Hi Dave,
Thanks for Bob Armstrong's old email.
I have not seen Jim's VHDL code, but I am quite confident I can fix this.
Tom Urban wrote that the IOB6120 is misbehaving, so I will have to do some
fault finding or debugging anyway.
I would appreciate a short Fortran code snippet which reproduces the
problem.
I don't really want to have to learn how to play Adventure to reproduce
this. Games are not my thing except maybe chess.
Best regards
Tom Hunter
On Fri, Nov 27, 2020 at 6:29 PM <dave.g4ugm at gmail.com> wrote:
Tom,
This is the e-mail I got from Bob Armstrong..
Dave
=====================================================================
*From:* sparetimegizmos at
yahoogroups.com [
mailto:sparetimegizmos at
yahoogroups.com <sparetimegizmos at yahoogroups.com>]
*Sent:* 15 July 2015 15:53
*To:* sparetimegizmos at
yahoogroups.com
*Subject:* RE: [sparetimegizmos] Any builders of the SBC6120 in the UK
The FORTRAN RTS uses interrupts, whereas most OS/8 software does not,
and so it reveals bugs that are not otherwise apparent.
As I recall the problem was with the VGA/PS2 console implementation in
the FPGA. Jim didn?t handle clearing the flags and the interrupt request
quite correctly, and it made FORTRAN hang up in an interrupt loop. It
should be easy enough to fix by revising the VHDL, but I?m not sure Jim
ever did. Make sure you have the latest IOB6120 firmware.
FWIW, FORTRAN does work with the SBC6120 onboard serial console enabled
so you can use the IOB so long as you?re not using the VGA console.
This was an issue for many people because it broke the ADVENTure game,
which is also written in FORTRAN :-)
Bob
*From:* Tom Hunter <ccth6600 at gmail.com>
*Sent:* 27 November 2020 01:08
*To:* Dave Wade <dave.g4ugm at gmail.com>
*Cc:* General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <
cctalk at classiccmp.org>
*Subject:* Re: DEC PDP-8/E wanted - still looking
Hi Dave,
Could you please explain how exactly the VT emulation "kills" the Fortran
run time system in OS/8?
What is the fault? How do you trigger it? Have you got a Fortran code
snippet which reproduces the problem?
Was there some previous discussion about it answering my questions above?
I have a reasonable level of experience with VHDL and Xilinx ISE so maybe
I can fix it if I can reproduce it.
Thanks and best regards
Tom Hunter
On Thu, Nov 26, 2020 at 6:28 PM <dave.g4ugm at gmail.com> wrote:
Tom,
If it has an IOB6120 then it the VT emulation kills the Fortran run time
system in OS8.
Dave
G4UGM
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Tom Hunter via
cctalk
Sent: 26 November 2020 06:02
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: DEC PDP-8/E wanted - still looking
Tom Uban fully built "Spare Time Gizmos" SBC6120 based computer
complete
with front-panel and IO board is on its way to me. :-)
I am still looking to buy one of the following PDP-8 models:
PDP-8/F
PDP-8/E
PDP-8/L
PDP-8/I
PDP-8/M
Dave, Chris, Paul and Robert I am looking forward to getting more details
from you.
I am happy to pay a reasonable price for the right PDP-8, so a seller
won't
be
disappointed.
Thanks and best regards
Tom Hunter