7 May
2012
7 May
'12
7:44 p.m.
On Sat, May 05, 2012 at 08:33:19PM -0400, Michael Thompson wrote:
The RICM has the processor of their PDP-8/I functional
after replacing
or repairing 38 Flipchip modules and the core stack. We have lots of
Dectapes that originally held data from a PDP-11, but nothing that is
bootable on the 8/I. We tried the TC01 bootstrap with one of the
PDP-11 tapes. It moves the tape to the first block and then gets a TIM
(Timing Error), so the TC01 and the TU55 is at least partially alive.
Can anyone supply a Dectape that would be bootable on this 4k machine,
or tell us the procedure for making a bootable Dectape?
Those new fangled IC's just aren't reliable. I only needed to repair
14 processor board plus one power supply board in my straight 8.
Do you have any idea why so many? I didn't have to repair that many
in my 8/I though didn't record the actual count.
The only OS I know that will run in 4k is disk monitor system (it does
run on dectape only systems despite the name).
The paper tape images needed to build it are here.
http://www.pdp8online.com/ftp/software/paper_tapes/
See in the readme DEC_D8* files. Start with SBAF then use the load
and save command for the other programs as desired. I tested with an
emulator that the DF32 PIP works with DECtape.
I recently built it for my DF32 so if you need more help I can provide. I
can build a DECtape using an emulator and my PDP-8 but I can't test it
since I don't have a TD controller.
My copy of the manual is here.
http://www.pdp8online.com/pdp8cgi/query_docs/view.pl?id=35
Bitsavers has some also.