Mentec International Ltd was founded in 1978[1] and initially focused on the development of monitoring and control software and systems. It was a significant Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) reseller and OEM in Ireland.[1] Mentec Computer Systems Limited was a subsidiary of Mentec Limited that repackaged PDP-11 processors. Mentec Inc.[2] was a US-based subsidiary of Mentec Limited. In the early 1980s it had a range of remote terminal units based on the SBC/11-21 (Falcon).
Once the DEC J-11 PDP-11 processor chip set became available in 1982 Mentec commenced the design of its first PDP-11 single-board computer, the M70.
In 1994 DEC transferred the PDP-11 operating systems to Mentec Inc.[3]
Product range
M70
The M70 was developed between 1982 and 1984. It was a quad Q-bus module based on the J-11 chipset incorporating onboard ECC DRAM, bootstrap EPROMs and 4 serial lines implemented using DEC DC319 DLART chips.
M71
The M71 was a version of the M70 intended for process control.[4] It provided for 1/4 or 1 M Byte of ECC DRAM, up to 1/2 MB of EPROM, 4 serial lines (DC-319 DLARTs) and two parallel ports implemented using 8255 chips. It was initially designed by Mentec for use in its own Remote Terminal Units.
M80
The M80 was a further development of the M70 but using parity memory and a slightly higher clock rate. It also introduced software configuration via the bootstrap which all but eliminated wire-wrap configuration.
M90
PDP-11 operating systems
RSX-11
Ownership of RSX-11S, RSX-11M, RSX-11M Plus and Micro/RSX was transferred from DEC to Mentec Inc. in March 1994[9] as part of a broader agreement.[10] In 2006 Mentec Inc. was declared bankrupt while Mentec Ltd. was acquired by Irish firm Calyx in December 2006.[11] The PDP-11 software, which was owned by Mentec Inc. was then bought by XX2247 LLC, which is the owner of the software today. It is unclear if new commercial licenses are possible to buy at this time. Hobbyists can run RSX-11M (version 4.3 or earlier) and RSX-11M Plus (version 3.0 or earlier) on the SIMH emulator thanks to a free license granted in May 1998 by Mentec Inc.[12]
Legal ownership of RSX-11A, RSX-11B, RSX-11C, RSX-11D, and IAS never changed hands; therefore it passed to Compaq
References
- Steve Lohr. Irish applaud austerity policies The New York Times, August 15, 1988^
- PDP-11 RSX RT RSTS Emulator Osprey Charon retrieved August 8, 2010^
- Digital And Mentec, Inc. Announce PDP-11 Software Agreement