Another PDP-11 available: Wisconsin

From: Geoffrey G. Rochat <geoff_at_pkworks.com>
Date: Wed Oct 11 15:27:49 2000

If you want to lose one of those 11/2s, please get in touch!

-----Original Message-----
From: Jerome Fine <jhfine_at_idirect.com>
To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2000 11:11 AM
Subject: Re: Another PDP-11 available: Wisconsin


>>ajp166 wrote:
>
>> On the other hand the posting was rather strong. There is nothing
>> wrong with an 11/2. True an 11/23 has more oomph and all but an
>> 11/2 is configurable as a very nice small machine. Paying 100$
>> for one is questionable in my mind on because they were so
>> common (over 100,000 cpu boards made). I have a few.
>
>Jerome Fine replies:
>
>I have a few as well - and if I can ever find someone to actually use
>them, they will go for free. I can't ever remember actually using
>one although I might have attempted to test one just to see if
>it would work - in hindsight, I don't know why since I never
>had any intention of getting by with just RT11FB in RT-11.
>Actually, I have both versions - dual and quad.
>
>This is not a slight on those who like hardware far more than
>I do, just my own opinion - which I believe I stated at the beginning.
>The key point is that when testing software, the emulator is so
>much faster that it runs rings around the real hardware. PLUS -
>and this is a VERY BIG PLUS - I had occasion to attempt
>to debug (or at least understand) the boot code for a stand alone
>program. Try stepping through the boot block of an RX02 on
>a real PDP-11. With the emulator and even rudimentary
>[Thank goodness for the spell checker!!] debugging facilities
>(only one break point address - but at least single step was
>enabled), it was trivial - after all, there was only a single block
>of code to debug.
>
>In fact, I very much admire someone who can rescue an 11/44
>from the scrap heap. But I do not know how and I am too busy
>in any case. And my back is no longer strong enough.
>
>Sincerely yours,
>
>Jerome Fine
Received on Wed Oct 11 2000 - 15:27:49 BST