[Simh] pdp11 and unix

[Johnny Billquist]

Oh, don't get me wrong. I don't mind the postings and the comments. I 
just want to try and understand what you mean by them, and try to put 
things into perspective, both from your side and mine.

We're about the same age. But I was actually exposed (through computer 
clubs) to PDP-11 systems at an early age, for which we had no software, 
so we had to start from scratch by writing some silly monitor on paper, 
and put it in on the front panel, and eventually got to a point where it 
could be saved to tape, so we could boot it, and do some very simple 
things through that.
Of course, we also had core, so we had the software around in memory, 
unless we accidentally corrupted memory as well.

I pretty much avoided the whole microcomputer revolution, since I 
already had started playing with minis, and found them so much more 
interesting and fun than micros... Having PDP-11s to play with both at 
school and clubs, and eventually having my own PDP-8 systems at home in 
the mid 80s, not to mention hanging out at University at night, when 
"normal" students weren't around, to play on the PDP-10 systems there, 
and connecting across the atlantic using IMPs, and god knows all the 
weird stuff one was doing...

And most OSes back then were written in assembler. Unix was more of the 
exception.

	Johnny


On 2016-02-27 01:09, Eric Smith wrote:
> Actually, on further reflection, I have nothing useful to add.  Only observations.  I am probably much younger I am sure than most of you (not my fault, and please don’t hate me for that).  At 50 now I was in high school when I did the Epson assembler.
>
> I would probably do best to sit idly by and just enjoy threads like this one.  I truly do, too, since I’m interested in computer history (my first machine had 4K, and the assembler was my friend).  I am SO impressed with what was done with dozens of K core and early languages.
>
> Having written device drivers and the like in assembly, I am impressed with the notion of writing an entire OS .. that’s all.  I just had to say something about how impressed I was.
>
> Now, I’ll be quiet and enjoy these threads!  You guys are great .. please do go on!!
>
>
>
>
>> On Feb 26, 2016, at 5:43 PM, Eric Smith <esmithmail at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Well .. impressive, I suppose, would be what I would call it.
>>
>> I guess you'd start with hand-keying in an assembler .. then go from
>> there.    I did that once in BASIC on a machine for which I could not
>> obtain an assembler (Epson HX-20).
>>
>> It would be interesting to know how they went from B to C .. but once
>> they had a higher level language (C .. well, higher level compared to
>> the assembler), things would become much easier.
>>
>> I was corresponding with DMR a couple of years before his passing.  He
>> signed his C book for me.  If he were still around it would be cool to
>> loop him in on this stuff and just ask.
>>
>>> On Feb 26, 2016, at 5:24 PM, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 2016-02-26 23:47, Eric Smith wrote:
>>>> I love assembly.  I do.   But seriously …
>>>>
>>>>> On Feb 25, 2016, at 9:26 PM, Gregg Levine <gregg.drwho8 at gmail.com
>>>>> <mailto:gregg.drwho8 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Version Zero was hand coded on a PDP-7
>>>>
>>>> I know Gregg is right.  But .. Can you /imagine?/
>>>
>>> Not sure I understand this comment either. Are you suggesting that coding an OS is assembler is something exceptional or complicated, or unusual?
>>>
>>>    Johnny
>>>
>>> --
>>> Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
>>>                                  ||  on a psychedelic trip
>>> email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
>>> pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> http://mailman.trailing-edge.com/mailman/listinfo/simh
>


-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol