PDP-10 - PDP-10 The PDP-10 was a computer manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) from the early 1970s on; the name stands for "Programmed Data Processor model 10". It was the machine that made time-sharing common; it looms large in hacker folklore because of its adoption in the mid-1970s by many university computing facilities and research labs, including MIT's AI Lab and Project MAC, Stanford's SAIL, and CMU. The PDP-10 was heavily based on the earlier PDP-6; it also had a 36-bit word length. Some aspects of the instruction set (most notably the bit-field instructions) are still considered unsurpassed. The original model processor was the KA, which used discrete transistors packaged in DEC's Flip Chip technology. As supplied by DEC, it did not include paging hardware, only two.
PDP-20 - PDP-20 The most famous computer that never was. PDP-10 computers running the TOPS-10 operating system were labeled DECsystem-10 as a way of differentiating them from the PDP-11. Later on, those systems running TOPS-20 were labeled DECSYSTEM-20 (the block capitals being the result of a lawsuit brought against DEC by Singer, which once made a computer called "system-10"). Contrary to popular lore, there was never a "PDP-20". The only significant difference the user could see between a DECsystem-10 and a DECSYSTEM-20 was the operating system and the color of the paint. Most (but not all) machines sold to run TOPS-10 were painted "Basil Blue", whereas most TOPS-20 machines were painted "Chinese Red" (often mistakenly called orange). The early KL processors, in the first DECsystem-10's, used the original.
PDP - PDP PDP is an abbreviation for Programmable Data Processor; they were a series of computers, several of them ground-breaking and very influential, made by Digital Equipment Corporation. They were given that name because at the time of their introduction, computers had a reputation of being large and expensive machines, and the PDP machines were aimed at a market which couldn't afford the larger computers. Some of the PDP machines are related to each other in families; but most have little more in common than having been made by the same company. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 PDP Series 2 Further Reading 3 External Links PDP Series Members of the PDP series include: PDP-1: The original PDP, an 18-bit machine used in early time-sharing operating system work,.
PDP-1 - PDP-1 PDP-1 was the first computer in DEC's PDP series and was first produced in 1960. The PDP-1 is most famous for being the computer most important in the creation of hacker culture, at MIT, BBN and elsewhere. It was also the original hardware for playing the first computer game, Steve Russell's Spacewar. It used punched paper tape as its primary storage medium. Unlike card decks, which could be sorted and re-ordered, punched paper tape was difficult to physically edit. This inspired the creation of text-editing programs such as Expensive Typewriter and TECO. Because it was equipped with online and offline printers that were based on IBM electric typewriters, it was capable of what, in eighties terminology, would be called "letter-quality printing" and therefore inspired TJ-2,.
PDP-8 - PDP-8 The PDP-8 was the first successful commercial minicomputer, produced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the 1960s. It was the first widely-sold computer in the DEC PDP series of computers (the PDP-5 was not originally intended to be a general-purpose computer). Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Description 2 Example 3.
PDP-11 - PDP-11 The PDP-11 was a 16-bit minicomputer sold by Digital Equipment Corp in the 1970s and 1980s. The PDP-11 was a successor to DEC's PDP-8 computer in the PDP series of computers. It has several uniquely innovative features, and its simple but effective design, felt by many to be the best 16-bit instruction set ever, led to it becoming one of the most influental, and imitated, computers in history. The success of the PDP-11 inspired the design of a number of similar successful CPU architectures, such as DEC's own successor to the PDP-11, the VAX supermini, as well as the Motorola 68000 microprocessor family. Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Important Ideas 2 The LSI-11 3 Architectural Details 3.1 General register addressing modes 3.2 Program Counter addressing.
PDP-7 - PDP-7 The DEC PDP-7 is a minicomputer produced by Digital Equipment Corporation. Introduced in 1965, with a cost of only US-$ 72,000, this computer was very cheap, but quite powerful. The PDP-7 is an 18-bit architecture. In 1969, Ken Thompson wrote the first UNIX system in assembly language on a PDP-7, then named Unics as a somewhat treacherous pun on Multics, as the operating system for Space Travel, a game which required graphics to depict the motion of the planets. There are a few remaining PDP-7 still in operable condition, and an interesting restoration project in Oslo, Norway..
PDP-6 - PDP-6 The PDP-6 (Programmed Data Processor model 6) was a computer model developed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1963. It was influential primarily as the prototype (effectively) for the later PDP-10; the instruction sets of the two machines are almost identical. Worldwide, only 23 PDP-6's were sold, the smallest number of any DEC machine, but DEC management still considered the system useful because those sales were to technical leaders such as universities. That gave DEC a number of advantages, including a foothold in that market, access to advice on future technical direction from a group of advanced and technically knowledgeable users, and finally a source of intelligent young employees as the business grew. It used a 36-bit word length, and had a maximum memory capacity.
Kermit - at Columbia University in 1981 to allow students to use removable media to hold mainframe files and use remote terminals with DEC PDP-20 machines. This emerged into having the same software package on every computer, all based on the PDP-20 Kermit. The MS-DOS version of Kermit was developed the same year. Over the more than 20 years since its inception, the Kermit protocol has evolved into a worldwide de facto data communications standard, and the software has been used for tasks ranging from simple student assignments to solving compatibility problems aboard the International Space Station. Kermit was named for the muppet Kermit the Frog. The program's icon in the Apple Macintosh version was a depiction of Kermit the Frog..
Jargon File - of hacker jargon from technical cultures including the MIT AI Lab, the Stanford AI lab (SAIL), and others of the old ARPANET AI/LISP/PDP-10 communities including Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN), Carnegie-Mellon University (CMU), and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). The Jargon File (hereafter referred to as 'jargon-1' or 'the File') was begun by Raphael Finkel at Stanford in 1975. From this time until the plug was finally pulled on the SAIL computer in 1991, the File was named AIWORD.RF[UP,DOC] there. Some terms in it date back considerably earlier (frob and some senses of moby, for instance, go back to the Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT and are believed to date at least back to the early 1960s). The revisions of jargon-1 were all unnumbered and may be collectively considered 'Version 1'..
IBM Executive series typewriter - Model C One model of the series was introduced in the early 1970s: IBM Executive Model D Modified versions of the A, B, and C models were commonly used as "console typewriters" or terminals on many early computers (e.g., JOHNNIAC, IBM 1620, PDP-1)..
Incompatible Timesharing System - (DDT) whose commands looked like line noise, and its main editor, TECO, was programmable in a similar-looking gibberish. ITS was developed on the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-6 and PDP-10 mainframe computers. ITS was produced by people who disagreed with the direction taken by Multics; the name was a hack on CTSS. Further Reading Donald E. Eastlake, ITS Reference Manual, Version 1.5, (MIT AI Laboratory, 1969) documents a very early version of the system (Warning, very large file, scanned page images) Donald E. Eastlake, ITS Status Report (MIT AI Laboratory, 1972) External Links http://www.cosmic.com/u/mirian/its/ if you're crazy enough to want to run it on a PDP-10 simulator http://www.its.os.org/ contains file system images of various ITS machines, including documentation of the final system.
Interlisp - 1108 and 1186 "AI Workstations". Interlisp was notable for the integration of interactive development tools into the environment, such as a debugger and analysis tools. It was originally developed as a successor to BBN LISP. Interlisp-10, the earliest version, ran on PDP-10 machines. When Danny Bobrow moved from BBN to PARC, he brought Interlisp with him, and it became the popular Lisp dialect for AI researchers at Stanford University. Later a virtual machine was defined in order to facilitate porting, known as the "Interlisp virtual machine". At PARC, Interlisp was ported to the Lisp machines in development there, and was known as Interlisp-D. A 1982 port of the virtual machine to the VAX running BSD Unix resulted in Interlisp-VAX. In 1987, Interlisp was ported to the Sun Microsystems SPARC 4 architecture.
Hacker - hack came to refer to any clever prank perpetrated by MIT students; the perpetrator is a hacker. To this day the terms hack and hacker are used in that way at MIT, without necessarily referring to computers. When MIT students surreptiously put a police car atop the dome on MIT's Building 10, that was a hack, and the students involved were therefore hackers. Computer culture at MIT developed when members of the Tech Model Railroad Club started working with a Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-1 computer and applied local model railroad slang to computers. In modern computer culture, the label "hacker" is a compliment, indicating a skilled and clever programmer. In the media, however, it has negative connotations and has become synonymous with "software cracker". The term hacker has five meanings that.
Hello world program - an example program in the book The C Programming Language, by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie. The example program from that book prints "hello, world" (i.e., no capital letters, no exclamation sign). A collection of "hello world" programs written in various computer languages can serve as a simple "Rosetta Stone" to assist in learning and comparing the languages. Here are some examples in different languages: Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Line-oriented (aka Console) 1.1 ABC 1.2 Ada 1.3 AmigaE 1.4 APL 1.5 Assembly language 1.5.1 Accumulator-only architecture: DEC PDP-8, PAL-III assembler 1.5.2 Accumulator + index register machine: MOS 6502, CBM, ca65 asm 1.5.3 Accumulator/Index microcoded machine: Data General Nova, RDOS 1.5.4 Expanded accumulator machine: Intel x86, MS-DOS, TASM 1.5.5 General-purpose-register CISC: DEC PDP-11, RT-11, MACRO-11 1.5.6 CISC: VAX, VMS, MACRO32 1.6.
History of Nigeria - work, the government arrested opponents, closed media houses, and moved strongly to curb dissent. The government alleged in early 1995 that some 40 military officers and civilians were engaged in a coup plot. Security officers quickly rounded up the accused, including former Head of State Obasanjo and his erstwhile deputy, retired Gen. Shehu Musa Yar'Adua. After a secret tribunal, most of the accused were convicted, and several death sentences were handed down. The tribunal also charged, convicted, and sentenced prominent human rights activists, journalists, and others-- including relatives of the coup suspects--for their alleged "anti-regime" activities. In October, the government announced that the Provisional Ruling Council (PRC--see below: Abubakar's Transition to Civilian Rule) and Abacha had approved final sentences for those convicted of participation in the coup plot. In late 1994.
History of Sierra Leone - as the new Finance Minister Salia Jusu-Sheriff, a former leader of the SLPP who returned to that party in late 1981. His accession to the cabinet was viewed by many as a step toward making the APC a true national party. Siaka P. Stevens, who had been head of state of Sierra Leone for 18 years, retired from that position in November 1985, although he continued his role as chairman of the ruling APC party. In August 1985, the APC named military commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Saidu Momoh, Steven's own choice, as the party candidate to succeed Stevens. Momoh was elected President in a one-party referendum on October 1, 1985. A formal inauguration was held in January 1986, and new parliamentary elections were held in May 1986. In October 1990, President.
History of operating systems - were some companies who were able to develop better systems, such as early Digital Equipment Corporation systems, but others never supported features that were useful on other hardware types. In the late 1960s thru the late 1970s, several hardware capabilities evolved that allowed similar or ported software to run on more than one system. Early systems had had utilized Microprogramming to implement features on their systems, in fact most 360's after the 360/40 (except the 360/165 and 360/168) were microprogrammed implementations. One system which evolved in this time frame was the Pick Operating system. The Pick system was developed and sold by Microdata Corporation, and Dick Pick, who created the precursors of the system with an associate, Don Nelson. The system is an example of a system which started as a.
Hitachi H8 - ports, and amounts of ROM and RAM. Builtin ROM tends to range from 16K to 128K bytes, and RAM from 512 to 4K bytes. The basic architecture of the H8 is patterned after the DEC PDP-11, with eight 16-bit registers (the H8/300H and H8/S have an additional bank of eight registers), and a variety of addressing modes. Several companies provide compilers for the H8 family, and there is a complete GNU port, including a simulator. There are also various hardware emulators available. H8s may be found in digital cameras, printer controllers, and in various automotive subsystems. Also, the LEGO Mindstorms advanced toy / educational tool uses this architecture (a H8/300). The SuperH is a 32-bit extension of the H8 design..
UCSD p-System - San Diego to provide all students with a common operating system that could run on any of the then available microcomputers as well as campus PDP-11 minicomputers. p-System started around 1977 as an idea of Prof. Kenneth Bowles at UCSD, who felt that the number of new platforms coming out at the time would make it difficult for new languages to gain acceptance. In particular he was interested in Pascal as a teaching language, which had just been announced. UCSD introduced two features which were tremendous improvements on the original Pascal, variable length strings, and "units" of independantly compiled code (and idea taken from the then-evolving Ada programming language). Nicklaus Wirth credits the p-System, and UCSD Pascal in particular, with popularizing the language. It was not until the release of Turbo.
