basic front panel (which is fairly unusual), extended memory/timeshare option and 8KW of memory. Interestingly it lacks any form of bootstrap which it would really need in order to get it to do anything useful.

Sale price $677 / £468 which I feel is about spot on for what is a very restorable machine.

PDP-8/A

Recently removed from real world service in CNC machines, a very clean and well specified PDP-8/A coming with programmers console, 16KW of core, option and extended option boards. Seller also had seperately a paper tape reader (non DEC) and controller.

Sale price £341.78 which is about correct for the less desirable -A's

Optional data break interface
Optional memory parity
Optional power fail
Optional high speed reader and/or punch