17 Aug
2020
17 Aug
'20
10:34 a.m.
On Aug 17, 2020, at 3:43 AM, Tom Hunter via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
Has SIMH been ported to a low overhead (instant-on) platform?
I ask the question because the startup time of Linux is distracting when
powering on a PiDP-11/70 or similar clone systems based on SIMH.
Thanks
Tom Hunter
I work with some storage systems (SAN arrays) that are layered on Linux and start in a
small number of seconds. I haven't actually timed how fast, but it's pretty
quick.
NetBSD can also be made to start quite fast.
So I would think you could take your favorite Unix-style OS and trim out all the
unnecessary cruft from the startup. As an experiment, how fast does it start in
single-user mode? You should certainly be able to go that quickly.
Other options includes various RTOS. There are some supported on BeagleBone, that might
be an option.
I have wondered about running a minimal SIMH on Arduino. The newer ones use ARM-32 cores
of one kind or another. I/O would be more limited, but it would be an interesting
experiment to see if a small RT11 type system could run on a Trinket M0. The specs
suggest it might be doable: 256 kB flash, 32 kB RAM, 5 GPIO including UART capability.
Not a lot but certainly more than the small PDP-11 systems I ran RT11 V2 on.
paul