Programming the PDP11, part 3 of 4

part 3 of the PDP11 video

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• pdp11
• computer
• history
• papertape
• DePauw

[DouglasHarms]

In the video the macintosh I referred to was the apple I was eating; of course, it also indirectly referenced the computer that was a decade away. Glad you liked the admittedly corny video!

[FuyuAkiWorld]

these are some nice videos. it's very interesting to me. and I have to ask this, is that a real PDP11? If it was, that'd be SO awesome!

[DouglasHarms]

@FuyuAkiWorld Yes, it is a real, working PDP-11! I acquired it in the 1980's and keep it running. It's impossible to purchase paper tape now, so I don't punch tapes too often, but it does indeed still work.

[loosebwep]

Wow, nice (a little campy) videos guys. ;-) You missed the linker section though. The process should be:

Absolute Loader->Ed-11 (Edit) ->Save ASM

Absolute Loader->Pal-11 (Assemble) ->Save OBJ

Absolute Loader->Link-11 (Link) ->Save LDA

Absolute Loader->HELLO.LDA

Wish I still had my 11/45s and 11/70 ;-)

[DouglasHarms]

Actually, in this paper tape system PAL-11 produced a loadable image. The one thing I did simplify in the video was the loader. Technically, one had to toggle in the bootstrap loader, then use it to load the absolute loader which was used to load all other images.  In the video I suggested that the bootstrap loader could be used to load all images.

[aure232]

Good old times without spam, viruses and windows...

[Alexsy82]

pretty amazing that in 30-35 years, we've gone from this type of computing to, say, streaming video over wireless internet connections.

[TheQuindecillion]

Was it single-user allocation with main memory and the CPU? anyone know?

[cygil1]

This can't be authentic, there's a girl in this video.

[cygil1]

@numba1netsfan TOriginal systems and components show up in the retrocomputing marketplace every now and then. In the nineties they gave them away for free or put them in landfill, but thanks to the collector market, now complete working systems go for thousands of dollars. They require specialist technical expertise to keep working, though, and are better suited to a museum. Newer (mostly) binary-compatible machines from the eighties and nineties from Mentec are also available.

[cygil1]

@AvidAngels Actually, Bill Gates cut his teeth on a PDP-11, it was his first platform way back in high school. These were minicomputer systems intended for corporate, not personal, use, and their modern equivalents (eg, AS/400) aren't any simpler.

[acsodalatosmandarin]

@FuyuAkiWorld

Without Windows there wouldn't be any computer viruses! :)

[numba1netsfan]

Is it possible to purchase a pdp11?

[AvidAngels]

Even BillGates doesn't know how to use this machine..

[bamdadkhan]

referencing the macintosh is a bit of a mistake, since apple's 'macintosh' was introduced in 1984, but the pdp-11 came out in 1970, and the computer lab guy refers to it as his 'new' computer.. what's more, even the apple 1 computer came out only in 1976. anyway, awesome video.