Hi.

On 2016-09-07 19:00, Ray Jewhurst wrote:
My apologies. To be honest I am very ignorant about of the science of
computers. I am disabled, cannot work but I am a total computer history
buff. I want to learn and know and experience as much as I can and Simh
is a major part of that. I  want to help where I can so please excuse my
occasionally confusion.

No worries. You never learn if you are afraid of making mistakes. However, if you are not rather experienced writing code, I think that implementing something like the VAX-11/782 might be quite a task... Not to mention that I don't know where you'd find a version of VMS that would support the machine.

Maybe find something a little simpler to start with? Like the talk about expanding the PDP-8 to more generic support for devices than the current implementation.

        Johnny



On Sep 7, 2016 12:46 PM, "Johnny Billquist" <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:

    The 11/782 are no more asynchronous than any multiprocessor system.

    The A in ASMP stands for assymetric. As in, the second processor did
    not run any kernel code, but is a slave processor to the primary
    processor. It gets scheduled with user-land code to run, but any
    trapping to the OS means it interrupts the main processor, who do
    all the work.

            Johnny

    On 2016-09-07 18:23, Ray Jewhurst wrote:

        I think you are like I am. I would like to see every DEC simulator
        possible. Right now I am doing some preliminary research into the
        feasibility of a VAX 11/782 which is an asynchronous dual processor
        11/780.  I will need help because I am not a real experienced coder.


        On Sep 6, 2016 8:21 PM, "khandy21yo" <[email protected]
        <mailto:[email protected]>
        <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> wrote:

            Just curious,. Is there any thought about emulating any of
        the Dec
            mate Line? I used to deal with them, mostly as wps8. I don't
        know
            what the hardware differences are, but I saw a large number
        of Dec
            mates and only a few pdp8s. How compatible were they?



            Sent from my Galaxy TabĀ® A

            -------- Original message --------
            From: Ethan Dicks <[email protected]
        <mailto:[email protected]>
            <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>>
            Date: 9/6/16 5:00 PM (GMT-07:00)
            To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
        <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
            Subject: Re: [Simh] Pdp8 terminals

            On Tue, Sep 6, 2016 at 1:03 PM, Johnny Billquist
        <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
            <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> wrote:
            > Hi.
            >
            > On 2016-09-06 18:55, Bob Supnik wrote:
            >>
            >> The PDP8 simulator is more or less a PDP8/A, and its terminal
            >> "multiplexor" is a KL8-JA, which implements four discrete
        KL8A style
            >> interfaces. These are superset compatible with the
        PDP8/I's PT08
            >> discrete interfaces, and thus TSS/8 will work. Note that
        TSS/8
            supports
            >> only four discrete terminal interfaces. To get more than four
            lines, the
            >> configuration must have a DC08(A), a multiplexor for the
        PDP8/I. The
            >> DC08(A) is not implemented at the moment.
            >
            >
            > This can't be correct.
            >
            > The KL8JA is a single line interface, compatible with the
        KL8E,
            but using
            > different hardware. You can add lots of KL8E or KL8JA
        interfaces
            to a PDP8,
            > if you wanted to. Each have a different device code, and
        that's
            all there is
            > to it. (Talking about the actual hardware here.) In
        addition, as
            far as I am
            > aware, the programming of these interfaces are pretty much the
            same as the
            > console interface on all other PDP-8 models as well.
            >
            > The KL8A was a very late device for Omnibus, which require
        a hex
            wide box.
            > It is a 4 line multiplexor, but the programming interface is
            nothing like
            > the KL8JA or KL8E. In addition, not all lines are the
        same. And
            again, you
            > can add several of these multiplexers to a machine, if you
        want to.

            Agreed... here are the handle numbers to help clarify what
        we are all
            talking about...

            M8319 KL8A PDP-8/A 4 channel serial I/O

            M8650 KL8E Asynchronous Data Control (current loop or RS232)
            M8655 KL8JA Terminal Control (UART based substitute for M8650)


            The KL8E and KL8JA are, AFAIK, not easy (or not possible?)
        to tell
            apart in software.  The KL8A is entirely different - the
        only time
            I've ever used my KL8A was with RTS-8.  I'm not sure I have
        any OS/8
            code that knows how to talk to it.  If it's out there, I'd
        love to
            read it.

            >> There was a significant evolution in the PDP8 family's IO
        controllers
            >> from the original 8 and 8/I to the Omnibus-based 8/E and 8/A.

            Very true.  I have a bunch of the real hardware spanning the
        entire
            era and, yeah, Omnibus devices and pre-Omnibus devices are
        commonly
            different (I think the console 03/04 interface is, up to the
        DECmate
            era, the most compatible across the spectrum).

            -ethan
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--
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                  ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: [email protected]             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
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