Computers and Instruments: Unite! Marrying computers to scientific instruments is relatively new. The truth is, the advantages of doing so were known a long time ago — but, implementation awaited computers that made sense economically, as well as scientifically. Computers are now frequently justified on a one-computer for one-instrument basis. We know. DIGITAL has sold hundreds of PDP-8 and PDP-8/S computers that way — t o manufacturers who buried the computer inside their instru ments — spectrometers, diffractometers, gas chromatographs, blood analyzers. And to scientists in their laboratories, as well. To run one instrument, like a C-H-N analyzer. Or to run several instru ments, one at a time. Computer prices have come down that far. But servicing several different instruments simultaneously — integrating a laboratory full of instruments — takes a larger computer. A PDP-9, for example, or a PDP-10. If you are run ning investigations where data from one instrument condi tions the data of another — or where several of you want to time-share a computer to service several instruments —then these larger computers are a practical necessity. The capabilities, at the price, are what make sense. PDP-9 is an 8K, 18-bit word machine at $35,000. The PDP-10, with 8K basic memory and a 36-bit word, comes in an expandable configuration from $113,000. PDP-8 and PDP-8/S are 4,096-word 12-bit core memory machines. The 1.5 μεβο PDP-8 sells for $18,000. The PDP-8/S is only $10,000. All speak FORTRAN and are general purpose computers. DIGiTAL also has a whole line of compatible logic modules and hardware for interfacing the instruments to the com puter. For instruments that don't need the computer, the modules combine into simpler controls. Get those instruments under control. Write for free literature.
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