>Of what use is a DEC Pro-350?
The same use as any other general purpose computer... you
can have it do anything you program it to...
It is a pdp-11 (of sorts), designed with the DCF11 chipset, so
it is like a pdp-11/23. It uses an entirely different interrupt
structure from normal pdp-11s, but RT-11 does run on it. There
is also P/OS, V3.2 which is available from one of the pdp-11
archive sites, and a unix-lookalike (Venix).
Supposedly 2.9BSD can also run on it, if you have the right
set of patches...
>I just picked one up that seems to have all its boards, it has an RX50
>drive (on a DEC Sled so I could slot it into the uVax) and a Seagate
>ST-251 on another sled. When powered up it makes the disk wiggle but it
>didn't come with a keyboard or a monitor so I have know idea what its
>doing.
You *have* to have the monitor and keyboard... it doesn't work without
them. Although it has a port which can be configured as the console
terminal, it requires a special cable and it only works with programmed
I/O -- not interrupt driven.
The PRO uses a special bitmap for the display. There is a special
handler under RT-11 (the PI[X].sys handler) which takes care of the
keyboard and the bitmap display, emulating a VT100... it also handles
the 64 ticks/sec clock (one of every 16 clock ticks is ignored,
resulting in a 60hz clock)
>I remember someone asking about ethernet as well. This unit has an
>ethernet connector on the back.
The connector is there on all of them... but you need the DECNA
option board for it to work...
Megan Gentry
Former RT-11 Developer
+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| Megan Gentry, EMT/B, PP-ASEL | Internet (work): gentry!zk3.dec.com |
| Unix Support Engineering Group | (home): mbg!world.std.com |
| Compaq Computer Corporation | addresses need '_at_' in place of '!' |
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| Nashua, NH 03062 | "pdp-11 programmer - some assembler |
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+--------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
Received on Mon Mar 22 1999 - 20:19:25 GMT