Digital Equipment Corporation from FOLDOC

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>Digital Equipment Corporation from FOLDOC</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Security-Policy" content="default-src 'unsafe-inline' http: https:"> <meta name="verify-v1" content="siAI0ZOMn41hao0E/T76D1I2L3MtFjzE48P3ctCjRNU="> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#da532c"> <meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff"> <meta name="google-translate-customization" content="828219db36930e1e-c51d915bf2ea717c-g9b503f9a85d5b5a7-a">  <script src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-9715943-1"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'UA-9715943-1'); </script>  <link href="//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Duru+Sans%7CBelgrano%7CInconsolata%7CAlef%7CArmata" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/layout.css?2">  <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="152x152" href="/im/apple-touch-icon.png"> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/im/favicon-32x32.png"> <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/im/favicon-16x16.png"> <link rel="manifest" href="/im/site.webmanifest"> <link rel="mask-icon" href="/im/safari-pinned-tab.svg" color="#5bbad5"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://foldoc.org/Digital+Equipment+Corporation"> <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="FOLDOC" href="/rss.xml"> <link rel="search" title="FOLDOC" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="//foldoc.org/search.xml">  <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5521724329338202" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>  </head> <body> <div id="fb-root"></div> <script> (function (d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); </script> <div id="container"> <div id="left"> <a href="/"> <img src="/foldoc.gif" width="300" height="98" alt="Free On-line Dictionary of Computing" class="logo"> </a> <div id="nav"> <a href="/contents.html" class="button">Contents</a> <a href="/help.html" class="button">Help</a> <a href="/random-entry" class="button">Random</a> </div> <form action="/"> <input type="text" name="query" id="query" autofocus="autofocus"> <input type="submit" name="action" value="Search" class="button"> </form> <div id="content"> <h3>DEC ⇝</h3> <h2>Digital Equipment Corporation</h2> <p></p> <p><<i><a href="contents/company.html">company</a>, <a href="contents/hardware.html">hardware</a></i>></p> <p> (DEC) A computer manufacturer and software vendor. <p></p> Before the <a href="/killer+micro">killer micro</a> revolution of the late 1980s, hackerdom was closely symbiotic with DEC's pioneering <a href="/time-sharing">time-sharing</a> machines. The first of the group of hacker cultures nucleated around the <a href="/PDP-1">PDP-1</a> (see <a href="/TMRC">TMRC</a>). Subsequently, the <a href="/PDP-6">PDP-6</a>, <a href="/PDP-10">PDP-10</a>, <a href="/PDP-20">PDP-20</a>, <a href="/PDP-11">PDP-11</a> and <a href="/VAX">VAX</a> were all foci of large and important hackerdoms and DEC machines long dominated the <a href="/ARPANET">ARPANET</a> and <a href="/Internet">Internet</a> machine population. <p></p> The first PC from DEC was a <a href="/CP/M">CP/M</a> computer called <a href="/Rainbow">Rainbow</a>, announced in 1981-82. <p></p> DEC was the technological leader of the minicomputer era (roughly 1967 to 1987), but its failure to embrace <a href="/microcomputers">microcomputers</a> and <a href="/Unix">Unix</a> early cost it heavily in profits and prestige after <a href="/silicon">silicon</a> got cheap. However, the <a href="/microprocessor">microprocessor</a> design tradition owes a heavy debt to the <a href="/PDP-11">PDP-11</a> <a href="/instruction+set">instruction set</a>, and every one of the major general-purpose microcomputer <a href="/operating+systems">operating systems</a> so far (CP/M, <a href="/MS-DOS">MS-DOS</a>, <a href="/Unix">Unix</a>, <a href="/OS/2">OS/2</a>) were either genetically descended from a DEC OS, or incubated on DEC <a href="/hardware">hardware</a> or both. Accordingly, DEC is still regarded with a certain wry affection even among many hackers too young to have grown up on DEC machines. The contrast with <a href="/IBM">IBM</a> is instructive. <p></p> Quarterly sales $3923M, profits -$1746M (Aug 1994). <p></p> DEC was taken over by <a href="/Compaq+Computer+Corporation">Compaq Computer Corporation</a> in 1998. In 2002 Compaq was in turn acquired by <a href="/Hewlett-Packard">Hewlett-Packard</a> who sold off parts of Digital Equipment Corporation to <a href="/Intel">Intel</a> and absorbed the rest. The Digital logo is no longer used. <p></p> <p class="updated">Last updated: <a href="/new.html">2012-07-29</a></p> <p></p> <p class="vertical-space"></p><h3>Nearby terms:</h3> <p class="neighbours"> <b><a href="/Digital+Equipment+Corporation">Digital Equipment Corporation</a></b> &diams; <a href="/Digital+Equipment+Corporation+Network">Digital Equipment Corporation Network</a> </p> <p> Try this search on <a href="https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Digital+Equipment+Corporation">Wikipedia</a>, <a href="https://www.wiktionary.org/wiki/Digital+Equipment+Corporation">Wiktionary</a>, <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=define:Digital+Equipment+Corporation">Google</a>, <a href="https://www.onelook.com/?w=Digital+Equipment+Corporation">OneLook</a>. </p> <p class="vertical-space"></p> <hr> <div></div> <hr>  <div id="HCB_comment_box">Loading</div> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="//www.htmlcommentbox.com/static/skins/bootstrap/twitter-bootstrap.css?v=0"> <script language="javascript" id="hcb"> hcb_user = { PAGE: 'https://foldoc.org/Digital+Equipment+Corporation', comments_header: ' ', no_comments_msg: ' ', err_comment_empty: 'Your comment was not posted because it was empty!', rss: '', }; var s = document.createElement("script"); s.setAttribute("type", "text/javascript"); s.setAttribute("src", "//www.htmlcommentbox.com/jread?page=" + escape(hcb_user.PAGE).replace(/\+/g, "%2B") + "&mod=%241%24wq1rdBcg%24.0y2uzvjA2bsnhzpXVq9F." + "&opts=17374&num=10"); // No e-mail field: 16846 if (typeof s != "undefined") document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(s); </script> <script> setTimeout(function () { document.getElementById('hcb_form_content').rows = 1 }, 1000); </script> <hr>  </div>  </div>  <div id="right"> <div id="google_translate_element"> <script> function googleTranslateElementInit() { new google.translate.TranslateElement({ pageLanguage: 'en' }, 'google_translate_element'); } </script> <script src="https://translate.google.com/translate_a/element.js?cb=googleTranslateElementInit"></script> </div> <p><br></p> <hr> <div id="social"> <div class="fb-like" data-href="http://foldoc.org/" data-layout="button_count" data-action="like" data-show-faces="false" data-share="true"> </div> <a href="https://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-via="foldoc"> Tweet </a> <script> if (!document.getElementById('twitter-wjs')) { var fjs = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0], js = document.createElement('script'); js.id = 'twitter-wjs'; js.src = 'https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js'; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); } </script> </div> <hr> <div> <p></p> </div> <p> <a href="/rss.xml"> <img src="/orangerss.gif" width="14" height="14" alt="RSS feed of new items"> </a>   <a href="/new.html">Recent Updates</a>     |     <a href="/missing.html">Missing Terms</a> </p> <p>Updated: Tue, 11 Feb 2025 23:28:55 GMT</p> <p>15282 entries</p> <p><em><a href="/Free+On-line+Dictionary">Copyright Denis Howe 1985</a></em></p> </div>  </div>   <script type="text/javascript"> window._qevents = window._qevents || []; (function() { var elem = document.createElement('script'); elem.src = 'https://secure.quantserve.com/quant.js'; elem.async = true; elem.type = 'text/javascript'; var scpt = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; scpt.parentNode.insertBefore(elem, scpt); })(); window._qevents.push({ qacct: 'p-48Rosdvs3EiOc', uid: '__INSERT_EMAIL_HERE__' }); </script> <noscript> <div style="display:none;"> <img src="https//pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-48Rosdvs3EiOc.gif" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt="Quantcast"/> </div> </noscript>  </body> </html>

CINXE.COM

Digital Equipment Corporation from FOLDOC