PiDP-8 (PDP-8)
PDP-8 History
The PDP-8 (1965, Digital Equipment Corporation) was the first commercially successful minicomputer. At $18,000, it was affordable for laboratories and universities. The 12-bit architecture and simple instruction set made it highly influential.
The PiDP-8 is Oscar Vermeulen’s replica kit: a Raspberry Pi running the SIMH emulator behind a front panel with working toggle switches and blinkenlights.
OS/8 Commands
OS/8 is the operating system for the PDP-8. Boot to the dot prompt (.):
.DIR List files on current device
.DIR DSK: List files on disk
.TYPE file.ext Display file contents
.COPY DSK:dest.ext SRC:src.ext Copy file
.DELETE file.ext Delete file
.R BASIC Run BASIC interpreter
.R FOCAL Run FOCAL interpreter
.DATE Display date
BASIC on OS/8
.R BASIC
*NEW
10 PRINT "HELLO, WORLD"
20 FOR I = 1 TO 10
30 PRINT I, I*I
40 NEXT I
50 END
*RUN
Classic Games
.R ADVENT Colossal Cave Adventure
.R STARTREK Star Trek game
.R CHESS Chess
Adventure (Colossal Cave)
The original Adventure was ported to OS/8. Key commands:
GO NORTH/N,S,E,W,U,DGET LAMP,LIGHT LAMPINVENTORY/ILOOKXYZZY(magic word)