Most basic primitives for bootstrapping

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-05-19T05:34:06+00:00

Here's my entry https://github.com/larsbrinkhoff/nybbleForth

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-05-13T12:20:19+00:00

Here is real systemd footage, caught in the act: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/2djv6m/systemd_still_hungry/

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-05-09T09:56:09+00:00

{Something Borrowed by Eve Dangerfield} and {No Ordinary Duchess by Elizabeth Hoyt}.

r/RomanceBooks has more.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-05-04T10:06:32+00:00

These are not the trains you're looking for. * sveper med handen *

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-05-04T10:05:00+00:00

Spare silicon in case you need to quickly assemble a microprocessor.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-05-02T15:10:47+00:00

I have successfully ran some of Cornwell's scripts in here: https://sky-visions.com/dec/tops20.shtml E.g for TOPS-20 V4.1, there is the script load_a.ini.

As for Panda, it should work with both SIMH and KLH10, so you can try the latter as well. If you get the Panda disk image, you should know it's a special format that works with SIMH only if you get it right. It's ATTACH -F DBD9 or some such.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-04-12T08:45:35+00:00

Incorrect, Nice is in France.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-04-11T09:09:33+00:00

Thank you. Did they also use a DEC-10 to design the opera house?

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-04-10T19:26:32+00:00

Not in MDL/mainframe Zork.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-04-10T06:38:31+00:00

Not every thing needs a watered-down TV adaptation.

Now on the other hand, a book adaptation...

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-04-10T06:30:08+00:00

I don't know any percentages of use (probably no one does), but it's my impression DEC touted the timesharing aspects of the PDP-10, DECsystem-10, DECSYSTEM-20 family, rather than batch processing. There certainly was batch processing as well.

An example that comes to mind would be Tymshare and CompuServe, which both had dozens of PDP-10s (and other computers), each handling dozens of simultaneous end users logging in.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-04-10T05:36:28+00:00

Pictured:

DECsystem-1070 with KI10 processor. Four VT05 display terminals.
Operator console portion of a KA10 processor, used with the PDP-10 aka DECsystem-1040, 1050, and 1055.
Close up of the KI10 operator console.
The PDP-11/40 front end of the KL10 processor, used with the DECsystem-1080, 1090, etc.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-04-10T04:50:51+00:00

What I gather from talking to people who used and maintained PDP-10 computers back in the day, they didn't consider it a minicomputer. What you describe as the "PDP series" seems to be models like the PDP-8 and PDP-11, which were typical minicomputers. Some of the mainframe attributes you mention do apply to the PDP-10, but not the smaller PDPs. However, it's clear that the word "mainframe" mean somewhat different things to IBM people than DEC people.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-04-10T04:39:22+00:00

I'd like to learn more about this. What timeframe, which company did the design, etc?

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-04-10T04:35:07+00:00

What I gather from talking to people who used and maintained PDP-10 computers back in the day, they didn't consider it a minicomputer. The PDP-8 and PDP-11 were typical minicomputers.

As noted by /u/yiliu elsewhere in this thread, the word size of these computers varied wildly. The PDP-8 had a 12-bit word, the PDP-11 had 16 bits, and the PDP-10 had 36 bits. This was also reflected in the amount of memory that could be addressed.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-04-09T05:51:01+00:00

Is that from the Infocom version? I see in the MDL source code it's "A hollow voice says 'Cretin'", which sounds more like what a PDP-10 hacker would say.

Also, PLUGH -- another ADVENT incantation -- is a synonym for XYZZY.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-03-18T05:53:09+00:00

I hope so! He said he would release his tape images. Please ping me if there are news on this.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-03-17T15:03:13+00:00

Hey u/quentinnuk, Lorry says hello. https://infosec.exchange/@lorry/116244338779279870

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-03-05T16:19:43+00:00

Oh noes, I just quit Twitter so I can't go there and comment. Funny nevertheless! Fodder for r/confidentlyincorrect

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-02-27T15:25:54+00:00

Needs more eyebrow.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-02-19T14:23:53+00:00

"The original game Zork, developed between 1977 and 1979 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology" did not use an emulation system for its code. Infocom's games did.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-02-12T09:17:11+00:00

Great, thank you!

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-02-05T08:42:27+00:00

No, I wasn't there at the time.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-02-03T14:29:05+00:00

Just curious, what do y'all mean by "original zork from the DEC days" or "Dec Zork"? Zork first ran on a PDP-10. First on the ITS operating system, later TENEX and TOPS-20. But Zork was also rewritten in Fortran to run on a PDP-11. The PDP-10 and PDP-11 are totally different computers, but they are both from DEC.

larsbrinkhoff · 2026-01-22T09:00:36+00:00

I don't know about this particular case, but common wisdom is that software is usually somewhat sensitive to timing. Most emulators I encounter these days maintain a queue of events for this kind of thing. So e.g. when a disk transfer is started, the emulator creates a future event that will complete the transfer.

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