Reproducing old machines with newer technology (Re: PDP-12 at the RICM)
Dave G4UGM
dave.g4ugm at gmail.com
Tue Jul 14 12:32:46 CDT 2015
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Chuck
> Guzis
> Sent: 14 July 2015 18:17
> To: General at classiccmp.org; Discussion at classiccmp.org:On-Topic and Off-
> Topic Posts
> Subject: Re: Reproducing old machines with newer technology (Re: PDP-12 at
> the RICM)
>
> I'm missing something in this discussion, I think.
>
> HDL's (take your pick) are just programming languages like FORTRAN or C
> with different constraints. What's the point of going to all the trouble of
> doing an FPGA implementation of a slow old architecture, when pretty much
> the same result could be obtained by running a software emulator?
I don't think this is true. Most of the software simulators don't run at anything like accurate speed ...
> Neither
> accurately reflects the details of the real thing--and there will always be the
> aspect of missing peripherals.
I believe that you can get much closer with an FPGA...
>
> Perhaps the worst aspect of using FPGA is that this is a rapidly moving field,
> so that the part you used to do your implementation 10 years ago
> will no longer be available.
That is very true, but there again the same can happen with Software. The Pegasus Simulator I use was written in TurboPascal and has kludges to get the speed right that just don't work on a modern PC
> I've done a few designs using 5V CPLDs
> (XC95xx series) not *that* long ago. Now they themselves are quaint
> examples of obsolete hardware. You can't win.
>
> You can move software-only simulators quite easily, but I'm not as sanguine
> about FPGA designs.
>
See Above
> And you still don't have the peripherals. I suppose one could emulate a
> Univac Solid State machine in FPGA, but what would one do about the all-
> important drum coupled to the card reader and printer. Has anyone rolled
> out a design for a DIY 1403 printer?
When I have finished the Calcomp Plotter....
>
> I've run the Cyber emulator as well as various SIMH emulators from time to
> time, but it's just not the same as the real thing--it's not even remotely the
> same.
I have used Hercules with a real 3270. Its not bad but Laurence Wilkinson's 360 in FPGA wih a real Selectric Typewrite is much better:-
http://www.ljw.me.uk/ibm360/Saga.html
>
> --Chuck
>
Dave
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