website/content/museum/digital-equipment-corporation-vt78.md

---
title: Digital Equipment Corporation VT78
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1978'
cpus:
- Intersil
params:
  name: VT78
  company: /companies/digital-equipment-corporation
  company_name: Digital Equipment Corporation
  specs:
  - label: NAME
    value: VT78
  - label: MANUFACTURER
    value: Digital Equipment Corporation
  - label: TYPE
    value: Professional Computer
  - label: ORIGIN
    value: U.S.A.
  - label: YEAR
    value: '1978'
  - label: END OF PRODUCTION
    value: '1980'
  - label: KEYBOARD
    value: Full-stroke keyboard with numeric keypad
  - label: CPU
    value: Intersil/Harris 6100
  - label: SPEED
    value: 2.2 Mhz
  - label: RAM
    value: 16k words of DRAM
  - label: ROM
    value: Unknown
  - label: TEXT MODES
    value: Unknown
  - label: GRAPHIC MODES
    value: None
  - label: COLORS
    value: Built-in monochrom VT52 terminal
  - label: SOUND
    value: Unknown
  - label: I/O PORTS
    value: Two serial interfaces (from 50 to 19200 bps) - Two parallel interface - FDD interface
  - label: BUILT IN MEDIA
    value: dual 8'' FDD (RX-01)
  - label: OS
    value: OS/78 (an extended version of the PDP-8's operating system OS/8 version III)
  - label: POWER SUPPLY
    value: Built-in PSU
  - label: PERIPHERALS
    value: RX01 and RX02 8'' dual drives, boot ROMs
  - label: PRICE
    value: $7,995 ($5,436 in lots of 100)
  tabs:
  - photos
  - emulators
  - links
  photos:
  - title: COMPLETE VT78
    subtitle: ''
    text: The VT78 was sold with a RX-01 8'' dual disk-drive.
    image: null
  emulators:
  - title: SIMH
    url: http://simh.trailing-edge.com/
    platform: Windows
    text: Windows emulator for a lot of mini computers. Sources are available so you can compile them for your own platform.
  - title: PDP-8/E
    url: http://www.bernhard-baehr.de/pdp8e/pdp8e.html
    platform: Apple
    text: emulator for the DEC PDP-8/E minicomputer running on the Apple Macintosh
  links:
  - title: Douglas W.Jones's DEC PDP8 Home Page
    url: http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/
    text: Wow, tons of doc and info here !
  - title: More information about DEC PDP8 operating systems
    url: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/dec-faq/pdp8/section-10.html
    text: With PDP8 FAQ as well
  - title: PDP-8 Technology Before The Millennium
    url: http://www.pdp8.com/
    text: PDP-8 Restoration Notes
  - title: Yet Another PDP-8 Web Site
    url: http://www.pdp8.net/
    text: Lot of information and pictures
  comments:
  - author: David (USA)
    date: Sunday 16th September 2012
    text: We had two of these back in 1979 that were set up for word processing in an architect''s office. They had a large smoked plexiglass cover over the angled face and were the cat''s meow for their day. The program went in one floppy and the other was used to store data. They were great for turning out specs on government jobs $ 350 pages per project. Had a Diablo Daisy Wheel printer.
  - author: Joe (Des Moines, IA)
    date: Saturday 4th August 2012
    text: Jackie, DON''T THROW IT OUT!!! If you don''t want it, list it on EBay so that some collector can grab it.
  - author: Jackie (USA)
    date: Saturday 14th July 2012
    text: 'I just found one of these in my parents'''' attic while helping them clean it out. Now the question is: what do I do with it? My dad was just going to chuck it out, but it seems like someone would be interested in it! My next step is to see if it powers up and then clean up the outside a bit.'
  - author: Jackie (USA)
    date: Saturday 14th July 2012
    text: 'I just found one of these in my parents'''' attic while helping them clean it out. Now the question is: what do I do with it? My dad was just going to chuck it out, but it seems like someone would be interested in it! My next step is to see if it powers up and then clean up the outside a bit.'
  - author: Jackie (USA)
    date: Saturday 14th July 2012
    text: 'I just found one of these in my parents'''' attic while helping them clean it out. Now the question is: what do I do with it? My dad was just going to chuck it out, but it seems like someone would be interested in it! My next step is to see if it powers up and then clean up the outside a bit.'
  - author: Jackie (USA)
    date: Saturday 14th July 2012
    text: 'I just found one of these in my parents'''' attic while helping them clean it out. Now the question is: what do I do with it? My dad was just going to chuck it out, but it seems like someone would be interested in it! My next step is to see if it powers up and then clean up the outside a bit.'
  - author: Jackie (USA)
    date: Saturday 14th July 2012
    text: 'I just found one of these in my parents'''' attic while helping them clean it out. Now the question is: what do I do with it? My dad was just going to chuck it out, but it seems like someone would be interested in it! My next step is to see if it powers up and then clean up the outside a bit.'
  - author: Trevor
    date: Wednesday 1st September 2010
    text: My family has the floppy drive unit for this computer. We long lost the rest of it, but since the floppy drive and power supply were attached to a rolling desk it was saved. We''d been using it as a desk for years and for the longest time I didn''t realize it was a piece of computer history.
  - author: Mark (Chicago)
    date: Wednesday 14th January 2009
    text: |-
      I think I''ve positively identified this machine (vt78) as the machine I first programmed on in our high school computer lab back in ''78. I know it was a DEC, but I don''t remember the red/white/blue keys. It was built into a desk with the dual 8" floppies off to the left and a space for the user''s legs under the terminal/computer part.\
      If I''m wrong then I think at least it was some kind of related PDP-8 built into a desktop configuration. I wrote lots of BASIC programs on pencil-marked punch cards dating from March ''78.\
      I''d really like to find one of these in working order and get it running. I started with a TI-99/4A at home years later and I have several of those, but this was my first experience and it was a great computer that decided my career path for over 30 years.\
      -mz
  related:
  - /museum/digital-equipment-corporation-pdp-8
  oc_id: 369
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230131173446/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=369
    date: '2023-01-31'
---

*The following information come from the excellent [PDP-8 FAQ](http://www.faqs.org/faqs/dec-faq/pdp8-models/preamble.html) :*

The VT78 system, also called DECstation or DECstation 78, is based on the Intersil/Harris 6100 microprocessor and is packaged in a VT52 case. The 6100 processor was able to run at 4 MHz, but in the VT78, it was only clocked at 2.2 MHz because of the speed of the DRAM used and the deliberate use of graded out chips.

Using TTL MSI and LSI components, DEC could pack a system into the vacant space in a standard terminal case, allowing PDP-8 systems to compete with personal computers in the small business and office automation market. This was a natural follow-on to the desk-mounted workstation configurations in which the PDP-8/A was already being sold.

Apart from some minor details, it is fully PDP-8/E compatable, even at the level of I/O instructions for the standard periperals; this was the last PDP-8 to offer this level of compatability.

It was not possible to continue from a halt without restarting the machine. In addition, none of the peripherals available on this machine needed DMA (data break) transfers.

The VT78 was sold with 16k words of DRAM with the keyboard and display of the VT52 terminal. An RX01 dual 8" diskette drive was included, packaged in a teacart pedestal under the terminal. The console (device 03/04) and the serial ports (devices 30/31 and 32/33) are compatible with the M8650 KL8E, with the latter extended to allow software controlled baud rate selection. There are two parallel ports; device 66 (compatible with the M8365 printer controller) and device 47, compatible with the nonstandard port on the M8316 DKC8AA. There is also a 100Hz clock compatible with the clock on the M8316 DKC8AA.

The standard ROM boots the system from the RX01 after setting the baud rates to match that selected by the switches on the bottom of the VT52 case.

This was a closed system, with few options. The base configuration was able to support two RX01 drives (later RX02), for a total of 4 transports. Various boot ROM's were available, including a paper-tape RIM loader ROM for loading diagnostics from tape. Another ROM boots the system from a PDP-11 server in the client/server configuration used by WPS-11.

*All the above information come from the excellent [PDP-8 FAQ](http://www.faqs.org/faqs/dec-faq/pdp8-models/preamble.html)...*

The V778 came with a FORTRAN, a BASIC compilers, the PAL-8 assembler and various other utilities.

The standard DECstation configuration, which includes the VT78 (video terminal, mainboard, memory, real time clock and floppy drive interface) and a dual floppy disk was priced at $7995.