Digital Equipment Corporation - PDP-5

The PDP-5 was DEC's predecessor to the very successful PDP-8. This one came from Bob Woodhead who rescued it from the trash dump where it had been thrown out by the Navy. He had some electronics technicians working for him that he needed to train and the PDP-5 provided just the right amount of interest and complexity. Once restored to working order he kept it (resisting all prompts from others to "throw out that piece of junk.") until he mentioned it to me when I met him. At that time I offered to take over its care should he ever need the space in his garage back. Sometime later he contacted me and offered it to me. After a lot of planning and a couple of botched attempts, I managed to get it from its former home back to Silicon Valley where it sits to today undergoing restoration and testing. Prior to April 2000, it was estimated that the last time it had been powered up was 1985. Fifteen years is a long time for electronics to sit, and I am being very careful with this priceless example of computer history!

Image Gallery

In the future I'll have more information here about the PDP-5, its operation, and its schematics, however for now I've got mostly pictures. Follow the links to see this wonderful machine "up close" as it were: