13 May
1998
13 May
'98
7:31 p.m.
At 12:58 AM 14-05-98 -0400, William Donzelli wrote:
If this is discussing a PDP-9 then yes, there is at least one in the
collection - the first Digital box purchased by La Trobe in about 1967.
There's an interesting story behind this system:
In about 1968 the -9 was stored in a basement area which was unfortunately
flooded when some high-pressure water pipes ruptured. My current boss (who
was Computer Centre Manager at the time) along with the technical officer
moved the -9 out onto a lawn and it was disassembled. The parts were then
washed and dried in front of radial heaters (one of which is still in use
in my bosses office!). The -9 was reassembled but three flip chip modules
were found spare! The system ran (without them) for about 10 years before
being replaced with a PDP-15, DECsystem-10 and Vaxes of various types. It
was decommissioned and moved to the DEA museum collection.
Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies(a)latrobe.edu.au
Information Technology Services | Phone: +61 3 9479 1550 Fax: +61 3 9479
1999
La Trobe University | "If God had wanted soccer played in the
Melbourne Australia 3083 | air, the sky would be painted green"
That is good
news (for us). Do you have contact details for anyone who
has one?
The DEC Australia collection probably has one (but they have damn near one
of EVERYTHING DEC made!). 
14 May
14 May
1:09 a.m.
New subject: Re PDP-9 found in Grenoble France
Huw Davies wrote:
If this is discussing a PDP-9 then yes, there is at
least one in the
collection - the first Digital box purchased by La Trobe in about 1967.
There's an interesting story behind this system:
...
The -9 was reassembled but three flip chip modules
were found spare! The system ran (without them) for about 10 years
That is a good
story. Do you remember which three modules ;-)
Is your system operational? And do you have any software for it?
I have not yet gotten the history of our unit. It appears that it
belongs to the Paris Science museum who passed it on to our group since
they had no facilities for housing it. I did notice some damage to the
front panel switches but otherwise the unit appears to be in good shape.
I will know much more in the next couple of months when we get moved to
our new premises.
There are so many systems in theis collection needing urgent attention
but I think I will adopt this one.
I would love to hear form anyone with information, documentation or
software for the beastie.
I will keep you all informed as to progress.
Regards,
Hans B Pufal
8:40 a.m.
New subject: Re PDP-9 found in Grenoble France
Huw Davies wrote:
Is your system operational? And do you have any
software for it?
A month ago I visited my brother at Dartmouth College (in New Hampshire).
I did my usual "what books on old computers are at the library?" search,
and found someone's thesis describing a mini-timesharing system for the -9.
The whole document is VERY thick since it describes the system and includes
full source code.
It was written to coexist with other OS's -- DEC's PDP-9 software, something
called GROWTH, and Dartmouth's large DTSS timesharing system (which ran on a
different computer family -- I don't know which). And it can't assemble
itself (since it doesn't include an assembler). But with enough work this
could be an interesting lead.
Here's the library citation:
Author: Blean, Robert W.
Title: The PDP-9 mini time-sharing system / by Robert W. Blean.
Collation: 677 leaves in various foliations ; 28 cm.
Imprint: 1972.
Notes: Thesis (M.S.)--Thayer School of Engineering, 1972.
Material Type: book
Language: english
Subjects: PDP-9 (Computer)
Time-sharing computer systems.
Minicomputers.
Other Authors: Thayer School of Engineering.
Location: Bus-Engr, Thesis M.S. Engr. 1972
Perhaps Dartmouth would send it out via Interlibrary Loan.
Incidentally, DTSS was the system that BASIC was developed for. And DTSS still
exists, apparently, though I'm sure it has changed a LOT in 30 years.
-- Derek
2:27 p.m.
New subject: Re PDP-9 found in Grenoble France
D. Peschel wrote:
A month ago I visited my brother at Dartmouth College
(in New Hampshire).
I did my usual "what books on old computers are at the library?" search,
and found someone's thesis describing a mini-timesharing system for the -9.
The whole document is VERY thick since it describes the system and includes
full source code.
It was written to coexist with other OS's -- DEC's PDP-9 software, something
called GROWTH, and Dartmouth's large DTSS timesharing system (which ran on a
different computer family -- I don't know which). And it can't assemble
itself (since it doesn't include an assembler). But with enough work this
could be an interesting lead.
(some skipping)
Incidentally, DTSS was the system that BASIC was
developed for. And DTSS still
Not necessarily. New Hampshire is a funny place, where if something
almost works they'll keep doing it for the next 300 years. I spent
my latter teen years there (after reaching age 15 in Los Angeles), my
family is there to this day. I've been there once in the past twenty
years. However, besides the creation of BASIC, New Hampshire gave us
(as classic computer collectors) Wayne Green and therefore "Byte",
"Kilobaud" and their many descendents. (I realize that "Byte" is
just
another PC rag these days, but backalong it was a damned fine piece of
work under Green and then Helmers, rivalled only by other now-defunct
[or even more mutated, i.e. Dr. Dobbs] magazines).
--
Ward Griffiths
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_
3:14 p.m.
New subject: Re PDP-9 found in Grenoble France
At 03:09 PM 14-05-98 +0200, Hans B Pufal wrote:
Is your system operational? And do you have any
software for it?
Our system is now in Sydney but I believe it is operational (or was last
time it was turned on).
I would think that we have long since got rid of any software we had.
Huw Davies | e-mail: Huw.Davies(a)latrobe.edu.au
Information Technology Services | Phone: +61 3 9479 1550 Fax: +61 3 9479
1999
La Trobe University | "If God had wanted soccer played in the
Melbourne Australia 3083 | air, the sky would be painted green"
8:22 a.m.
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ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
dpeschel＠u.washington.edu -
gram＠cnct.com -
H.Davies＠latrobe.edu.au -
hansp＠columbia.digiweb.com