Writing emulators (was Re: VCF PNW 2018: Pictures!)

[Henk Gooijen]

Van: Al Kossow via cctalk<mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Verzonden: woensdag 21 februari 2018 20:11
Aan: cctalk at classiccmp.org<mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Onderwerp: Re: Writing emulators (was Re: VCF PNW 2018: Pictures!)



On 2/21/18 10:59 AM, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:

> The absence of that emulation isn't a big deal, unless you want to run the Richy Lary PDP-8 emulator on that emulated 11/60.  (Has it been preserved?)
>

People have been searching for it for a while now, but it appears to have been lost.


I have a WCS module for the 11/60 (and an 11/60 to go with it), but I have never seen the required software.
I even forgot the names, something like “microcode assembler” and linker. Are the assembler, etc tools available?
The 11/60 microcode for the PDP8 emulation is not helping much either if the required tools are gone.
Crazy idea … I am repairing a dead 11/40 and learning a lot of how the CPU works. There are 256 microde instructions
all 56 bits (IIRC, too lazy to check now). If you install the EIS or FIS, you get new microcode instructions on top of the standard 256. “Copying” how EIS and FIS add their micro instructions could be the basis of an 11/40 “PDP-8” add-on, just like EIS and FIS 😊
Yeah, I know, I started the paragraph with “crazy idea” …