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Is it possible to get an original DEC pdp-7, if so how much would it be? I've looked around the internet, but I'm not finding anything.

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    While this is clearly off topic for RC.SE (where to buy X), it's also a funny question. I like it. Serious, Any surviving is either in a museum (or company/institute collection), or very deep stored in some basement. Not really anything advertized in public.
    – Raffzahn
    Jan 10, 2019 at 17:33
  • Yeah, sorry, it was right after I posted this that I found a list of all surviving pdp7s there are 5. Oops.
    – user11220
    Jan 10, 2019 at 17:40
  • @Shadow This is definitely off-topic, but which list says 5? The one from the answer says 4, and it'd be interesting to see the difference between the lists.
    – wizzwizz4 ♦
    Jan 10, 2019 at 21:54
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    Somewhat apropos: In the early 2000s I came across a small DEC system (single rack PDP-11 plus an ASR 33, IIRC) thrown out with a bunch of regular trash. This was on a commercial street in a residential area. My guess it came out of a medical office. Still kicking myself for not snagging it for my collection. So keep your eyes out, you never know what you might find!
    – Alex Hajnal
    Jan 11, 2019 at 9:06
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    I remember a PDP-5 that was rescued from deep storage by the Carnegie-Mellon University computer club circa 1980. It belonged to the Physics department, and they were delighted to loan it to the club, because that freed up valuable space where they could store some other old hulk. Physics were not allowed to throw away valuable capital equipment (especially not a freakin' computer) without approval from accounting, and that could take years to negotiate. The club did not get the 5 to work while I was there. Everybody was more interested in the PDP-8, the PDP-11, and the Apple ][.
    – Solomon Slow
    Jan 14, 2019 at 17:32

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PDP-8 and PDP-11 machines seem to be much more available. The Living Computers museum in Seattle has a PDP-7, which may be running: it would be worth asking them if you could have a login for it.

Buying one looks very hard. Only a handful are known to still exist.

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  • I did not know that place existed, and I live in the area, will definitely be going there soon.
    – user11220
    Jan 10, 2019 at 17:56
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    The LCM is definitely worth a visit. Though it's pretty weird to see "things I have worked on" in a museum.
    – another-dave
    Jan 11, 2019 at 3:00
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In short: no.

A well-researched list of PDP-7s sold and their fates is available here from soemtron.org. There were approximately 50 PDP-7s manufactured, of which only 4 5 are still known to exist. They're all in museums.

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