This is one of the two pages at Best.com that describe the history
of 36-bit computing: www.inwap.com/pdp10 = www.best.com/~inwap/pdp10/.
The other one, www.multicians.org
is Tom Van Vleck's
history of Multics. Both of these computers use 36-bit words with 18-bit
addresses, but otherwise have very little in common.
(Another set of web pages dedicated to 36-bit computers
is at www.36bit.org/ .)
This page was listed in the NCSA Mosaic What's New page for June 16, 1995.
DEC-10.PDPplanet.COM is a 2065 accessible on the network, running TOPS-10. So there's now an example of DEC hardware on the net.
Paul Allen's machine (xkleten.paulallen.com) is an XKL-1 (a.k.a. TOAD-1)
There are a couple of other XKL-1 systems in addition to XKL and Paul Allen, but they aren't public access.
There are several klh10-based TOPS-20 systems up 24/7: lingling.panda.com, bi5.bootstrap.org, kankan.twenex.org, tops.drkngs.com, tina.update.uu.se. There are some others which are intermittantly up.
Two ITS systems are intermittantly up: its.svensson.org, md.spacy.boston.ma.us.
They are still running an NCSA web server on toad.xkl.com,
but it now redirects to Apache on an x86 box.
XKL Systems TOAD, TOPS-20 Monitor 7(102605)-1
HTTP/1.0 200 Document follows
Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 %T GMT
Server: NCSA/1.4.1
Content-type: text/html
Last-modified: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 %T GMT
Location: http://cheshire.xkl.com
Picture of Jim Flemming and Tony Wachs in front of a KL
called "Chip" (at a DECUS in the early 80's). This picture was relayed to Kimo B. Yap
kby@alumni.caltech.edu by Barb Huizenga
and taken by Clive Dawson.
Andy Tannenbaum's list of WPI hackers of the '70s.
Foonly is out of the business. But their one-and-only F1 was used by
Information International Inc (III) to render the graphics used in the
movie "TRON". The legacy of that movie lives on as "Toy Story" and the
TV show ReBoot.
Tymshare made a 26KL system for the Augment project until McDonnell
Douglas took over Tymnet and cancelled the project in 1987.
The SC Group used to be known as Systems Concepts
and is still selling their SC-40.
Compuserve manufactured their own SC-25 systems for a while. (The SC Group
licensed their design to Compuserve during the time when the SC-40 was
being designed.)
If you know of other great stories of 36-bit lore, please post them
to the alt.sys.pdp10 newsgroup and/or send e-mail to js-cgi@inwap.com
PDP-10/TOPS-10 heard as "Doctor Memory"
in Firesign Theatre's "We're All Bozos on this Bus":
The big computer that runs everything in the FUTURE
FAIR, described in the FT's BOZO play. The Doctor was also mentioned
in a poem on the "Dear Friends" album. He is based on an old SAILON
LISP program written for the PDP-10 running the TOPS-10 operating
system. AhClem repeatedly calls Dr. Memory "Mac" - which far
predates the current Apple computer line; but the MIT AI lab, where
the Doctor program originated, grew out of Project Mac (for Machine
Aided Cognition and/or Multiple Access Computer)
DUMPER a
BLISS program in the DECUS library
for reading TOPS-10/BACKUP and TOPS-20/DUMPER tapes on VAX/VMS. See also
10BACKUP, written in MACRO-32 and VAX BASIC.
John Wilson's collection of programs to read PDP-10 tapes that were written by
TOPS-10,
TOPS-20
and ITS.
Non-Unix OS History
which has these details for TOPS-10:
1964=PDP-6 Monitor and TOPS-10 1.4; 1966=1.9; 1967=2.18; 1968=3.27;
1969=4.50 and 4.72; 1970=5.01; 1971=5.02; 1972=5.06; 1974=5.07 and 6.01;
1975=5.07A (last OS for KA-10); 1975=6.02; 1977=6.03; 1978=6.03LIR;
1979=7.02; 1980=7.01; 1983=7.02; 1985=7.03; 1988=7.04
Details for TOPS-20:
1969=TENEX; 1976=TOPS-20 v1; 1977=v2; 1978=v3; 1980=v3A; 1981=v4; 1982=v5;
1985=v6; 1988=v7;
Date: Wed, 02 Aug 95 11:23:03 -0400
From: dbj@MPGN.COM (David E. Brooks Jr)
Organization: Tantalus Incorporated
Subject: Interesting little tid-bit
Hi,
Just for kicks, I ran 'DECsystem-ten' through the internet
anagram server (http://www.wordsmith.org/awad-cgibin/anagram)
and it came back with "Decent System".
Very appropriate, I thought.
-- Dave Brooks
This is one of the two pages at Best.com that describe the history
of 36-bit computing: www.inwap.com/pdp10 = www.best.com/~inwap/pdp10/.
The other one, www.multicians.org
is Tom Van Vleck's
history of Multics. Both of these computers use 36-bit words with 18-bit
addresses, but otherwise have very little in common.
(Another set of web pages dedicated to 36-bit computers
is at www.36bit.org/ .)
DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) cancelled the follow-on CPU 17-May-83.
