DEC indicator panel

The earlier computers from Digital Equipment Corporation, such as the KA10, in common with the other computers of the day, included many so-called indicator panels, containing arrays of lights which provided information about the internal state of the machine. Not only the CPU had such lights; other devices such as disk controllers also had their own indicator panels.

This tradition lasted through the early models of the PDP-8 and PDP-11, although the PDP-11 CPU light displays were modest compared to earlier CPUs. The earliest PDP-11 disk controllers were very much a match for the earlier machines, though, and included indicator panels which displayed a great deal of information.

Alas, the cost of such displays was high, and they were dropped from later controllers. This was a significant loss; in addition to helping with debugging (both hardware and software issues), they gave an extensive insight into how the machine was operating.

Details

PDP-10 devices which used a 19 inch rack, along with the few types of PDP-10 main memory which came in such racks, used a standard indicator panel. The panel provided 4 rows of 36 lights each (although not all were used; unused lights were simply not wired up). Only the 'inlay' (a clear plastic panel, with black paint with holes for the lights, and white caption lettering on the front) was customized to the particular device.

The PDP-8 and PDP-11, although not 36-bit machines, also used the same indicator panel, but in general did not include any 36-bit fields. (The exception is the RP11, which was able to read packs written on a PDP-10, and thus included a 36-bit shift register, which was displayed on the RP11-C panel.)

The 18-bit PDP-15 also used this indicator panel.

The two groups differed in the white bezel; in the PDP-10's, the bezel is metal, and goes over the inlay; in the PDP-11's, the bezel is plastic, and the inlay is laid into the bezel.

Limited engineering drawings (they do not include the full mechanical drawings) for this indicator panel are included in the RF11 Engineering Drawings set; the indicator panel is shown on pp. 186-190. Of particular interest are the parts lists, which include all the inlays extant as of the date of the drawings (10/1972).

External links

• Digital Equipment Corporation Indicator Panels - Includes images of many of the panels