SBC6120 Computer

If you are looking for the IOB6120 or EDU25 BASIC pages, feel free to skip ahead.

The SBC6120 is a PDP-8 based on the same chip used in the Decmate series. It was created by Spare Time Gizmos, and is described here.

Spare Time Gizmos also did a really nice front panel that goes with these.

Jim Kearney also did an expansion board.

I have two SBC6120, the associated front panels, and expansion boards. One SBC6120 and front panel is mostly assembled, and one not. Here are pictures of the mostly assembled setup:

The SBC6120, assembled and installed.
The IOB6120, assembled and installed.

Each is attached behind the front panel.
The front panel, mostly assembled.

When (or if) I can get get things unjammed enough to use my wood-shop, I'd like to create an enclosure like these:

Ethan's SBC6120/FP6120.
Philip Freidin's SBC6120/FP6120.

Notice that theirs have squared-off switch paddles -- I prefer the rounded tips. I think they are easier to operate and look nicer. I also chose a warm yellow LED, rather than the red ones:

Rounded switch paddle tips.
Yellow lights look more old-school.

If you are wondering about the unbuilt stuff, and the remaining parts of the mostly-built unit, here's the box of that stuff:

The SBC6120/FP6120 parts box.
Both of the front panel artwork bits.

That's actually two pictures of the same box; I just uncovered the panels that were beneath the parts, circuit boards, and light bar.

I put one of my FP6120 on the scanner to get some measurements of the colors. The yellow green color is approximately (173, 134, 36), and the brown is approximately (104, 45, 28). (These aren't the colors used in the actual PDP-8 models.)

So far, it's actually a fairly vanilla story about buying and building Bob Armstrong's wonderful kits. From here, the story gets more complicated:




Last updated on 02/25/23 02:21

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