website/content/museum/digital-equipment-corporation-decmate-iii.md

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Digital Equipment Corporation DECmate III	Computers	Professional Computer	U.S.A.	1984	Harris 6120 cpu	name image company company_name specs tabs photos links comments oc_id source DECmate III /media/museum/photos/dec_decmate_iii.jpg /companies/digital-equipment-corporation Digital Equipment Corporation label value NAME DECmate III label value MANUFACTURER Digital Equipment Corporation label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1984 label value END OF PRODUCTION 1990 label value KEYBOARD QWERTY full-stroke professionnal keyboard label value CPU Harris 6120 cpu (12 bits) label value SPEED 8 Mhz label value RAM 32k (+ 32k for dedicated control panel functions) label value TEXT MODES 80 x 24 and 132 x 24 label value COLORS No label value SIZE / WEIGHT 32 x 28 x 14 cm / 8 kg label value I/O PORTS RS232C, printer, data-communication port label value BUILT IN MEDIA 2 x 5 label value OS OS/278 label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in PSU label value PERIPHERALS Color graphics board\ APU board : Z80 based board for CP/M use\ XPU board : 8088 based board for MS/DOS use\ Modem label value PRICE approx. 2700$ photos links title subtitle text image MAIN UNIT /media/museum/photos/dec_decmate3_system_s1.jpg title url text DECmate FAQ by Charles J. Lasner http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/computer-science/history/pdp-8/docs/dminfo.faq DECmate specific information title url text PDP8 page by Douglas W. Jones http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/ Infos and links about the PDP8 machines title url text ''What is a DECmate III ?'' from the PDP-8 FAQ http://www.faqs.org/faqs/dec-faq/pdp8-models/section-15.html Useful author date text Ian (UK) Thursday 5th June 2003 that system box looks similar to a VAXstation 2000 I used to carry around as a portable. 468 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230202174529/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=468 2023-02-02

This computer is still based on the PDP-8 architecture but is less "opened" than the DECmate II. Indeed DEC realised that the PDP-8 based products were rarely expanded to their full potential. Thus, they conceived the DECmate III wich offers less expansion possibilities but which was also cheaper.
As the last incarnation of the PDP-8 technology, the DECmate III use a single chip containing all the PDP-8 hardware !

Only one pair of 5''1/4 disk-drives (RX50) is supported and it is not possible to connect a Hard-Drive. But unlike the DECmate II, a color monitor can replace the monochrom screen.

It was mainly intended for professionnal word-processing, but could also run other software including OS/278. The DECmate III was compatible with the DECmate II.

In 1985, a DECmate III+ was sold with a hard disk controller built-in and overall completely new hardware components, though still compatible with the DECmate II and III.

The DECmate computers were marketed by Digital Equipment Corporation.