LISP microcode for an 11/730? Was Re: Modifying microcode

Steven M Jones classiccmp at crash.com
Fri Jun 15 10:28:25 CDT 2018


On 06/02/2018 11:08, Robert Armstrong via cctalk wrote:
> 
>    I've heard a persistent rumor over the years that the WPS/8 and PDP-8 software group at DEC had modified the 730's microcode to support a PDP-8 emulation [...]

I wasn't able to find a reference to back it up, but if we're sharing 
faintly remembered rumors -- I recall hearing that some grad students 
had developed alternate microcode for the 11/730 to re-purpose it as a 
LISP machine.

I use the lowercase "M" on purpose, I don't recall that it emulated the 
various 36-bit machines known as LISP Machines specifically. Just that 
it was a native LISP execution environment of some kind.

That's all I've got. Not even an institution, though I have a very 
tenuous notion that UMass Amherst might have been mentioned...

--S.


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