Keelan . . . .
I've got a name . . . .
.for the project . . . * ENUF *. . . . . . no ,
seriously , this is reminding me
of the hardware I was
trained on ( not to date myself ). The Cyber 18 ( CDC , Circa late 70's
)
had a wopping * 4 K-words *
or ram , that was the high-tech * Magnetic- Core * variety.
But , so much for memories
, on to business . . . . .
I've got a PDP - 11 / 73
sitting in the garage and you are welcome to it , if you pay the
cost
of shipping 100 lbs.
The system does use a * back-plane * for the bus and basically is
functional , except for the
30 Meg . hard drive that you can replace for $ 20. This
version
does not have a * low tech
* panel , but uses locking push-buttons , illuminated from
internal LED's
.
One other idea . . . . .
.find out what is being done with some of the old CDC hardware . . .
some universities used them
in the computer / business programs , and they came complete
with a * switch - indicator
* type of * break-out panel
*.
Oooops ! Almost
forgot to contribute something PIC related :) Instead of
having the PIC
control the Z-80 ,
why not just * single -step * the PIC . . . . or run it at 1- khz
and interrupt it
every 20 clicks . . .
. to see whats sitting on the switches : -)
If you're interested in the
PDP - 11 / 73 , please email off the PIClist . . . . .
Regards . . . .
Steve Kelley
Protobyte Inc.
>We threw out a PDP-8 front panel only
about two years ago, you may find
>these around still.
Nooo!
Don't tell me that!! :) I like it more when someone says "I am
going
to throw out (something old, useless and hard to find, and by the
way, what
you want) tomorrow." :)
>The PDP-40 is a rather
nice front panel from a point of view of
>imitating the flashing
Address and Data bus of the 70's. I think this
>would suit your needs
if you can find one.
I'm not just looking to simulate the flashing
lights, but to also have a
working computer created. It will *secretly*
have serial ports (I have 2 Z80
SIO/0s that I have to use up), so that I
will be able to have a modem, and
perhaps run the worlds largest smallest
webserver :) I would like to create
my own computer, just to say that I
did :) In the end it will probably end
up doing something mundane like
controlling the sprinklers in my garden, and
telling me there is mail in
my (real) mailbox.
>I understand your preference for incandescent
lamps, so the LED's would
>be of much use anyway, but I think the
switches should do the trick.
If I could find a PDP-8 front panel, I
would rather find the rest of the
computer, and build a working PDP-8
:)
PS: I'm looking for suggestions for names of my computer. I'm
looking for
something that pulls the same mental strings as UNIVAC and
ENIAC.
- Keelan Lightfoot