18 Jun
2009
18 Jun
'09
1:15 p.m.
Hi Tony,
Tony Duell wrote:
Ok, conceded on that point. :-)
For the machines I mentioned, the PDP8s, PDP11s, and
Philips P800s have a
hardware front panel that works even without any boot disks. You can
toggle in short programs and run them -- certainly programs to cause
As soon as you do that, you're running software - even if your intention
of interacting with it is only to cause output on a scope, even if it's
one opcode at a time. :-)
Completely different from just powering up and admiring it (or using it
as a space heater, or listening to the fans.)
various bits of the machine to spring to life for
investigation with the
'scope. It's also popssible to load microcode into a PERQ without a boot
disk if you have the PERQLink board, but it's easier to find a boot disk :-)
Point wasn't about specifcally booting off a disk, but running software,
any software, whether from ROM, disk, over a network, or toggled in by
switch at a panel.
It's the difference between driving a classic
race car and just looking
at one which is cordoned off in a museum exhibit. Sure it's pretty and
I disagree. It's more like the difference between driving said car, and
running the engine/transmission on a test bed. The former is obviously more
interesting (as I said, I do try to get boot disks for my classics), but
the latter is a lot better than nothing.
In the same way, running an emulator is a lot better than nothing, if
you don't have the actual machine. :-)
(That statement assumes one already has hardware capable of running the
emulator and makes no statement about individual preferences towards
owning such host machines.)