<s>
DECmate	B-Device
was	O
the	O
name	O
of	O
a	O
series	O
of	O
PDP-8-compatible	O
computers	O
produced	O
by	O
the	O
Digital	O
Equipment	O
Corporation	O
in	O
the	O
late	O
1970s	O
and	O
early	O
1980s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
of	O
the	O
models	O
used	O
an	O
Intersil	B-General_Concept
6100	I-General_Concept
(	O
later	O
known	O
as	O
the	O
Harris	B-General_Concept
6100	I-General_Concept
)	O
or	O
Harris	O
6120	B-General_Concept
(	O
an	O
improved	O
Intersil	B-General_Concept
6100	I-General_Concept
)	O
microprocessor	O
which	O
emulated	O
the	O
12-bit	B-Device
DEC	B-Device
PDP-8	I-Device
CPU	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
were	O
text-only	B-Application
and	O
used	O
the	O
OS/78	O
or	O
OS/278	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
,	O
which	O
were	O
extensions	O
of	O
OS/8	B-Operating_System
for	O
the	O
PDP-8	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Aimed	O
at	O
the	O
word	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
market	O
,	O
they	O
typically	O
ran	O
the	O
WPS-8	B-Protocol
word-processing	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
models	O
optionally	O
had	O
Intel	B-General_Concept
8080	I-General_Concept
or	O
Z80	B-General_Concept
microprocessors	I-General_Concept
which	O
allowed	O
them	O
to	O
run	O
CP/M	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
range	O
was	O
a	O
development	O
of	O
the	O
VT78	B-Device
which	O
was	O
introduced	O
in	O
July	O
1977	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Introduced	O
in	O
July	O
1977	O
,	O
this	O
machine	O
was	O
built	O
into	O
a	O
VT52	B-Application
case	O
and	O
had	O
an	O
Intersil	B-General_Concept
6100	I-General_Concept
microprocessor	O
running	O
at	O
2.2MHz	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
standard	O
configuration	O
included	O
an	O
RX02	O
dual	O
8-inch	B-Device
floppy	I-Device
disk	O
unit	O
which	O
was	O
housed	O
in	O
the	O
pedestal	O
that	O
the	O
computer	O
rested	O
on	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Introduced	O
in	O
1980	O
,	O
this	O
machine	O
was	O
built	O
into	O
a	O
VT100	B-Device
case	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
part	O
of	O
a	O
three-pronged	O
strategy	O
against	O
IBM	O
,	O
the	O
company	O
released	O
this	O
model	O
in	O
1982	O
at	O
the	O
same	O
time	O
as	O
the	O
PDP-11-based	O
PRO-350	B-Device
and	O
the	O
Intel	O
8088-based	O
Rainbow	B-Device
100	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
DECmate	B-Device
II	O
resembles	O
the	O
Rainbow	B-Device
100	I-Device
but	O
uses	O
the	O
6120	B-General_Concept
processor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
two	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
are	O
the	O
WPS-8	B-Protocol
word	B-General_Concept
processing	I-General_Concept
system	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
COS-310	B-Operating_System
Commercial	I-Operating_System
Operating	I-Operating_System
System	I-Operating_System
running	O
DIBOL	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Like	O
the	O
others	O
it	O
had	O
a	O
monochrome	O
VR201	O
(	O
VT220-style	O
)	O
monitor	O
,	O
an	O
LK201	B-Device
keyboard	O
and	O
dual	O
400KB	O
single-sided	O
quad-density	O
5.25-inch	O
RX50	O
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
drives	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Code	O
running	O
in	O
this	O
second	O
bank	O
was	O
nicknamed	O
"	O
slushware	O
"	O
,	O
in	O
contrast	O
to	O
firmware	B-Application
since	O
it	O
was	O
loaded	O
from	O
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
as	O
the	O
machine	O
booted	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
model	O
could	O
be	O
expanded	O
,	O
either	O
by	O
adding	O
another	O
pair	O
of	O
5.25-inch	O
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
drives	I-Device
,	O
and	O
it	O
could	O
also	O
support	O
either	O
an	O
additional	O
pair	O
of	O
RX01	O
or	O
RX02	O
8-inch	B-Device
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
drives	I-Device
or	O
a	O
Winchester	O
disk	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
can	O
also	O
have	O
a	O
coprocessor	O
board	O
added	O
,	O
to	O
allow	O
it	O
to	O
run	O
CP/M	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
was	O
a	O
choice	O
of	O
three	O
coprocessor	O
boards	O
,	O
one	O
with	O
a	O
Z80	B-General_Concept
and	O
64KB	O
RAM	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
choice	O
of	O
two	O
boards	O
with	O
both	O
a	O
Z80	B-General_Concept
and	O
an	O
Intel	B-General_Concept
8086	I-General_Concept
,	O
the	O
difference	O
being	O
that	O
they	O
had	O
either	O
256KB	O
or	O
512KB	O
RAM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
superseded	O
by	O
the	O
DECmate	B-Device
III	I-Device
,	O
introduced	O
in	O
1984	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
had	O
a	O
smaller	O
system	O
case	O
,	O
color	O
monitor	O
,	O
8MHz	O
clock	O
,	O
two	O
5.25-inch	O
RX50	O
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
drives	I-Device
,	O
32KB	O
user	O
RAM	O
,	O
32KB	O
system	O
RAM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
included	O
a	O
hard	B-General_Concept
disk	I-General_Concept
controller	I-General_Concept
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
basic	O
configuration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Otherwise	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
very	O
similar	O
to	O
the	O
DECmate	B-Device
III	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
DECmates	B-Device
were	O
acceptable	O
for	O
word-processing	O
,	O
but	O
due	O
to	O
various	O
hardware	O
quirks	O
,	O
were	O
somewhat	O
incompatible	O
with	O
many	O
existing	O
PDP-8	B-Device
programs	O
,	O
largely	O
eliminating	O
one	O
potential	O
advantage	O
of	O
the	O
DECmate	B-Device
series	O
over	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
I/O	B-General_Concept
interfaces	I-General_Concept
worked	O
slightly	O
differently	O
,	O
which	O
meant	O
that	O
most	O
existing	O
user	O
and	O
system	O
programs	O
could	O
not	O
detect	O
Control-C	O
and	O
exit	O
reliably	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
the	O
CPU	O
and	O
screen	O
update	O
speeds	O
were	O
noticeably	O
slower	O
than	O
the	O
older	O
PDP-8	B-Device
systems	O
.	O
</s>
