Re: Did anyone on the list get these tapes?
> > On Sun, Mar 25, 2018 at 1:57 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk > wrote: >> http://bitsavers.org/bits/DEC/pdp11/dectape/LCM_Early_PDP-11 I looked over these, more precisely the ones that related to the PDP11. Here are some notes. The most significant item from my point of view is that it contains much of a very early RSTS (so early that it was still called BTSS). Together with a scanned listing I have of the BTSS kernel it may amount to just about a complete system. I need to get that scan run through OCR... paul 118647.tu56: palx11.mac: PDP11 cross-assembler. This was used to build PDP11 software early on, such as RSTS-11. 118652.tu56: iox.p11: appears to be sources for the IOX "paper tape I/O" package, described as "experimental I/O system". That wasn't what it was called when it finally shipped, I believe. odtx.p11: ODT debugger for IOX. rts.p11: Early Basic-PLUS for RSTS (referred to as "BTSS" in the comments). rtsdoc.rno: Brief documentation for some of the operation codes in rts.p11. sim11x.sav: I wonder if this might be the famous "Mimic". Someone with a suitable PDP-10 system should try to find out. syslod.p11: tool to create a bootable DECtape. Later on, "syslod" was the name of the OS loader program, the one booted from DECtape to load the OS (at least in the case of DOS). 118653.tu56: oo.p11: RSTS file processor components. It's not entirely clear but I believe these are functions that were implemented as overlays. Not everything is precisely file I/O related; as in RSTS-11 V4, the Basic-PLUS string garbage collector is implemented as a "file processor" overlay. rts.p11: Basic-PLUS, similar to the one in 118652.tu56 but appears to be slightly newer. 118654.tu56: dos.spp: design spec for DOS-11 V3. edit11.man: user manual for DOS-11 EDIT program. fort.spc: design spec for DOS-11 FORTRAN. l.spc: design spec for DOS-11 LINK. 118656.tu56: basic.p11: Multi-user BASIC (this is not Basic-PLUS) syslod.p11: Another copy of the OS loader, essentially the same as the one on 118652.tu56 but with a few comments cleaned up. 118660.tu56: p.001 through p.011: software floating point library, appears to be THREE word format (two word mantissa, one word exponent). I believe this was used in RSTS through version 3; in V4A, RSTS-11 switched to the hardware standard 2-word or 4-word floating point format. test.001 through test.009: appear to be test programs for the above.
Re: Did anyone on the list get these tapes?
> On Mar 24, 2018, at 11:34 PM, Josh Dersch via cctalk> wrote: > > ... > There's also what looks like some very early RSTS source in there. The BASIC-PLUS interpreter part, yes. RTS.P11, there are two versions. I'll look at them more closely. I have a 1971 listing of "BTSS" which is clearly an early, possibl pre-release, version of RSTS. Just the kernel; the other parts were stripped out by the University of Illinois team who were experimenting with that code. (How they got it is unclear.) It has been scanned but not OCRed yet. That plus the RTS code might be close to a full RSTS V0.1... The 118600 tape has floating point emulation code in it, it appears to be the 3-word floating point that was reportedly used in RSTS through V3. In V4A, DEC switched to the 2 word and 4 word formats that were used in the 11/45 floating point processor. paul
Re: Did anyone on the list get these tapes?
On 3/24/2018 8:23 PM, Nigel Williams via cctalk wrote: On Sun, Mar 25, 2018 at 1:57 AM, Al Kossow via cctalkwrote: http://bitsavers.org/bits/DEC/pdp11/dectape/LCM_Early_PDP-11 Thanks everyone for preserving these items. In the unpacked file dectapes-extracted.zip, folder 118655.tu56 has within it BASIC.P11.txt, the filename suggesting it might be a version of BASIC, but the header of the file is this: ;FOCAL-11, VERSION B2 ;BY RICK MERRILL ;COPYRIGHT@ 1970,1971 BY ;DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP, MAYNARD, MASS. overall the file contents suggest it is FOCAL, is there a way to check that this is what was on the original tape? and not a handling problem during the recovery? I dumped the tapes and can confirm that this is not an error during recovery and is what was on the original tape; each tape had a printed directory listing taped to it and this listing matches the listing I got when extracting the data. I assume it was misnamed or overwritten at some point back in the day. There is a BASIC.P11 on another tape that has actual BASIC source in it. There's also what looks like some very early RSTS source in there. - Josh As an aside there is an early version of TECO-11 there too: TITLE TECO V.21A - 18 AUG 70 - RC CLEMENTS/PMH/CM SUBTTL TEXT EDITOR AND CORRECTOR ;COPYRIGHT DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP., 1969,1970, MAYNARD, MASS.
Re: Did anyone on the list get these tapes?
On Sun, Mar 25, 2018 at 1:57 AM, Al Kossow via cctalkwrote: > http://bitsavers.org/bits/DEC/pdp11/dectape/LCM_Early_PDP-11 Thanks everyone for preserving these items. In the unpacked file dectapes-extracted.zip, folder 118655.tu56 has within it BASIC.P11.txt, the filename suggesting it might be a version of BASIC, but the header of the file is this: ;FOCAL-11, VERSION B2 ;BY RICK MERRILL ;COPYRIGHT@ 1970,1971 BY ;DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP, MAYNARD, MASS. overall the file contents suggest it is FOCAL, is there a way to check that this is what was on the original tape? and not a handling problem during the recovery? As an aside there is an early version of TECO-11 there too: TITLE TECO V.21A - 18 AUG 70 - RC CLEMENTS/PMH/CM SUBTTL TEXT EDITOR AND CORRECTOR ;COPYRIGHT DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORP., 1969,1970, MAYNARD, MASS.
Re: Did anyone on the list get these tapes?
On 3/16/18 10:39 AM, Josh Dersch via cctalk wrote: > The LCM+L bought them, we're going to image them when they arrive (and I'll > be sure to send a copy your way). Josh forwarded images and extracted files to me. They are up now under http://bitsavers.org/bits/DEC/pdp11/dectape/LCM_Early_PDP-11 The BASIC source is an early MUBAS
Re: Did anyone on the list get these tapes?
Wow. I never knew they had a carrying case for dectapes. Kinda makes sense for the field service folks. Marc On Fri, Mar 16, 2018 at 9:07 AM, Glen Slick via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On Fri, Mar 16, 2018, 8:51 AM Al Kossow via cctalk> wrote: > > > https://www.ebay.com/itm/1372243559202 > > > > basic.p11 > > syslod.p11 > > rdt.p11 > > > > all from mid 1971 > > original RSTS? > > > > hope the person who got these knows what they bought > > > > Extra digit in that link, try: > > https://www.ebay.com/itm/372243559202 > > > >
Re: Did anyone on the list get these tapes?
> On Mar 16, 2018, at 11:51 AM, Al Kossow via cctalk> wrote: > > https://www.ebay.com/itm/1372243559202 > > basic.p11 > syslod.p11 > rdt.p11 > > all from mid 1971 > original RSTS? > > hope the person who got these knows what they bought "P11" was the extension used for PDP-11 assembly files very early on. I assume that was because they were cross-assembled on a PDP-10. Presumably PALX11.MAC which is on one of the other tapes! One of the tapes seems to be a SNOBOL implementation, with LOW and HGH and SHR extensions which sounds vaguely familiar from long ago when I briefly used TOPS-10. Another has SIMX11.SAV, wonder if that might be MIMIC. That would be quite a find. And on the same tape IOX.P11, that sounds like the early "papertape I/O executive". One tape is labeled "New PS/8". BASIC.P11 could be the RSTS BASIC code, that too would be a very interesting discovery with that date. SYSLOD is the DOS installer. RDT I don't recognize. I'm seriously looking forward to seeing image files of those tapes. paul
Re: Did anyone on the list get these tapes?
On 3/16/18 10:39 AM, Josh Dersch via cctalk wrote: > The LCM+L bought them Good Job! I was hoping you guys did, when I saw there was a copy of PAL10 on there.
Re: Did anyone on the list get these tapes?
> On Mar 16, 2018, at 12:39, Josh Dersch via cctalk> wrote: > > On Fri, Mar 16, 2018 at 9:07 AM, Glen Slick via cctalk < > cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > >> On Fri, Mar 16, 2018, 8:51 AM Al Kossow via cctalk >> wrote: >> >>> https://www.ebay.com/itm/1372243559202 >>> >>> basic.p11 >>> syslod.p11 >>> rdt.p11 >>> >>> all from mid 1971 >>> original RSTS? >>> >>> hope the person who got these knows what they bought >>> >> >> Extra digit in that link, try: >> >> https://www.ebay.com/itm/372243559202 >> >>> >> > > The LCM+L bought them, we're going to image them when they arrive (and I'll > be sure to send a copy your way). > > - Josh Ya!!! I saw those and there were some tapes their that looked like my PDP-12 might enjoy then. Sent from my iPad
Re: Did anyone on the list get these tapes?
On Fri, Mar 16, 2018 at 9:07 AM, Glen Slick via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > On Fri, Mar 16, 2018, 8:51 AM Al Kossow via cctalk> wrote: > > > https://www.ebay.com/itm/1372243559202 > > > > basic.p11 > > syslod.p11 > > rdt.p11 > > > > all from mid 1971 > > original RSTS? > > > > hope the person who got these knows what they bought > > > > Extra digit in that link, try: > > https://www.ebay.com/itm/372243559202 > > > > The LCM+L bought them, we're going to image them when they arrive (and I'll be sure to send a copy your way). - Josh
Re: Did anyone on the list get these tapes?
On Fri, Mar 16, 2018, 8:51 AM Al Kossow via cctalkwrote: > https://www.ebay.com/itm/1372243559202 > > basic.p11 > syslod.p11 > rdt.p11 > > all from mid 1971 > original RSTS? > > hope the person who got these knows what they bought > Extra digit in that link, try: https://www.ebay.com/itm/372243559202 >