[The article below is a reply I wrote to a post in the Usenet group
alt.sys.pdp10. I do feel that it may reach some additional audience here.]
sjm wrote:
>
> <rant type="sarcastic">
> Your only hope is that one of the four-hundred-and-eighty ongoing
> projects to write a PDP-10 emulator will eventually produce
> something that compiles. At least a third of these projects are also
> completely imaginary, so don't get your hopes up. Those that aren't
> will be ready for (limited) public review under strict NDA within
> eight years if current agressive development schedules are met.
A good number of the emulator (simulator?) authors are a bit afraid
that releasing their current source code would require that they
support it. I'm of the other opinion - if they release their
current source code (I don't care if it's GPL or not GPL, I do
*not* want to get into that religious war!) then others will support
it.
What's really encouraging is that several of the authors of the DECUS
freeware in the archives have wandered across the collection and told
me that they appreciate seeing software that they used or wrote
themselves, sometimes 30 or more years ago.
> TOPS-10 and TOPS-20 software is available online thanks to Tim Shoppa
> and some anonymous donors.
You're welcome :-). It's nice to see that at least I - and both the
anonymous and not-so-anonymous donors mentioned at the archive home
page,
http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/
- come off as the good guys. We're really trying. I've seen some
emulator progress mentioned here as a result of the sources being
available and browsable, and that's a Good Thing. So far
several hundred people have visited the archive site and downloaded
or browsed through the software available, and that's a Good Thing
too.
> Plenty more would be, but the community
> has largely, and very wisely, decided that it would be far better if
> the existing software were allowed to mildew unsaved in basements.
> This will preserve its purity so it is not touched by infidels.
It really breaks my heart and pains me that so much software
is out there just rotting away. Some of the current holders of the
tapes don't understand that the tapes *are* still readable (sure,
not everyone has 9-track and 7-track drives anymore, and not
everyone has the ability to read and decode TOPS-10 BACKUP or
TOPS-20 DUMPER tapes, but I do!), others don't understand that there
is a wide interest in the software.
There are some other organizations - such as computer museums - that
probably don't understand the value of the tapes or disks
they currently have in their collection. Many of these museums
have members/volunteers that read this newsgroup, and I hope that
those readers pay attemtion to my plea below.
Thus I'll repeat my plea:
If anyone has any PDP-10 software covered by the DEC 36-bit hobbyist
license, please get it to me. I'll pay shipping both ways, and I'm
an expert at archiving old data. Your tapes will be properly cared
for, carefully read, and returned. If you want, you'll be thanked
on the archive page for the stuff you provide, or if you prefer you
can remain anonymous. Just don't let the software rot away!
The best reference I can give is what I've done so far. Just
look at
http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/
and you'll find hundreds of megabytes of PDP-10 software, preserved in
both *exact* tape or disk image form and as browsable, human-readable
files. Both commercial software covered by the DEC 36-bit hobbyist
license and the DECUS 10- and 20- freeware collections are available
there.
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa_at_trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
7328 Bradley Blvd Voice: 301-767-5917
Bethesda, MD, USA 20817 Fax: 301-767-5927
Received on Wed May 03 2000 - 08:26:22 BST