To play with my PDP11, I developed some tools to communicate with the PDP. They allow to communicate via serial line and to upload code to the PDP.
all2deposit - creates a SIMH deposit file from a Paper Tape Format file or (not yet implemented) a MACRO11 LST file pdpcom - allows to upload deposit file content to a serial attached PDP11, also allows to access ODT (lika a common terminal connection also does) arthur-gill-examples - some nice examples examples - some simple examples Screencast demo session Small video clip where I list some memory content, load an object file, show that is has been loaded to memory and execute it (this simple object file waits for a single char and prints it to console):
This document contains information I have gathered when trying to bring some DEC PDP11 boards together to have a “working” system.
Summary of boards I have collected some boards in the last years.
CPU boards:
M8186 LSI-11/23 CPU (C Revision, so capable of 22 bit addressing) RAM boards:
M8044 MSV11-DD 32K RAM, 18Bit M8067 512KB RAM, 22 Bit Serial boards:
M8028 DLV-11F serial board M3104 serial board EMULEX CS02H1 Controller (16 channels).
EEPROMs auslesen mit Batronix BX32P Barlino II Riesen-Vorteil: Die sehr gute Software gibt es unter Linux (und Win und MacOs)
Allerdings kann der Barlino keine uralten EPROMs beschreiben (Lesen ist möglich). Für das Beschreiben sehr alter EPROMs habe ich sowohl den Retro Chip Tester Pro als auch den Andro AF-9407.
ST M27C1001-10F1, 128 KByte EPROM. Automatisches Erkennen funktioniert. Auslesen klappt auch.
Dies ist ein Chip aus einem uralten Canon Dia Scanner.
Elektronika BK-0011 from 1989. This machine is successor of BK0010, same in english. Both use PDP clone-like CPU K1801WM1. The CPU is said to be fully compatible with PDP11 CPUs, but does not implement EIS instructions.
See articles in OldComputerMuseum,
ebay text:
Elektronika BK 0011 - not works, tested. starts but displays only the scattered image - sell only computer,
BK-0011
BK-0011 was released in 1989. It has 128 KiB of RAM divided into 16 KiB pages, its CPU is clocked at 4 MHz by default.
Tuner ENV578E1G3 Tuner from 1996. Main chips are TSA5511AT and MT06A.
While TSA5511 is the PLL Synthesizer, which generates all required frequencies, the MT06A is unknown to me. But it must be the RF mixer, which produces the IF output by mixing input signal with PLL synthesizer output.
Connector has 5 small pins and 4 large pins. In my listing, numbering starts with outermost small pin. To check against reality, compare against my image from the original TV board.
Antenna Tuner, designed by N7DDC, 1.8-50MHz, up to 100 Watts. Bought for 97€ in 12/2021.
OLED display and tune button Power switch, power supply connector, antenna and TX input connector 15 relais… The PIC16F1938 microcontroller References ATU-100 mini User Manual
ATU-100 Extended Board User Manual
https://github.com/Dfinitski/N7DDC-ATU-100-mini-and-extended-boards
http://oe1iah.at/Hardware/AutoTuner_ATU100.shtml
Large thread on QRPForum.de (german) - https://www.qrpforum.de/forum/index.php?thread/13177-auto-antennentuner-nach-n7ddc/&pageNo=1
ATU-100 mini original thread (russian) http://www.sdr-deluxe.com/forum/7-17-1
RM Italy produces nice RF amplifiers. Some of them are for the CB “Export” market and produce a lot of watts for a few bucks. The official ham radio amplifiers are much more expensive. They cover the common ham HF frequencies between 3 and 30 MHz. The CB ones focus on around 27 Mhz of course.
For RL-203, I read that it is possible to modify such a cheap amp to use it on complete HF range.
This is a power supply from the 80ies or even older. It contains a linear regulated power supply and a speaker. It offers 13.5 volts DC at 25 Ampere. Weight is about 10 KG, and this weight comes mostly from the big transformer.
There is plenty of space inside the casing. We can see the transformer. two large 10.000 µF capacitors, the speaker on the right. 4 regulator transistors are with their heatsink at the left.
This post describe my effort to fix a broken M8044 PDP11 RAM module. For tracing down the bug, I’ve used QBone.
I own a defective M8044 RAM board. This board came as part of my OBA-11 PDP11. It was obviously checked by DEC, found to be broken and has a red defective badge.
Setting up test bed I’ve created a testbed, consisting of:
QBone An unused backplane H9278-A with 8 slots The device under test, the M8044 As power supply, I took a 5V/4Ampere power supply from my parts bin +12V (used by M8044) supply comes from a lab power supply First test with QBone: Check if board responses to bus requests QBone has its tests and many features in a single executable.
What is QBone? QBone is a fascinating project by Jörg Hoppe. It is based on a PDP QBus module that can be inserted into any QBus backplane. It implements all features required by the QBus, so this module looks like any other QBus module from the PDP11 perspective.
The module integrates a BeagleBone Board (BBB). This is an ARM-based modern computer, like Raspberry PI. The biggest advantage of BBB over Raspi is: that the board contains two separate I/O processors called PRU (Programmable Realtime Unit).
