Raspberry Pi Forums

I just watched PiDP-11 Retro Computer Build, a very interesting Computerphile video about the PDP-11 emulator built from the RPi (mentioned in the January 2019 issue of MagPi, too). Too much soldering for my old fingers, but still an interesting video for anyone interested in what you can do with an RPi.

Sad how small things have become

I always wanted a PDP 11 (only had an 8/e) - now I could carry one in a case and still have room for a drink and bite to eat.

Very cool.

Are there other old computer kits/builds that use RPi?

Yes, indeed. When I was first exposed to computers in high school (we specialized in computers, something quite unusual back then, 1965-1968 in Slovakia), the computer system required a small building. Nowadays I carry more computing power in my pocket than that computer (Minsk-22) could do.

Andyroo wrote: ↑

Fri May 24, 2019 8:20 pm

Sad how small things have become

I always wanted a PDP 11 (only had an 8/e) - now I could carry one in a case and still have room for a drink and bite to eat.

I always wanted a pocket sized ICT 1500

Ernst wrote: ↑

Fri May 24, 2019 8:51 pm

Andyroo wrote: ↑

Fri May 24, 2019 8:20 pm

Sad how small things have become

I always wanted a PDP 11 (only had an 8/e) - now I could carry one in a case and still have room for a drink and bite to eat.

I always wanted a pocket sized ICT 1500

I had a 1501, never really got it to work though. Was a hand me down I got from the school I went to. Had been donated but they didnt want it. I stripped it in the end, my father's shed uses the table top as a bench.

jamesh wrote: ↑

Fri May 24, 2019 8:58 pm

Ernst wrote: ↑

Fri May 24, 2019 8:51 pm

Andyroo wrote: ↑

Fri May 24, 2019 8:20 pm

Sad how small things have become

I always wanted a PDP 11 (only had an 8/e) - now I could carry one in a case and still have room for a drink and bite to eat.

I always wanted a pocket sized ICT 1500

I had a 1501, never really got it to work though. Was a hand me down I got from the school I went to. Had been donated but they didnt want it. I stripped it in the end, my father's shed uses the table top as a bench.

I don't think we have the same system in mind , the ICT 1500 was a relabled RCA 301, later ICL returned with a 1500 system that was afaik a relabled Singer 1500 system.

kingtermite wrote: ↑

Fri May 24, 2019 8:34 pm

Very cool.

Are there other old computer kits/builds that use RPi?

How about an English Electric KDF 9 or the ICL 1900 but there are lots of Linux or cross system software listed on https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... _emulators that may work.

One not listed directly is detailed https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/m ... -mainframe

Lots of more modern (depending on your age) retro games players / home computers float around.

I think the ICL was my first ever computer at school - time share from the county council via acoustic coupler

Just waiting now for an old AS/400 emulator so I can type pwrdwnsys *immed once more before going to bed

Hmmm... Now if one could only lay hands on a copy of bsd 2.9 to run on the PDP-11 simulator...one could reconstruct UC Berkeley's UNIX-A to -E systems....

W. H. Heydt wrote: ↑

Fri May 24, 2019 11:46 pm

Hmmm... Now if one could only lay hands on a copy of bsd 2.9 to run on the PDP-11 simulator...one could reconstruct UC Berkeley's UNIX-A to -E systems....

Your wish is my Google...

Start here https://www.openbsd.org/29.html
Take the FTP link to https://www.openbsd.org/ftp.html
Use the cloud flare mirror and 2.9 to https://cloudflare.cdn.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/2.9/

Download and compile the sources to the microcode you need and run it - simples

Another youtuber has a series going through the construction of the pidp-11, however he goes on to why emulate with a lot of pdp11 machines on show.

marked wrote: ↑

Sat May 25, 2019 2:20 pm

Another youtuber has a series going through the construction of the pidp-11, however he goes on to why emulate with a lot of pdp11 machines on show.

Very nice. I have now created a YouTube list which contains the video I mentioned in my OP, followed by the four videos in the series you mentioned. The list can be accessed by clicking here.

Andyroo wrote: ↑

Fri May 24, 2019 8:20 pm

Sad how small things have become

thanx for the share....AND thats what she said(had to be said)--lol

W. H. Heydt wrote: ↑

Fri May 24, 2019 11:46 pm

Hmmm... Now if one could only lay hands on a copy of bsd 2.9 to run on the PDP-11 simulator...one could reconstruct UC Berkeley's UNIX-A to -E systems....

BSD 2.11 on PiDP-11:
https://github.com/rricharz/pidp11-2.11bsd

A mirror of the Unix Heritage Society's Unix-archives (historical Unix versions from Bell-Labs, UCB etc.):
https://github.com/eunuchs/unix-archive/

Various PDP-11 UCB distributions:
https://github.com/eunuchs/unix-archive ... utions/ucb