The Minivac 601 came before the first personal computers such as the Kenbak (1971) or the Altair (1975), offering an educational and hobbyist platform to investigate boolean logic, digital computing and logic design. This product began shipping in 1961, the year when the first humans went into space (Gagarin and Shepard), before the IBM S/360 and when the DEC PDP-1 cost over $100,000 ($1M equivalent today) and weighed 1,600 pounds. In other words, this was as close as any youth or hobbyist was going to get to a personal computer in that timeframe.
This unit provides 6 pushbuttons (SPDT), 6 slide switches (DPDT), six relays (DPDT), 12 indicator lamps, and a unique rotary indicator input/output unit. Included patch wires were used to interconnect the relays, buttons etc to create the desired operation. The manuals that came with the Minivac 601 teach boolean logic, the machine itself and provide almost 90 examples of logical machines that can be wired with the machine.
Among the examples that I wired up with this machine recently are:
Comes with all the manuals (books I through VI as numbered by the maker), some miscellaneous documents and a copy of the brochure for the optional "Capacitor-Resistor Kit". That kit added six capacitors to terminals that already exist on the machine, plus includes a number of jumpers that have resistors inline. These allow the machine to create bistable flip-flops, respond to pulses/edges and isolates inputs from logic structures like AND, OR, XOR whereas the original kit is straight wiring. Easy to add the equivalent of this kit and implement resistor logic gates. Throw in some diodes hooked into jumpers to move beyond what the Minivac 601 and the upgraded Minivac 6010 could do.
Also comes with the jumper wires.
The original cardboard box has fallen apart but I did include one flap that shows the markings and labeling.
Price is $500 plus shipping
pictures available on ebay listing for this unit. Tried to upload here but the size limits are blocking use of any of my images
This unit provides 6 pushbuttons (SPDT), 6 slide switches (DPDT), six relays (DPDT), 12 indicator lamps, and a unique rotary indicator input/output unit. Included patch wires were used to interconnect the relays, buttons etc to create the desired operation. The manuals that came with the Minivac 601 teach boolean logic, the machine itself and provide almost 90 examples of logical machines that can be wired with the machine.
Among the examples that I wired up with this machine recently are:
- binary to decimal decoder, spinning the output dial to stop at the decimal equivalent of the four switch input setting
- decimal to binary decoder, lighting four indicator lamps with the binary equivalent of the numbers 0 to 10 selected by the rotary dial
- two bit full adder with carry in and out
Comes with all the manuals (books I through VI as numbered by the maker), some miscellaneous documents and a copy of the brochure for the optional "Capacitor-Resistor Kit". That kit added six capacitors to terminals that already exist on the machine, plus includes a number of jumpers that have resistors inline. These allow the machine to create bistable flip-flops, respond to pulses/edges and isolates inputs from logic structures like AND, OR, XOR whereas the original kit is straight wiring. Easy to add the equivalent of this kit and implement resistor logic gates. Throw in some diodes hooked into jumpers to move beyond what the Minivac 601 and the upgraded Minivac 6010 could do.
Also comes with the jumper wires.
The original cardboard box has fallen apart but I did include one flap that shows the markings and labeling.
Price is $500 plus shipping
pictures available on ebay listing for this unit. Tried to upload here but the size limits are blocking use of any of my images
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