KL10
| KL10 | |
| Manufacturer: | Digital Equipment Corporation |
|---|---|
| Architecture: | PDP-10 |
| Year Design Started: | January, 1972 |
| Year First Shipped: | June, 1975 |
| Form Factor: | mainframe |
| Word Size: | 36 bits |
| Logic Type: | ECL ICs |
| Design Type: | clocked synchronous, microcoded |
| Microword Width: | 80 |
| Microcode Length: | 1280 (Model A) 2K (Model B) |
| Clock Speed: | 500 nsec |
| Cache Size: | 2K words |
| Memory Speed: | 1.0 μsec (initial core memory), 500 nsec (later MOS main memory) |
| Physical Address Size: | 22 bits |
| Virtual Address Size: | 18 bits (Model A and B) 23 bits (Model E) |
| Memory Management: | paging, 512-word pages |
| Operating System: | TOPS-10, TOPS-20, ITS, WAITS, TENEX, TYMCOM-X |
| Predecessor(s): | KI10 |
| Successor(s): | none |
| Price: | US$250K (CPU), US$600K-1.2M (system) |
The KL10 was the third generation of PDP-10 processors. It was built out of ECL, on hex cards. It was the first microprogrammed PDP-10 processor; the design was inspired by Stanford's Superfoonly.
The CPU had two main parts, the 'E Box' ('Execution') and the 'M Box' ('Memory'). It had three types of busses; the 'E Bus' (from the E Box), and the 'S Bus', and later the 'C Bus' (from the M Box).
There were a number of variants over the lifetime of the KL10; the most significant division being between systems with an external memory bus(compatible with the earlier KA10 and KI10), and the DECSYSTEM-20 20xx systems (with an internal memory bus - the native S Bus).
It was used in the DECsystem-10 models 1080 and 1090 systems (with an external memory bus, compatible with the earlier KA10 and KI10), and the DECSYSTEM-20 20xx systems (with an internal memory bus).
Like its predecessor, the KI10, it was initially released in a single-processor version; a two-CPU version was released later.
There was a single KL10 ITS machine, MIT-MC. It was later renamed to MX and was shut down in 1988. It is now in storage at the Living Computers Museum. There was also a KL10 in the Stanford WAITS system.
