This is a general message for anyone who likes the PDP-11 and runs programs. While I realize that most of the people on this list are much more interested in the actual and real hardware, some of you may also want to be able to preserve and use the real software just as much. Well, there is now a PC emulator which is able to run most of the PDP-11 software without any change whatsoever. If you are interested: http://www.dbit.com is a good start. The most important programs are: E11 and PUTR at: http://www.dbit.com/pub/ If you have any questions, please ask. The author of these programs is John Wilson. Although I will admit to being an E11 and a PUTR user (since I am also an "RT-11/TSX-PLUS User/Addict"), I am not receiving any compensation nor have I been asked to post this information. I do have personal experience in using both E11 and PUTR on the portable PC of a friend. Am I being off topic? I understand there is a 10 year limit. Does the same limit apply to software as well as hardware? Obviously E11 and PUTR are very new. But the intent is and does run 20 year old software. As an example, I had a real TU-58 drive (which was 20 years old) connected to a COM port on the PC which was running E11. In the TU-58 tape drive was a real DECTAPE II cartridge that was 20 years old with V3.0B of RT-11 which is from 1978 and I booted and ran the 20 year old version of RT-11. Sincerely yours, Jerome Fine