[ih] PiDP-10 "a mainframe in my living room." (Andrew Barron)

the keyboard of geoff goodfellow geoff at iconia.com
Sun Aug 24 17:43:21 PDT 2025


"This book is about the PiDP-10 kit and the three operating systems that
you can run on it. You can learn what it was like to operate a terminal,
control the computer, write programs in computer languages such as LISP,
FORTRAN, COBOL, ALGOL, or BASIC, and, of course, play some of the computer
games that became the classics, which spawned the games we play today. The
book is intended for beginners, like me. I went from looking at the Blinkin
Lights display with no idea what to do next, to information overload from
all of the available documents, websites, and videos. Nothing is stopping
you from downloading the software to your trusty Raspberry Pi and using the
software. It is fully functional without the PiDP-10 hardware.

Retro computing is driven by a sense of nostalgia and a strong desire to
preserve the computing achievements that led to the technical world we live
in today. Very few people have the room, the money, or the time to restore
a full-size PDP-10. They were large installations that required a big
climate-controlled room. However, due to the work by Richard Cornwell, the
developer of the Simh emulator, we can run an accurate simulation of the
DEC PDP-10 system.

I am standing on the shoulders of giants. All the hard work has been done
by Oscar Vermeulen, the creator of the PiDP-10 kit, and Richard Cornwell,
the developer of the PDP-10 KA10 emulator. Lars Brinkhoff has contributed a
huge amount to the ITS reconstruction project and PDP-10 restoration
projects. I am indebted to him and several members of the PiDP-10 forum who
helped me when I was stuck."
➔➔https://amzn.to/4oStXSk

-- 
Geoff.Goodfellow at iconia.com
living as The Truth is True


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