website/content/museum/digital-equipment-corporation-300-professional-series.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Digital Equipment Corporation 300 Professional series	Computers	Professional Computer	U.S.A.	1982	DCF-11 chipset	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts oc_id source 300 Professional series /media/museum/photos/digital_pro300_proc_system_1.jpg /companies/digital-equipment-corporation Digital Equipment Corporation label value NAME 300 Professional series label value MANUFACTURER Digital Equipment Corporation label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR June 1982 label value END OF PRODUCTION Unknown label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None label value KEYBOARD Full-stroke 106 keys keyboard with 20 function keys, editing and numeric keypads label value CPU DCF-11 chipset (325/350) - Harris J-11 chipset (380) label value SPEED 13.33 MHz. (325 - 350), 15 MHz. (380) label value CO-PROCESSOR MMU and FPA (belong to the DCF-11 chipset) label value RAM 256 KB (up to 1 MB) label value VRAM 32 KB label value ROM 12 KB (contains power-up self test code, configuration & initialisation code and boot code) label value TEXT MODES 80 x 24 / 132 x 24 label value GRAPHIC MODES 1024 x 256 dots. label value COLORS 256 label value SOUND Although there wasn't a sound port, there was an option known as the Telephone Management System (TMS). It could be programmed to be used as a modem, but it also could be programmed to play and record sounds - one application turned it into essentially an answering machine - playing an outgoing message from a disk file, and recording incoming voice data to a file. label value SIZE / WEIGHT 58(W) x 36(D) x 17(H) cm. (Mainframe) label value I/O PORTS Video output, Keyboard, Printer output (which could also be used for a debugging terminal), RS232, 6 expansion slots label value BUILT IN MEDIA 325: 2 x 5.25 400 KB FDD\ 350: 2 x 5.25 400 KB FDD - 1 x 10 MB HDD\ 380: 2 x 5.25 400 KB FDD - 1 x 20 MB HDD label value OS P/OS, RT-11,, Venix label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in PSU label value PERIPHERALS Unknown label value PRICE Pro 325 : about US$8,000\ Pro 350 : about US$10,000 photos adverts 128 title subtitle text image MODEL 350 Running boot-up hardware self test. /media/museum/photos/digital_pro350_selftest_1.jpg title subtitle text image CLOSE-UP Note the function-key labels of WPS-PLUS/POS, a word processing system from Digital. /media/museum/photos/digital_pro350_keyb_closeup_1.jpg title subtitle text image REAR CONNECTORS **(1)** Keyboard connector\ **(2)** Mainframe link connector\ **(3)** Bright and contrast adjustments\ **(4)** Local network DB15 connector\ **(5)** TMS connectors (see TMS module)\ **(6)** Serial RS232C DB25 connector\ **(7)** Parallel printer DB9 connector\ **(8)** Monitor DB15 connector\ **(9)** Hardware test leds\ **(10)** Mains plug and voltage selector /media/museum/photos/digital_pro350_rearconnect_1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE The inside of the DEC is very modular and well organized. Each component can be removed without any tool help.\ From left to right, you can see the power supply unit, hard disk drive (Seagate 10 MB - ST412), and dual floppy drive unit. /media/museum/photos/digital_pro350_inside_1.jpg title subtitle text image EXPANSION BOARDS Six card can be inserted in the expansion cage. Three of them (**1**, **2** and **3**) are original parts of the 350 system. **(1)** Hard disk controller card\ **(2)** Floppy disc controller card\ **(3)** Video card\ **(4)** 512 KB expansion memory board\ **(5)** TMS management and software card (see TMS module) /media/museum/photos/digital_pro350_extcards_1.jpg title subtitle text image TMS MODULE The **T**elephone **M**anagement **S**ystem is an optional integral modem/voice unit that fits into a special slot of the system. It adds a voice communication port and an additional data communication port to the system. The Telephone Line Interface (TLI) module supplies four connectors. Two jacks are the telephone lines 1 and 2 (**1**), one for the phone handset (**2**) and one DIN plug for the TMS speaker (**3**).\ TMS module supported live voice communication or encoded voice/music support for recording and playback.\ A switch (**4**) allowed TMS to be enabled/disabled. Note also the clock battery backup (**5**) /media/museum/photos/digital_pro350_modemext_1.jpg title subtitle text image MAIN BOARD Main board can be easily removed from the case.\ It is here fitted with 2 x 512 KB RAM daughter boards. /media/museum/photos/digital_pro350_motherboard_1.jpg title subtitle text image EXPANSION CONNECTORS /media/museum/photos/digital_pro350_expslots_1.jpg title subtitle text image DCF-11 CHIPSET DCF-11 chipset consists of the DCF-11 16-bit main processor, a memory management (MMU) and floating point (FPA) coprocessors. This chipset was used in 325/350 models, but also in DEC PDP-11/23 and 11/24 systems. /media/museum/photos/digital_pro300_proc_closeup_1.jpg title subtitle text image USER MANUALS A complete set of manuals provides all necessary hardware and software information to the beginner as well as the advanced user. /media/museum/photos/digital_pro350_manuals_1.jpg title subtitle text image US ADVERT, JULY 1985 DEC Advertises its range of networking products. Byte magazine /media/museum/pubs/digital_pro350_pub_s1.jpg 115 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230608092713/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=115 2023-06-08

In conceiving the Professional 300 series, DEC designers decided that new machines must be able to perform several tasks at once, apply the same user interface, communicate efficiently and use the same software as Digital's popular microcomputers.

These personal computers were really desktop-sized versions of the PDP-11, one of Digital's popular minicomputer. Both models shared the PDP-11 instruction set and memory management. Both had an operating system based on Digital's RSX-11M+. For the user, this meant that software applications developped for more than 500,000 PDP-11 and VAX systems were candidat for easy migration to a desktop personal computer.

The members of DEC 300 Pro series were the 325 (two 5.25" disk drives, 400 KB each, and 1 expansion slot), the 350 (one 5.25" disk drive, 10 MB hard disk and 5 expansion slots) and the 380. The 325 and 350 used the F-11 CPU running at 13.33 MHz (the external clock actually ran at 26.66 MHz). The 380 used the J-11 CPU

About the number of colours: the three planes gave 8 colors at one time by referencing an 8 entry palette.Each entry in the palette could be programmed for one of 256 colors (by setting RGB values).

The internal card cage had space for up to 6 options total, and the base 350 system with EBO used four. The base 380 system used two. A Z80 card was available and allowed to use CP/M as the OS.

The operating systems which ran on it were P/OS (which was a variation of RSX), RT-11 and a variation of Unix called Venix. P/OS and Venix are freely available nowadays. RT-11 is still licensed software and is still being developed and maintained.

These systems were originally sold as standalone units, but were later incorporated into the VAX 8000 series as the system “Console”

Thanks to Megan Gentry, Former RT-11 Developer, who helped us 'debug' this page ;-)