Anyone out there collecting Digital UNIX or Tru64 stuff? I'm trying to find the
Alpha version of DECtalk V4.2A that ran on Digital UNIX. The readme file is
easy to find but not the actual package. If you know where it is or have a good
guess, I'd be much obliged (and so will this AlphaPC 164LX running Tru64 5.1B).
--
------------------------------------ personal: http://www.cameronkaiser.com/ --
Cameron Kaiser * Floodgap Systems * www.floodgap.com * ckaiser(a)floodgap.com
-- The surest test of discipline is its absence. -- Clara Barton --------------
This sounds like FLACC (Full Language Algol68 Checkout Compiler) by Chris Thomson and Colin Broughton:
"You know, we only ever got 22 copies installed, and less than 5 of those in North America. Even though it ran on 370's under MVS, CMS and MTS, and was cheap and reliable. Talk about a marketing disaster. " [Chris Thomson, comp.lang.misc, November 27, 1988]
https://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/ALGOL/algol68impl/#FLACC
> Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2025 07:02:08 -0800
> From: "Lyndon Nerenberg (VE7TFX/VE6BBM)" <lyndon(a)orthanc.ca <mailto:lyndon@orthanc.ca>>
> Subject: [cctalk] Re: Try Algol 68 on Windows
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
> <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>>
> Message-ID: <58bac767a09d3a37(a)orthanc.ca <mailto:58bac767a09d3a37@orthanc.ca>>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Mike Parr via cctalk writes:
>> Hello all.
>> Here is a link to something I wrote - brief intro to Algol 68's background, a
>> nd how to run it on Windows - with a toy IDE as well.
>
> This triggers a fuzzy memory of an Algol 68 compiler running on
> MTS at the U of Alberta, circa 1980. ISTR Chris Thompson at UofA
> Computing Services had a hand in its development.
>
> Was this just a UofA thing? Did it escape to other MTS installations?
> Did anyone use it to write substantial programs on MTS? Or was it
> intended for Comp. Sci. teaching purposes?
>
> --lyndon
Note in his "FOCAL Notes and Background <http://www.softwarepreservation.net/projects/FOCAL/index#Merrill2024>”, Rick Merrill said:
"Back in Maynard I took an editor, a floating point package and the specs for the JOHNNIAC Open
Shop System (JOSS) and ideas from the Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming
System (MUMPS) and wrote an interpreter that would do the user's job on the spot and interactively"
> Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2025 10:33:46 +0100
> From: Hans-Ulrich Hölscher <vaxorcist(a)googlemail.com <mailto:vaxorcist@googlemail.com>>
> Subject: [cctalk] Re: FOCAL history
> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
> <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>>
> Cc: Mike Parr <mikeparr(a)live.com <mailto:mikeparr@live.com>>
> Message-ID:
> <CABG6mpaVHJWhECDiuxHZQcj+GwohHqqh9=HWJR0f2ooT+0PnPQ(a)mail.gmail.com <mailto:CABG6mpaVHJWhECDiuxHZQcj+GwohHqqh9=HWJR0f2ooT+0PnPQ@mail.gmail.com>>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Sorry, no:
> BASIC 1963
> FOCAL 1968
>
> Hans-Ulrich Hölscher <vaxorcist(a)googlemail.com <mailto:vaxorcist@googlemail.com>> schrieb am Mo., 13. Jan.
> 2025, 10:31:
>
>> Isn't FOCAL older than BASIC?
>>
>> Mike Parr via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org <mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org>> schrieb am Mo., 13. Jan.
>> 2025, 10:03:
>>
>>> I wondered about any influences from BASIC?
Hi everybody,
I used to own a SBC6128 which I built from Spare Time Gizmo's.
It was a PDP8 on a chip, using a Harris 6128 PDP8 on a chip. It featured a
serial port and an IDE disk interface. It was a heap of fun to use and
recreated quite faithfully, my PDP8 that I had access to as a kid circa
1985...
Sadly, I had to move a few years ago, and search as I can, I can't find
it. I also can't find my HP41 HPIL cassette drive, printer and
accessories but that's another story.
Does anybody have a bare PCB or a built one that they don't use any more?
I know I'm in Australia, but I don't mind paying postage. Happy to pay
whatever you need..
Kindest regards,
Doug Jackson
'FOCAL's history is now highlighted on the Software Preservation Group
web site.
Originally created for the PDP-8 in 1968, this simple, approachable
computer language significantly expanded the use of early DEC
minicomputers into applications not previously possible. It was
embraced by users in an extremely wide range of applications, like
education, psychology, aviation, medicine, to nuclear physics and
process control.
Read about the personal motivations and decisions that shaped this
language and its wide-ranging impact at:
https://www.SoftwarePreservation.org/projects/FOCAL
--
Bruce Ray
Wild Hare Computer Systems, Inc.
Denver, Colorado USA
bkr(a)WildHareComputers.com
...preserving the Data General legacy: www.NovasAreForever.org
All —
I haven’t posted to this list in the recent past, mostly posting to VCF or the S100 group. But, I’m trying to cast my net wide looking for some specific things for a project I’m working on.
I’ve done recreations/clones of two Lomas S100 boards – the Color Magic and the Thunder 186 (https://github.com/RichCini/LomasBoards). This set creates a two-board computer that can run unmodified PC-DOS. While it’s PC-compatible, it’s compatible in the Tandy 2000 kind of way. I started work on the Color Magic about 2 years ago, pending reversing the PALs, which happened this year. The Thunder 186 was much easier to recreate, and thus was done in a few months.
What this system currently lacks is a mass storage option. Lomas offered a SCSI board (which added an RTC and 4 serial ports), but copies of the manual and schematics aren’t known to exist on the Internet. There’s also a great alternative, the Lifeboat SCSI (for the Z-100 machines), but I haven’t been able to locate the software drivers or firmware for it (I have a manual which has the schematic and PAL equations).
Finally, I can almost get Windows 1.0 running on this setup, but it needs custom drivers. I have the drivers from the Tandy 2000 (aka, the "Tandy 2000 MS-Windows Pre-Installation Disk") which don’t work as-is but I believe could with modifications. I posted to the Tandy Discord server but if anyone should know of the existence of these sources, please let me know.
Thanks!
Rich
--
Rich Cini
http://cini.classiccmp.org
I've got a 7 track tape here that was written on a PDP-10 TENEX setup.
It's identified as a "mini-dump" tape. I can extract the data (PDP-10
5 char/word) successfully, but the format of the block headers (seems to
be about 6 words) eludes me. I'd like to be able to use the original
file names.
Does anyone have information on the mini-dump structure?
TIA
Chuck
