A week or two ago, we got Kaleidoscope to run on the PDP-12! We haven't found and repaired any broken flip chips. So, either all the "percussive maintenance" we've been doing in the process of testing flip chips has paid dividends, or -- more likely -- I tried to run it in 8-mode last time... it is a LINC program. Anyway, enjoy these GIFs. #umdpdp12 #pdp #pdp12 #dec #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #minicomputer

A couple weeks ago, for no apparent reason, the hits to our PDP-12 channel on YouTube went through the roof (for us). Then, as quickly as they came, they went! Oh well, glad I didn't quit my day job, and as @spacehobo pointed out -- the PDP-12 is *part* of my day job. 🤣 💚 #umdpdp12 #retrocomputing #pdp #pdp12 #dec

Ever wondered how to turn your 1970s-era PDP-12 minicomputer into a manual musical instrument, kinda like a really crappy theremin? Well, wonder no further! In this video, I provide the source code and performance technique information necessary to do just that! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHepkRo7yRI

#umdpdp12 #pdp12 #pdp #retrocomputing

Ever wondered how to turn your 1970s-era PDP-12 minicomputer into a manual musical instrument, kinda like a really crappy theremin? Well, wonder no further! In this video, I provide the source code and performance technique information necessary to do just that! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHepkRo7yRI

#umdpdp12 #pdp12 #pdp #retrocomputing

Today I worked on the #PDP12 to do some testing of the teletype. https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/pdp-12-435-at-the-university-of-minnesota-duluth.1241469/page-6#post-1304369

#Spacewar on a #PDP12. Sort of a casual shot in preparation for getting a really good shot sometime soon.

#retrocomputing #rcsri

My friend @spacehobo saw our PDP-12 wallpaper in the background of one of our videos and wanted a downloadable one, so here's two of them in 1080p. His interest has inspired me to make higher-res versions available in multiple DEC liveries. We also have a special PDP-12 version based on the nameplate at the top of our machine, but it's not ready for the limelight. Enjoy, and stay tuned!

#umdpdp12 #pdp #dec #retrocomputing #vintagecomputing #wallpaper #pdp12

An M117E (left) and an M117C (right). The pinouts and logic are the same, but the etch (the traces) and chip layout are different. We think the rev C cards may have been put into our machine as part of a repair.

#umdpdp12 #dec #pdp12 #pdp #vintagecomputing #retrocomputing

Kyle and I are working to finish testing all the flip chips in the PDP-12 we can test with the FCT (without using an oscilloscope).

https://youtu.be/JWlRkoDxObQ

#UmfPdp12 #pdp12 #pdp #dec #RetroComputing #VintageComputing #FlipChip

Browsing some #PDP12 docs. La la la. #retrocomputing #rcsri

The #umdpdp12 is serial number 435. According to this 1978 document from #DEC, the total number of #pdp12 #minicomputers ever produced should be 765: http://s3data.computerhistory.org/pdp-1/dec.digital_1957_to_the_present_(1978).1957-1978.102630349.pdf

I wrote a short series of help commands in #PunyInform for an #InteractiveFiction project. I wrote a short `intro` verb, a longer `help` document with the most common verbs needed to win the game, and a `stuck` verb that tells the user not to panic before advising on strategies for solving the puzzles.

I then decided to remap the StrongSub verbs over to my new StuckSub, so that it can catch anyone swearing at the game in frustration.

And yes, I included the #umdpdp12 #easteregg, where they found a command log of someone swearing at "this stupid chunk of germanium". I decided to make the help system replicate the #os8 error message in honour of this moment in #pdp12 #VintageComputing history.

Forcefield was a performance art group from the late 90s / early 00s. (They had an installation in the 2002 Whitney Biennial and then immediately split up.)

They wanted a shot of one of their weird creatures interacting with an exotic computer for one of their short films, so I brought them into our museum and ran a little graphics program I had written on our #PDP12 for them. (I'm lying on the ground just out of the shot in this, reaching up to twiddle knobs.)

#retrocomputing #art #film

The nameplate on our PDP-12, found inside the case. #umdpdp12 #retrocomputing #vintagecomputer #pdp #pdp12 #dec

Here's a recent local news segment from someone visiting the museum where the #DigiBarn #LINC was last year, apparently. If you go to the museum Web site the #pdp12 in this shot seems to be on a general floor exhibit. The piece talks about how Wilkes got out of computers to become an attorney.
https://youtu.be/VymT3KnSvAM?t=7

Gentle update: I originally said this was the earliest LINC photo, which on review is highly incorrect.

I had conflated some stuff about how Wilkes worked on the original OS (more of a simple assembler, really) on a #LINC emulator she wrote on the TX-2. She spent a lot of time haranguing Wes and the others to pin down behaviours of the hardware so she could get it finished, but they were redesigning regularly due to the tight constraints and new flipchips coming out at #dec.

She worked with all the biomedical researchers they shipped the things to, teaching them how to get software written that worked with their experiments. Apparently that was so exhausting that she took a year off to travel the world, and in 1965 she got back to the US and found LINC had spun off from MIT and was based in St. Louis. She was still in sort of "gap year" mindset and said she'd work on the machine but didn't want to commit to any particular city. So they shipped one of the existing units to her father's home in Baltimore.

The OS she worked on there was LAP 6 (LINC Assembly Program version 6), which was vastly superior to the earlier versions. It had a full-screen text editor that took advantage of the RAM expansion modules that LINC were shipping at the time, and really made the machine more generally useful.

The OS that shipped with the #pdp12 from #dec was called "LAP6DIAL"

OK, so where did all of this #LINC and #pdp8 stuff from this whoooole thread end up? Well, Dick Clayton from #dec explains in this short interjection at the DigiBarn event:

https://youtu.be/xT_5PcrVI9Q?t=5810

Basically Digital made a weird hybrid LINC/pdp8 system called the LINC-8, but it wasn't that great. So while he was on jury duty, he sketched out the Right Way to do it so that the system could switch between "8 mode" and "LINC mode" *in software*. The result was the #pdp12, which sold more units than all the previous LINC systems combined.

And that takes us to tonight's thread from @tastytronic, where the #umdpdp12 has just had its first successful verification tests of some of its 60-year-old flipchip cards: https://teh.entar.net/@tastytronic/109644812161500698

Special bonus: a picture of a double-wide M706 (rev. K) teletype receiver card under test.

#umdpdp12 #RetroComputing #VintageComputing #DEC #pdp #pdp12 #FlipChip

Finally, here's a glam shot of the FCT with an M617 installed. Thanks for joining me on today's project! Special thanks again to @neale and @ckape for the hardware donation, which saved this shoestring project close to $200.

Major thanks to Vince Slyngstad for producing Warren's design, making it RPi-compatible, and making a 3D-printed base -- not to mention selling me this kit pre-assembled -- this is a pretty sweet package and will go a long way towards helping us keep the our PDP-12 up and running for years to come.

If you're interested in learning more about our PDP-12, or donating to the fund supporting this project, please see https://umdpdp12.blogspot.com/ or check out our videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHnc49MScQBBIlVIirpZ1Zjdh91U5Q6-6

#umdpdp12 #RetroComputing #VintageComputing #DEC #pdp #pdp12 #FlipChip

Finally, here's a glam shot of the FCT with an M617 installed. Thanks for joining me on today's project! Special thanks again to @neale and @ckape for the hardware donation, which saved this shoestring project close to $200.

Major thanks to Vince Slyngstad for producing Warren's design, making it RPi-compatible, and making a 3D-printed base -- not to mention selling me this kit pre-assembled -- this is a pretty sweet package and will go a long way towards helping us keep the our PDP-12 up and running for years to come.

If you're interested in learning more about our PDP-12, or donating to the fund supporting this project, please see https://umdpdp12.blogspot.com/ or check out our videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHnc49MScQBBIlVIirpZ1Zjdh91U5Q6-6

#umdpdp12 #RetroComputing #VintageComputing #DEC #pdp #pdp12 #FlipChip