30 Jul
2007
30 Jul
'07
10:28 a.m.
On 7/30/07, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
On 30 Jul 2007 at 11:26, Ethan Dicks wrote:
Don't forget the IM6100/PDP-8 based kits. I don't know how readily
available parts are, but there is certainly a bunch of software
written for that platform.
Plenty of software, but STG sold out of boards a while back. Of
course, one could start with the STG6120 design and use a pair of
modern byte-wide SRAMs and build an STG6120 on a perfboard, but it's a
lot of work (having hand-wired an Elf). It's a bit tough to find CPU
chips, though. I did see a reference float by to a surplus house that
has IM6120 CPUs (probably pulls from DECmate IIs), but the CPU chips
are the hardware thing to come by.
Bob has been discussing, in very general terms, a future IM6100
project, but nothing concrete has come out of the discussions, yet.
That'll be one to look for next. I have a few IM6100s I picked up
from a surplus vendor in 2003, so if I can remember
where I put them,
I'm ready to go for that project, too.
There is _lots_ of software for that platform, of course. The PDP-8
has a rich history.
I've been re-reading a book on processor design I picked up a few
years ago, based on a recommendation on this list. I am blanking on
the title, but it describes a 74183/74181-based F20 and a 2910-based
microprogrammed F30 PDP-8/i-compatible CPU. I've been mulling over
what it would take to build one of those (besides lots of time ;-)
On a side, but related, issue--has anyone produced a
MicroNOVA kit?
And is software available for that platform--or has it been locked
up?
I haven't seen any references to any Nova replicas, but there is a
Nova emulator as part of the simh suite. That'd be a place to start
to see what the state of available Nova software looks like.
-ethan