22 Feb
2026
22 Feb
'26
8:09 p.m.
On Feb 22, 2026, at 2:37 PM, Robert Armstrong via
cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
True, but most of those were not defined yet. Certainly no CTERM, and NCP didn't
reallly exist until Phase III (though TOPS-20 Phase II does have an NCP, with syntax
different from the later one matching no specification I have ever seen).
The object number registry suggests there was an early DAP, predating the "5.6"
version implemented in DECnet/E, but I have never seen a spec for that either.
TLK/LSN is not quite compatible with the version in other DECnet implementations but
close, and tweaking an implementation to support both flavors of the protocol isn't
hard.
paul
Paul Koning <paulkoning(a)comcast.net> wrote:
On the other hand, the even more obscure DECnet/8 was found a couple
of years ago. Its main limitation ....
Besides being Phase-I, DECnet/8 is not a "complete" implementation. The
only application provided is a console to console talk program that can only
talk to other PDP-8 nodes. There's no FAL, CTERM/RTERM, NFT, NCP, or any of
the other things you might expect. I think DEC expected customers to write
their own RTS/8 and DECnet-8 applications.
Bob