PiDP 10 intro

The PDP-10 is a large computer. It was usually shared between many users, with lots of peripherals attached. Thus, understanding and operating a complete system can be daunting; more so than a typical minicomputer. But fear not, ITS is very friendly and open to exploration once you learn the basics.

[Move this to the "start ITS" page?]
When you boot ITS, you will interact with the system console which would typically be a hardcopy teletype. This teletype has a special status, being the way to control the system before ITS starts, when ITS has stopped, and for debugging the system. There are many other displays and CRT terminals available: the Type 340 vector display, Datapoint 3300 terminals, Imlac vector terminals, VT52, and the native ITS raster display called the Knight TV.

The PDP-10 is also surrounded by many more or less autonomous computers. The PDP-6 shares memory with the PDP-10 and can run standalone programs out of timesharing. The TV-11 is a small minicomputers that drives the Knight TV system. The GT40 is a vector graphics terminal that can be used as a terminal emulator for logging into ITS, or run programs on its own.