Recently I’ve posted several PDP-8 related items. I’ve been fascinated with the PDP-8 for some time, mainly because of its minimalist design. DECs follow-on, the PDP-11, was much more ambitious. But the product manager for the PDP-8 left DEC and started a new company, Data General. They quickly produced the NOVA, which has some resemblance to the PDP-8. It is not nearly as minimal, but it is far less complex than the -11. It is probably my favorite of the 16 bit minis. It was cheap and efficient, and popular. Eventually it was reduced to a single chip, the MN601 Micronova.
There is some really good information on Ed Thelen’s web site:
http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/dg-nova.html