Re: [TUHS] Fwd: Curious Question from the Ether about use of Upper and Lower case at DEC

FYI.  I sent this to one of the lead DOC people from the old days to see if she knew.  Here is her answer. Begin forwarded message: > *From:* "Janet Egan" > *Date:* October 11, 2019 at 7:53:16 PM EDT > *To:* "'Clem Cole'" > *Subject:* *RE: Curious Question from the Ether about use of Upper > and Lower case at DEC* > > Hi Clem, > > Hmm, I don’t remember whether the style guide addressed that. In the > docs for  RSX-11M and such I always wrote it “PDP-11”, that is upper > case with the dash.  I do remember the logo on the machine as always > lower case with no dash. The PDP-8 had the same style logo. And > you’re right about seeing the lower case on the cover of the > handbooks.  I have never seen the lower case with the dash or the > upper case without it. I don’t think I still have my copy of the > style guide. Maybe I’ll take a look around my archives for it. > > What a fun question to be thinking about . > > Janet > > *From:*Clem Cole > *Sent:* Friday, October 11, 2019 9:47 AM > *To:* Janet Egan > *Subject:* Curious Question from the Ether about use of Upper and > Lower case at DEC > > Janet, > >  I'm part of The Unix Historical Society (TUHS) mailing list and a > topic came up that I thought you might be able to shed some > light on.  The observation was that 'DEC seemed to have a > schizophrenic attitude to wrt to use of upper and lower case WRT to > the PDP-11 brand,' i.e. sometimes using "PDP-11" and sometimes > "pdp11"  (but I note rarely if ever PDP11 or pdp-11) . For instance, > the logo on the system itself was all lower: PDP-11/40 > <https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Pdp-11-40.jpg/250px-Pdp-11-40.jpg> but > DEC documentation mostly used uppercase in the text; but when used on > the places like the cover could be either /e.g. /the > "pdp11 peripherals handbook" to transcribe the cover exactly but it > uses upper case "PDP-11" several times on pg 1-1 and the same on the > binding.  But I could not find examples of pdp-11 or PDP11, /i.e./ if > all lower it was with the dash or all upper without. > > Do you remember if there were rules or guidelines and if so what they > might have been? > > Thanks, > > Clem >