The complete Digital Technical Journals

The Digital Technical Journals reference library


This is a machine-readable set of all 42 of the Digital Technical Journals, scanned from paper originals.

The machine-readable set was created as a CD for the 2006 HP OpenVMS Advanced Technical Symposium in Nashua.

As of April 2016 the originals have been re-scanned and made searchable, using the OCR capabilities of Acrobat DC Pro.

These journals provide an in-depth understanding of why computer systems work as they do. They provide a unique insight into the rigours of the design process and the architectural approach to implementation. Most of the articles describe in detail the very first time that any of these products and processes were created. The engineers and scientists involved have made the effort to clearly describe what they did, how they did it and, crucially, why they did it the way that they did it.

The journals document the work of people at Digital Equipment Corporation with the ability, skills and determination to "do it right". CPUs , memory, I/O, storage and networks are all changing dramatically in terms of performance and capacity, yet the fundamental principles hold true. As a result, the systems and software (such as OpenVMS itself) have been able to evolve while continuing to deliver mission-critical availability and performance. They have also maintained an astonishing level of backwards compatibility across a wide range of hardware platforms and machine architectures. These unique achievements are due to the outstanding design skills of the engineers, their insights, their clear understanding of the core issues and their ability to plan for the future.

Please also admire the work of the editors and technical authors who worked with the engineers and scientists to create the Digital Technical Journals - and don't miss the artwork on the covers.

As an educational resource to illustrate the art of computer systems engineering these journals are hard to beat.



This document scanning project would not have been possible without the assistance of many people, especially Sue Skonetski, Nic Clews, Paul Dolan, Dave Foddy, Ian Miller, Tim Pass and all those kind enough to donate copies.

My grateful thanks to them all.

Colin Butcher, XDelta Limited, April 2016.


Cumulative Index to Volumes 1 through 6


DTJ Cumulative Index 1985-1994 (Volumes 1 to 6) - Click to download the fileDTJ Cumulative Index 1985-1994 (Volumes 1 to 6) Front cover Back cover

Cumulative Index 1985-1994




Numbers 1 - 9, 1985 - 1989


DTJ Number 1 August 1985 - Click to download the fileDTJ Number 1 August 1985 Front cover Back cover

VAX 8600 Processor



DTJ Number 2 March 1986 - Click to download the fileDTJ Number 2 March 1986 Front cover Back cover

MicroVAX II System



DTJ Number 3 September 1986 - Click to download the fileDTJ Number 3 September 1987 Front cover Back cover

Networking Products



DTJ Number 4 February 1987 - Click to download the fileDTJ Number 4 February 1987 Front cover Back cover

VAX 8800 Family



DTJ Number 5 September 1987 - Click to download the fileDTJ Number 5 September 1987 Front cover Back cover

VAXcluster Systems



DTJ Number 6 February 1988 - Click to download the fileDTJ Number 6 February 1988 Front cover Back cover

Software Productivity Tools



DTJ Number 7 August 1988 - Click to download the fileDTJ Number 7 August 1988 Front cover Back cover

CVAX-based Systems



DTJ Number 8 February 1989 - Click to download the fileDTJ Number 8 February 1989 Front cover Back cover

Storage Technology



DTJ Number 9 June 1989 - Click to download the fileDTJ Number 9 June 1989 Front cover Back cover

Distributed Systems


Volume 2, 1990


DTJ Volume 2 Number 1 1990 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 2 Number 1 1990 Front cover Back cover

Compound Document Architecture



DTJ Volume 2 Number 2 Spring 1990 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 2 Number 2 Spring 1990 Front cover Back cover

VAX 6000 Model 400 System



DTJ Volume 2 Number 3 1990 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 2 Number 3 1990 Front cover Back cover

DECwindows Program



DTJ Volume 2 Number 4 1990 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 2 Number 4 1990 Front cover Back cover

VAX 9000 series


Volume 3, 1991


DTJ Volume 3 Number 1 1991 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 3 Number 1 1991 Front cover Back cover

Transaction Processing; Databases; Fault-tolerant Systems



DTJ Volume 3 Number 2 1991 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 3 Number 2 1991 Front cover Back cover

Fiber Distributed Data Interface



DTJ Volume 3 Number 3 1991 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 3 Number 3 1991 Front cover Back cover

Availability in VAXcluster Systems; Network Performance and Adapters



DTJ Volume 3 Number 4 1991 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 3 Number 4 1991 Front cover Back cover

Image Processing; Video Terminals; Printer Technologies



Volume 4, 1992


DTJ Volume 4 Number 1 1992 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 4 Number 1 1992 Front cover Back cover

PATHWORKS: PC Integration Software



DTJ Volume 4 Number 2 1992 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 4 Number 2 1992 Front cover Back cover

Semiconductor Technologies



DTJ Volume 4 Number 3 1992 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 4 Number 3 1992 Front cover Back cover

NVAX-microprocessor VAX Systems



DTJ Volume 4 Number 4 Special Edition 1992 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 4 Number 4 Special Edition 1992 Front cover Back cover

Alpha AXP Architecture and Systems


Volume 5, 1993


DTJ Volume 5 Number 1 1993 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 5 Number 1 1993 Front cover Back cover

DECnet Open Networking



DTJ Volume 5 Number 2 1993 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 5 Number 2 1993 Front cover Back cover

Multimedia; Application Control



DTJ Volume 5 Number 3 1993 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 5 Number 3 1993 Front cover Back cover

Product Internationalization



DTJ Volume 5 Number 4 1993 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 5 Number 4 1993 Front cover Back cover

Software Process and Quality



Volume 6, 1994


DTJ Volume 6 Number 1 1994 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 6 Number 1 1994 Front cover Back cover

High-performance Networking; OpenVMS AXP System Software; Alpha AXP PC Hardware





DTJ Volume 6 Number 2 1994 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 6 Number 2 1994 Front cover Back cover

Alpha AXP Partners - Cray, Raytheon, Kubota; DECchip 21071/21072 PCI Chip Sets; DLT2000 Tape Drive





DTJ Volume 6 Number 3 1994 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 6 Number 3 1994 Front cover Back cover

Alphaserver Multiprocessing Systems; DEC OSF/1 Symmetric Multiprocessing; Scientific Computing Optimizations for Alpha





DTJ Volume 6 Number 4 1994 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 6 Number 4 1994 Front cover Back cover

RAID Array Controllers; Workflow Models; PC LAN and System Management Tools



Volume 7, 1995 - Tenth Anniversary


Engineering Milestones in Digital's History - insert - Click to download the fileEngineering Milestones in Digital's History - insert Insert

Engineering Milestones in Digital's History

Digital Equipment Corporation was founded in 1957. Since then, Digital's engineers have consistently delivered outstanding computer systems, network products, software, peripherals, storage systems, and semiconductor devices. This special section in the tenth anniversary issue of the Digital Technical Journal chronicles the engineering milestones in Digital's history from 1957 to May 1995. Many industry "firsts" can be found in this chronology, beginning with the PDP1 minicomputer through the record-breaking Alpha microprocessor. The milestones noted here represent a range of products and many years of computer engineering design and development.





DTJ Volume 7 Number 1  1995 Tenth Anniversary Special Edition - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 7 Number 1 1995 Tenth Anniversary Special Edition Front cover Back cover

Database Integration; Alpha Servers & Workstations; Alpha 21164 CPU



DTJ Volume 7 Number 2 1995 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 7 Number 2 1995 Front cover Back cover

Graphical Software Development, Systems Engineering





DTJ Volume 7 Number 3 1995 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 7 Number 3 1995 Front cover Back cover

High Performance Fortran in Parallel Environments, Sequoia 2000 Research




DTJ Volume 7 Number 4 1995 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 7 Number 4 1995 Front cover Back cover

Audio and Video Technologies, UNIX Available Servers, Real-time Debugging Tools


Volume 8, 1996


DTJ Volume 8 Number 1 1996 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 8 Number 1 1996 Front cover Back cover

Digital UNIX Clusters, Object Modification Tools, eXcursion for Windows Operating Systems, Network Directory Services





DTJ Volume 8 Number 2 1996 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 8 Number 2 1996 Front cover Back cover

Spiralog Log-structured File System; OpenVMS for 64-bit Addressable Virtual memory; High-performance Message Passing for Clusters; Speech Recognition Software



DTJ Volume 8 Number 3 1996 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 8 Number 3 1996 Front cover Back cover

Internet Protocol V6; Preservation of Historical Computer Systems; Fortran for Parallel Computing; Server Performance Evaluation and Optimization; Internet Collaboration Software




DTJ Volume 8 Number 4 1996 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 8 Number 4 1996 Front cover Back cover

AlphaServer 4100 System; Oracle and Sybase Database Products for VLM; Instruction Execution on Alpha Processors


Volume 9, 1997


DTJ Volume 9 Number 1 1997 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 9 Number 1 1997 Front cover Back cover

FX!32 Emulation and Translation; Visual Fortran; Memory Channel 2 Interconnect; ObjectBroker Security; StrongARM Microprocessor





DTJ Volume 9 Number 2 1997 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 9 Number 2 1997 Front cover Back cover

AltaVista Internet Security and Mail; Alpha-based Workstations for NT and UNIX





DTJ Volume 9 Number 3 1997 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 9 Number 3 1997 Front cover Back cover

Parallel SCSI Technology; Router Clusters; Multiplatform 3-D Application Sharing; HPF Debugger






DTJ Volume 9 Number 4 1997 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 9 Number 4 1997 Front cover Back cover

Spike Optimizer for Alpha Executables; Analysis of Memory Access Patterns; OpenVMS Alpha VLM; PowerStorm 4DT Graphics Adapter; Fast Application-level Networking




Volume 10, 1998 - Final Edition

A letter to readers of the Digital Technical Journal

This issue is the last Digital Technical Journal to be published. Since 1985, the Journal has been privileged to publish information about significant engineering accomplishments for DIGITAL, including standards-setting network and storage technologies, industry-leading VAX systems, record-breaking Alpha microprocessors and semiconductor technologies, and advanced application software and performance tools. The journal has been rewarded by continual growth in the number of readers and by their expressions of appreciation for the quality of content and presentation.

The editors thank the engineers who somehow made the time to write, the engineering managers who supported them, the consulting engineers and professors who reviewed manuscripts and made the process a learning experience for all of us, and, of course, the readers who are the reason the journal came into existence.

With kind regards,

Jane Blake (Managing Editor), Kathleen Stetson (Editor), Helen Patterson (Editor)




DTJ Volume 10 Number 1 Final Edition 1998 - Click to download the fileDTJ Volume 10 Number 1 Final Edition 1998 Front cover Back cover

Programming Languages & Tools