here's a project for ya...

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br...@quarterbyte.com

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Jul 8, 2020, 12:38:37 PM7/8/20
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Norman Jaffe

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Jul 8, 2020, 1:20:50 PM7/8/20
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Or the IBM1800?

From: br...@quarterbyte.com
To: "ibm1130" <ibm...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 9:38:21 AM
Subject: [IBM1130] here's a project for ya...

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Ricardo Bánffy

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Jul 8, 2020, 1:57:10 PM7/8/20
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Has anyone done a 1130 in VHDL?
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ibm1130/520850457.164410694.1594228848472.JavaMail.zimbra%40shaw.ca.



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Eddy Quicksall

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Jul 8, 2020, 2:36:38 PM7/8/20
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What is VHDL?

Eddy
Ricardo B�nffy
http://about.me/rbanffy

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Carlos Abramo

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Jul 8, 2020, 2:37:57 PM7/8/20
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VHDL (VHSIC-HDL, Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language) is a hardware description language used in electronic design automation to describe digital and mixed-signal systems such as field-programmable gate arrays and integrated circuits. VHDL can also be used as a general-purpose parallel programming language.

richard...@comcast.net

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Jul 8, 2020, 3:00:44 PM7/8/20
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Sure, I have a VHDL version of the IBM1130 running all of the factory software, unchanged, going all the way back to some time before the 2006 IBM1130 party where I did a little ‘show and tell’.  I still have it on my desk and use it from time to time when I get in a FORTRAN frame of mind or I want to play with the plotter library.

 

It was my first full system design and, by any objective standard, the VHDL is less than stellar.  HOWEVER, it runs at 50 MHz on a DIgilent NEXYS 2 board (now obsolete).  I have been toying with the idea of cleaning up the code and porting it to the newer NEXYS A7

 

https://store.digilentinc.com/nexys-a7-fpga-trainer-board-recommended-for-ece-curriculum/

 

One reason for not doing the port is the lack of sufficient edge IO to accommodate the Compact Flash device and I don’t look forward to using an SD card.

 

I used an mbed LPC1768 board to implement the plotter.  It takes plot steps over an SPI interface, converts the steps to HPGL sentences and sends the strings to my LaserJet via the LAN.

 

It is NOT cycle accurate, it is instruction accurate and, to me, that’s all that matters.

Ricardo Bánffy

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Jul 8, 2020, 3:21:38 PM7/8/20
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VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description
Language) is a language used to describe electronic circuits. There
are lots of such descriptions available that you can write to blank
FPGA chips and make them behave as custom chips.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ibm1130/041f01d65556%24765fb320%24631f1960%24%40com.

Ricardo Bánffy

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Jul 8, 2020, 3:22:45 PM7/8/20
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This is probably enough to get it manufactured by the Skywater project
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ibm1130/011301d6555a%240ea96b50%242bfc41f0%24%40comcast.net.

richard...@comcast.net

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Jul 8, 2020, 3:46:56 PM7/8/20
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The design already fits on a chip the size of a large postage stamp. Why mess with ASIC?

-----Original Message-----
From: ibm...@googlegroups.com <ibm...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Ricardo Bánffy
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 12:23 PM
To: ibm...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [IBM1130] here's a project for ya...

This is probably enough to get it manufactured by the Skywater project
.

John Doty

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Jul 8, 2020, 4:07:38 PM7/8/20
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How many 1130’s can you fit on the head of a pin? ツ

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John Doty              Noqsi Aerospace, Ltd.

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richard...@comcast.net

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Jul 8, 2020, 4:38:21 PM7/8/20
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The head of a pin is about 1 million nm across or an area of 0.8*1012 nm

 

Once the number of gate equivalents are known and the area/gate is given, the math is pretty easy.

 

There are serious bottlenecks in the 1130 architecture.  I doubt that the design would be considered ‘interesting’.  Now, another RISC V would probably be exciting and perhaps a complete PDP11/70 with MMU and FPP and BSD 2.11 Unix would get some attention but I just can’t see anybody getting excited about the 1130.

 

The really big deal with CPU design isn’t the hardware, that’s easy!  It’s the software.  If the 1130 DMS and tools weren’t readily available, nobody would remember the machine.  All the work by Brian Knittel makes the project even possible.  His simulator is excellent but the assembler was the important piece for my needs early on.  I needed to test instruction execution and I needed the proper machine code for all the variants.

 

One reason for not building a CDC 6600 is the fact that I can’t find the software.  The hardware ‘might’ be pretty straightforward but it takes software to make it interesting.  Besides, today’s PCs would blow its doors off!

 

 

 

From: ibm...@googlegroups.com <ibm...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of John Doty
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 1:08 PM
To: IBM1130 <ibm...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [IBM1130] here's a project for ya...

 

How many 1130’s can you fit on the head of a pin?

 

On Jul 8, 2020, at 3:46 PM, <richard...@comcast.net> <richard...@comcast.net> wrote:

 

The design already fits on a chip the size of a large postage stamp.  Why mess with ASIC?

-----Original Message-----
From: ibm...@googlegroups.com <ibm...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Ricardo Bánffy
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 12:23 PM
To: ibm...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [IBM1130] here's a project for ya...

This is probably enough to get it manufactured by the Skywater project
.

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John Doty              Noqsi Aerospace, Ltd.

j...@noqsi.com



 

 

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Gary Wheeler

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Jul 8, 2020, 4:46:05 PM7/8/20
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As the writer of the Assembler it is fascinating to see the work that is carried on this many years after the introduction of the 1130.


From: ibm...@googlegroups.com <ibm...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of richard...@comcast.net <richard...@comcast.net>
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 1:38 PM
To: ibm...@googlegroups.com <ibm...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: [IBM1130] here's a project for ya...
 

John Doty

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Jul 8, 2020, 4:52:37 PM7/8/20
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On Jul 8, 2020, at 4:38 PM, <richard...@comcast.net> <richard...@comcast.net> wrote:

There are serious bottlenecks in the 1130 architecture.

No kidding. Was there ever another machine with a parallel adder that used a serial carry? And then, all 1130 arithmetic, data and address, passed through that single, slow, adder. Still, it was the machine that got a lot of my generation started.

richard...@comcast.net

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Jul 8, 2020, 5:06:11 PM7/8/20
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Nice work!

 

I was just starting college when I was introduced to the IBM 1130 in 1970.  It was love at first sight and it will always be my reference machine.  I learned a lot way back when.

 

 

From: ibm...@googlegroups.com <ibm...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Gary Wheeler
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 1:46 PM
To: ibm...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [IBM1130] here's a project for ya...

 

As the writer of the Assembler it is fascinating to see the work that is carried on this many years after the introduction of the 1130.

 

.

Keve Gabbert

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Jul 8, 2020, 5:11:27 PM7/8/20
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... and we're still here to talk about it.


richard...@comcast.net

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Jul 8, 2020, 5:12:19 PM7/8/20
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It was built to a price point!  It was the first machine to rent for less than $1000/month.

 

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/1130.html

 

From: ibm...@googlegroups.com <ibm...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of John Doty
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 1:52 PM
To: ibm...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [IBM1130] here's a project for ya...

 

 

On Jul 8, 2020, at 4:38 PM, <richard...@comcast.net> <richard...@comcast.net> wrote:

.

richard...@comcast.net

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Jul 8, 2020, 5:13:07 PM7/8/20
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And just shy of 17 years into retirement!  Pretty cool!

Keve Gabbert

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Jul 8, 2020, 5:19:40 PM7/8/20
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I finally retired in June 2016. Could not pass up the retirement package from Intel.

John Doty

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Jul 8, 2020, 5:26:31 PM7/8/20
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On Jul 8, 2020, at 4:46 PM, Gary Wheeler <garypw...@hotmail.com> wrote:

As the writer of the Assembler it is fascinating to see the work that is carried on this many years after the introduction of the 1130.

Thank you. I learned assembly language on the 1130. Now, there’s ARM assembly language in the NICER instrument on the International Space Station. I wrote it. None of the younger programmers knew how, so the codger physicist, educated on the 1130, got the job.

richard...@comcast.net

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Jul 8, 2020, 5:51:50 PM7/8/20
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Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.

David Mamet

 

 

From: ibm...@googlegroups.com <ibm...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of John Doty
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 2:26 PM
To: ibm...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [IBM1130] here's a project for ya...

 

 

On Jul 8, 2020, at 4:46 PM, Gary Wheeler <garypw...@hotmail.com> wrote:

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Jeff Jonas

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Jul 8, 2020, 6:50:24 PM7/8/20
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> As the writer of the Assembler

Thank you for carrying on the fine tradition!
I'm sorry but I failed to correlate your name to your work.
Do you have a preferred source: perhaps a GIT repository?

> it is fascinating to see the work that is carried on this many years
> after the introduction of the 1130.

Fascination is the word: we were fascinated and charmed by the 1130.
The twinkling of the front panel lights forever sparkle in our eyes :-)


> Thank you. I learned assembly language on the 1130.

Did you get to debug or trace it using the front panel?
Single Step, Single Memory Cycle, Single Clock Cycle were perfect for that!
And everything was displayed on the panel without roller-switches or selectors.

> Now, there’s ARM assembly language in the NICER instrument on the International Space Station.
> I wrote it. None of the younger programmers knew how, so the codger physicist, educated on the 1130, got the job.

Wowzers, quite the feather in your cap!

> Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.

I prefer a more positive view of that:
old age and WISDOM prevails over knowledge and inexperience

-- Jeff Jonas

Keve Gabbert

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Jul 8, 2020, 7:00:43 PM7/8/20
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How many remember "single cycle Dudley"?
He spent hours at the console.

John Doty

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Jul 8, 2020, 7:04:58 PM7/8/20
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On Jul 8, 2020, at 6:50 PM, Jeff Jonas <je...@panix.com> wrote:



Thank you. I learned assembly language on the 1130.

Did you get to debug or trace it using the front panel?
Single Step, Single Memory Cycle, Single Clock Cycle were perfect for that!
And everything was displayed on the panel without roller-switches or selectors.

Of course. One great thing about the 1130 was that teenagers just learning got to poke at it, no adult supervision required ツ


Now, there’s ARM assembly language in the NICER instrument on the International Space Station.
I wrote it. None of the younger programmers knew how, so the codger physicist, educated on the 1130, got the job.

Wowzers, quite the feather in your cap!

Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.

I prefer a more positive view of that:
old age and WISDOM prevails over knowledge and inexperience

The exuberance gets you started, and keeps you going.

Gary Wheeler

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Jul 8, 2020, 7:22:56 PM7/8/20
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I remember Dudley. When I last used Facebook about 3 months ago, Dudley was still doing well at 90+.


From: ibm...@googlegroups.com <ibm...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Keve Gabbert <kev...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 8, 2020 4:00 PM
To: ibm...@googlegroups.com <ibm...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: [IBM1130] here's a project for ya...
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Paul Anagnostopoulos

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Jul 9, 2020, 9:31:21 AM7/9/20
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After learning Fortran and using it on my father's company's 1130, I discovered that the girl's school right next door to my school had an 1130. This was in 1968! To this day I do not know the name of the kind benefactor who paid the lease each month. But I took full advantage of that machine for the next two years, before going off to college.

As everyone says, it was a personal computer. You could do anything!

~~ Paul

Eddy Quicksall

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Jul 15, 2020, 9:11:38 PM7/15/20
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Who is “single cycle Dudley”

 

Eddy

 

From: ibm...@googlegroups.com [mailto:ibm...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Keve Gabbert
Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2020 7:01 PM
To: ibm...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [IBM1130] here's a project for ya...

 

How many remember "single cycle Dudley"?

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Gary Wheeler

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Jul 15, 2020, 9:34:52 PM7/15/20
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He's still alive and I'm not sure he would appreciate the nickname. It came about because he de-bugged DM2 when it was in development by sitting at the console and looking at memory locations by selecting them with the bit-switches.


From: ibm...@googlegroups.com <ibm...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Eddy Quicksall <Ed...@Quicksall.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 15, 2020 6:09 PM
To: ibm...@googlegroups.com <ibm...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: RE: [IBM1130] here's a project for ya...
 

Keve Gabbert

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Jul 15, 2020, 9:47:06 PM7/15/20
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I connected with him on facebook. He's doing fine.

Keve

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