Rubénerd!

Aside from the technological significance of the DEC PDP11 computers, I'm also so thoroughly in love with their design, colours, fonts and advertising material.

Quintessentially 70s. I want that chair! The carpet! The red walls! A bank of dead PDP11s for hanging my clothes in, with a Mac Mini running an emulator inside it!

Scan by PanelswitchMan on Flickr.

Dennis (standing) and Ken in front of a DEC PDP-11 in 1972. Look at those tape reels!

Photo from dmr's site at Bell Labs. I hope they maintain it.

DEC is a company that a surprising number of people my age and younger are simply unaware of, and Ken Olsen (left in the photo) even fewer. It's a shame when one considers what a huge impact he and the company he started with Harlan Anderson had and how we all have benefited from their innovations, even if they did leave with a whimper in 1998.

I was born far too late to have used his company's machines directly, though I proudly hack away at my virtual PDP-8. Rest In Peace Mr Olsen, another IT legend.