Completely off topic, but perhaps amusing.
Here’s is one of the things I did on my end of year holiday: I built a mini version of the iconic PDP-11/70 front panel:
It’s a fully working model powered by a Raspberry PI, running your PDP-11 operating system of choice, which in my case is RSX-11M+ (using the SIMH emulator) – It even displays the light pattern characteristic of the OS that’s running.
I built this reproduction (which is 6:10 scale) using the PiDP-11kit created by Oscar Vermeulen. Oscar did all the hard work, designing the kit and having the case and switches all custom-manufactured. All I had to do was follow the step-by-step instructions and solder 64 LEDs, 30 toggle switches, and a collection of diodes and resistors in place.
My trip into PDP-11 nostalgia was launched in no small part due to the untimely and sudden death of my old friend Brian McCarthy. I worked with Brian at Digital Equipment Corporation a lifetime ago. He was one of the smartest software engineers I ever met, and was the person who taught me how “map registers” worked on any computer (between the I/O bus and memory bus – these are actual physical things on the PDP-11/70 and the VAX, and served as the model for the HAL’s “map register” abstraction on Windows). Brian was one of the RSX-11M+ developers, taking over some time after Dave Cutler had moved on to developing VAX VMS.
Anyhow… that’s my trip down memory lane.
I hope everyone on the forum (even Anton) has a spectacularly successful 2019 – both personally and professionally.
Peter
I miss the resurrected from scrap heap 11/40 with vector graphics unit that simultaneously served as heater and platform to push the limits of RT11
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From: Peter_Viscarola_(OSR)
Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2018 5:28 PM
To: David_R.Cattley
Subject: [NTDEV] Off Topic: Retro-Computing… Build Your Own PDP-11/70
OSR https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcommunity.osr.com%2F&data=02|01||30a4641bd5c0466b4a5608d66daab4e2|84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa|1|0|636816977273998146&sdata=pkTYXxV7nGJSYc%2F1hsr1pW9TZBy5PpC1RPVJBcr5ln0%3D&reserved=0
Peter_Viscarola(OSR) started a new discussion: Off Topic: Retro-Computing… Build Your Own PDP-11/70
Completely off topic, but perhaps amusing.
Here’s is one of the things I did on my end of year holiday: I built a mini version of the iconic PDP-11/70 front panel:
It’s a fully working model powered by a Raspberry PI, running your PDP-11 operating system of choice, which in my case is RSX-11M+ (using the SIMH emulator) – It even displays the light pattern characteristic of the OS that’s running.
I built this reproduction (which is 6:10 scale) using the PiDP-11kit created by Oscar Vermeulen. Oscar did all the hard work, designing the kit and having the case and switches all custom-manufactured. All I had to do was follow the step-by-step instructions and solder 64 LEDs, 30 toggle switches, and a collection of diodes and resistors in place.
My trip into PDP-11 nostalgia was launched in no small part due to the untimely and sudden death of my old friend Brian McCarthy. I worked with Brian at Digital Equipment Corporation a lifetime ago. He was one of the smartest software engineers I ever met, and was the person who taught me how “map registers” worked on any computer (between the I/O bus and memory bus – these are actual physical things on the PDP-11/70 and the VAX, and served as the model for the HAL’s “map register” abstraction on Windows). Brian was one of the RSX-11M+ developers, taking over some time after Dave Cutler had moved on to developing VAX VMS.
Anyhow… that’s my trip down memory lane.
I hope everyone on the forum (even Anton) has a spectacularly successful 2019 – both personally and professionally.
Peter</https:>
I’m another person who misses PDP-11’s. They are where I learned to write device drivers, I had a symbiotic relationship with the local DEC sales guy, he would go into firms selling 11’s for process control. The firm would be interested but said where are we going to get the drivers to control our unique devices. He would point them to me, and I wrote the drivers and helped maintain the PDP-11’s by diaganosing the problems, borrowing boards from him to fix the problem. He would bill them for the boards I replaced (minus the refund for the bad boards). We were both making good money on the arrangement.
Don Burn
Windows Driver Consulting
Website: http://www.windrvr.com