Hi Rick, Call me if you can.
Paul 217 766 7690 On 10/28/15, Rick Bensene <[email protected]> wrote: > While there are documents out there that describe the function of the > Educomp/Quodata TSC8-75 Timeshare System Controller for Omnibus PDP 8 > machines, I have searched high and low, and there doesn't seem to be > /any/ schematics for it anywhere. > > I know this was a proprietary board that did some pretty interesting > things to trap IOT, JMP, JSR, and HLT/OSR instructions on the PDP > 8/e/f/m/a machines and provide additional capabilities versus DEC's > Memory Extension and Timeshare Control board. > > I have a fantasy of being able to run ETOS on real PDP 8/e hardware, but > I don't have one of these boards, and they seem to be pretty much > unobtainium. > > There are a few of them out there, but obviously, the owners of these > aren't in the mood to submit them for reverse engineering. Perhaps > someone out there has already done this, or someone has documentation on > the board that may include schematics that simply hasn't scanned it yet. > Bitsavers comes up with nothing under the DEC archives, and there's no > sign of Quodata or Educomp folders. > > I have read the descriptions of the function of the board, and the IOTs > that make it do its things, but I just don't have the expertise on the > guts of the Omnibus PDP 8 machines to be able to take this information > and create a design for a board that performs these functions. I've > also looked at the code in SimH that emulates the functionality of the > board, but again, it isn't enough information for me to be able to > figure out how to implement it in hardware. > > In any case, I think it'd be interesting to see if one of these boards > could be reproduced. > > I've found some old ClassicCMP list archives that mention some stuff > about ETOS documentation and folks that worked for Educomp/Quodata that > were involved in the creation of ETOS and this board, but the thread > died over 10 years ago. > > I am probably wishing for something that doesn't exist, but I figured > I'd ask anyway, as maybe someone has stumbled across some of this stuff > and just hasn't made it public yet. > > Rick Bensene > The Old Calculator Museum > http://oldcalculatormuseum.com > > > > > > > >
