The PDP-16 (Programmed Data Processor-16) was mainly intended for industrial control systems, but with more capability than DEC's

PDP-14 The PDP-14 was a specialized computer from Digital Equipment Corporation’s Industrial Products Group designed to replace industrial level relay controls for machinery and machine tools that performed repetitive tasks. It was specifically designed ...

Overview

The PDP-16 family of modules was introduced in 1971, and a pre-assembled system using these modules, the PDP-16/M was introduced in 1972. The 16/M was nicknamed "Subminicomputer" and described as "a small microprogrammable computer." The general-purpose modules included: # components to build a data path (registers, memories, ALUs, etc.) # components to build a control structure (evoke an operation in the datapath, branch on a condition from the datapath, merge, etc.) # other components necessary to complete a digital system (lights, switches, bus termination, backplane, etc.) The control structure was similar to a

flow chart A flowchart is a type of diagram that represents a workflow or process. A flowchart can also be defined as a diagrammatic representation of an algorithm, a step-by-step approach to solving a task. The flowchart shows the steps as boxes of va ...

, which was very familiar to software developers. As a result, the PDP-16 opened up digital system design to those with experience writing software but less hardware design experience than was traditionally required for this work. These modules were in the company's M series of

Flip-Chip modules A Flip-Chip module is a component of digital logic systems made by the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) for its PDP-7, PDP-8, PDP-9, and PDP-10 computers, and related peripherals, beginning on August 24, 1964. Description As used by DEC, the ...

, which used TTL circuit technology. The economic strength of the PDP-16 was that it was effective "for designing unique (or relatively low production volume) systems."

References

DEC computers {{mini-compu-stub