View source for LINC-8

The '''LINC-8''' was a computer produced by [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] for use in laboratory settings; it included both a [[PDP-8]] (the original model's [[Central Processing Unit|CPU]]) and a [[LINC]] computer, which shared access to the PDP-8's [[main memory]] (the LINC acted as a [[Direct Memory Access|DMA]] peripheral to the PDP-8, using the PDP-8 [[data break]] mechanism). A combined [[front panel]] allowed control of both CPUs.

Like the LINC, it included a video [[display]] (512x512 pixels [[resolution]], but not a [[bit-mapped display]]), analog inputs, and [[LINC tape]] drives (all attached to the LINC); it could also include any of the standard PDP-8 [[peripheral]]s (attached to the PDP-8).

Special [[interrupt]]-driven code ('PROGOFOP' - 'program of operation') in the PDP-8 allowed code running in the LINC access to PDP-8 resources; the PDP-8 likewise had access to the resources of the LINC (e.g. the display). When the PDP-8 was in control, the LINC was halted until the PDP-8 wanted something done, whereupon an interrupt started the LINC running, to perform the desired action.

Like its PDP-8, the LINC of the LINC-8 was also constructed of discrete [[transistor]] [[FLIP CHIP]]s, mostly R- and S-series, in [[DEC card form factor|standard-length single-height]] (width) format, with a few dual-height.

It was later replaced as a product for DEC by the [[PDP-12]], which had the same functionality in a more integrated form. 

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==Images==

[[Image:LINC-8 RCS'RI.jpg|400px|LINC-8 at the Retro-Computing Society of Rhode Island]]

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==External links==
	
* [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/linc8/ linc8] - LINC-8 at Bitsavers
** [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp8/handbooks/SmallComputerHandbook_Mar67.pdf Small Computer Handbook, 1967 edition] - has a section with detailed information about the LINC-8
* [https://www.pdp8online.com/images/linctape-images/linc-8-dial.shtml Images of LAP6 LINCtapes used on a LINC 8] - copies of tape contents

[[Category: Minicomputers]]
[[Category: Personal Computers]]
[[Category: PDP-8s]]
[[Category: 12-bit Computers]]