New subject: Paging R.I. Computer Museum representative

21 Oct 1999

Thank you for being so helpful. I will run the tapes and see what happens. I
trust the SA is usually 200 (except for Tic Tac Toe which I know is 400).

BTW: Does DECUS still sell this stuff?

john

-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence LeMay &lt;lemay(a)cs.umn.edu&gt;
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
&lt;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&gt;
Date: Thursday, October 21, 1999 6:55 PM
Subject: Re: DECUS Paper Tapes

...
 > I am just starting to go through the software I
got with the 8/s and I don't
...
   know what some
of these older tapes did:

 5/8-9 [(PDP 5/8) - Tape #9] - Analysis of Variance
 5/8-15 - A.T.E.P.O. Program      Auto Test in Elementary Programming and Operation
of a PDP-5 computer

     The program will type questions or instructions to be performed by
     the operator of a 4K PDP-5/8. The program will check to see if
     the operator has answered the questions correctly. If this is the
     case, it wil type the next questionor instruction.

  5/8-45 - Remote Time Shared III System     
A time-shared programming system which allows remote stations
     immediate access to the computer and a wide selection of programs.

  5/8-54 - Tic Tac Toe Learning Program (figured
this one out)      Needs FORTRAN Object Time System

  8/8s -77 - Dual Process Sys.      The
purpose of this system is to expedite the programming of
     multiprocessing problems on the PDP-8 and PDP-8/S.  It maximizes
     both the input speed and the portionm of real time actualy used
     for calculations by allowing the program to run during the
     intervals between issuing I/O commands and the raising of the device
     flag to signal completion of the command. The technique also allows
     queueing of input data or commands so that the user need not wait
     while his last line is being processed, and so that each line of input
     may be processed as fast as possible regardless of its length. The
     system uses the interrupt facilities and has less than 3% overhead
     on the PDP-8/S (about 0.1% on the PDP-8).

     This method is especially useful for a slower machine where the
     problem may easily be calculation limited but would, without
     such a system, become I/o bound.

     The program may also be easily extended to handle input from an
     A/D converter. Here, the input would be buffered by groups of
     readings terminated either arbitrarily in groups of N or by
     zero crossings.

     This program can increase the I/O to computation efficiency of
     some programs by 100%. It can do this even for single Teletype.
     Each user will probably want to tailor the program to his individual
     needs.

     Storage Requirement:    600(base 8) registers for two TTY's plus
                             buffer space. (Several device configurations
                             are possible).

>
>
> Some of these I can tell what they did by the name but does anyone have any
...
   information
about any of them? (I haven't had time to go through all the
 documentation yet).

 Thanks

 john

-Lawrence (just got a 1975 DECUS catalog 2 days ago) LeMay