Author Topic: Great emulator for PDP-11, Bell Research UNIX  (Read 8915 times)

Rich442

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Great emulator for PDP-11, Bell Research UNIX
« on: February 03, 2018, 11:40:49 pm »
Not directly related to eCS and ArcaOS but here is a really neat way to learn Version 6 UNIX a.k.a. Bell Research UNIX with the  PDP-11 emulator. V6 UNIX  is a cousin of the BSD-4. operating systems. (AIX was based on System V and Bell's PWB/UNIX.)
The web app is an emulation of the ASR-33 teletype terminal (Hosted with documentation at the "home of aiju".

To learn more about System 6 and the ASR-33 terminal, there is a good rundown over at Bell Research UNIX version 6.

Remember: 'ALL CAPS,' no backspace (use # to delete one character, @ to delete an entire line) and CHDIR to navigate drives and directories.
A reference for System 6 lives at Aiju's man pages.

Very helpful and educational for me, at least ;D. I really learned to appreciate the IBM Support Element after using this app. :)
« Last Edit: February 06, 2018, 12:24:54 am by Richard Crowley »

ak120

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Re: Great emulator for PDP-11, Bell Research UNIX
« Reply #1 on: February 05, 2018, 04:55:51 pm »
Really, that's JavaScript? Why not simply using Ersatz-11 that runs natively under OS/2.
http://www.dbit.com/demo.html

Rich442

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Re: Great emulator for PDP-11, Bell Research UNIX
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2018, 12:17:48 am »
Really, that's JavaScript? Why not simply using Ersatz-11 that runs natively under OS/2.
http://www.dbit.com/demo.html

Thanks for your response!
$3,000 for DOS version. Probably the same price for OS/2. :(
but it has way more options than the java app.

The  Hercules S/390 emulator  is free and open. If you have yum and rpm, you could probably point your yum.conf over there and be up and running in no time.
 
All I meant was that it was easy to get to the page and look at things. There's lots of other stuff there. PDP is fun, I think. Hercules ca approximate z/OS and is available as a free tarball and an rpm. Thanks for the tip! That looks great! :)
« Last Edit: February 06, 2018, 01:10:25 am by Richard Crowley »

Dave Yeo

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Re: Great emulator for PDP-11, Bell Research UNIX
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2018, 03:45:42 am »
You can't just download a Linux binary in the form of an RPM and expect it to install and run.
It looks like the Hercules source code could be recompiled for OS/2, with the hardest part ripping out the Linux specific tape code and I guess we have access to a 3270 console, so it should work with some work.
The licence is interesting too. Can't distribute changed source code but can bundle it with patches.

ak120

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Re: Great emulator for PDP-11, Bell Research UNIX
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2018, 04:39:29 am »
$3,000 for DOS version. Probably the same price for OS/2.
The demo version is free and unlimited for personal use.
The full version that offers advanced features costs only $4,999.

Quote
The  Hercules S/390 emulator  is free and open.
And cannot emulate a PDP-11. Other options would be SIMH and MAME.

Quote
If you have yum and rpm, you could probably point your yum.conf over there and be up and running in no time.
Great fake news. The mentioned perversion of RPM is not capable to do it at all. But you can prove me wrong by simply building it from the Source RPM (http://www.hercules-390.org/hercules-3.07-1.src.rpm) using the YUM-supplied build environment.

Ian Manners

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Re: Great emulator for PDP-11, Bell Research UNIX
« Reply #5 on: February 06, 2018, 06:25:06 pm »
Hi Andreas,

There are many ways to do something, and anyone that's been around computers long enough to know and remember PDP11's etc would normally like to tinker with many things. What suites you probably doesn't suit someone else, and even though there are different programs that emulate given older generation computers, I'm sure they all have strong and weak points. Each to there own, its fine to point out alternatives, though best done in a nice friendly positive manner, I had forgotten about Ersatz.

Like Word processors, sometimes I will use open office, other times something else. Depends on what I'm doing, why, and which program gets the job done the way I like it done.

[Someone with fond memories of PDP's, VAX's, PRO's, Rainbows and even Robins :)
Each of which had good and bad points but exceptional engineering.]
« Last Edit: February 06, 2018, 06:33:07 pm by Ian Manners »
Cheers
Ian B Manners