Tektronix 4010 emulator on PiDP-11 (2.11BSD)

[Rene Richarz]

Some years ago I posted an early Tektronix 4010 emulator here.

I have since reworked it into a more accurate version that reproduces storage tube behavior, including drawing speed and visible beam.

It can be connected to the PiDP-11 under 2.11BSD and can be built on Raspberry Pi, Linux, macOS and Windows.

Short demo:

Tektronix 4010 Emulator – Authentic Storage Tube Graphics at Original Speed

Source:

https://github.com/rricharz/Tek4010

Usage with PiDP-11 and 2.11BSD:

pidp11-2.11bsd

[Mark Matlock]

Rene,

    I just installed your new TEK4010 emulation on my M2 MacBook Pro and the emulation is fantastic!! 

The installation of your emulator went exactly as your documentation described and the demo is beautiful.

One thing I am having trouble with is the installation of the APL385 font in Mac OS. I don’t know where the Mac OS is storing the font files and was wondering if you had looked at that yet?

It is amazing that your TEK4010 emulator is available for Linux, Windows and Mac, no small feat.

I was also intrigued to see that you have tested on a VAXstation 4000/90a as I have one. What applications were tested there? I do have VAX APL on that system.

Thanks for all your hard work!

Best Regards,

Mark Matlock

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "[PiDP-11]" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pidp-11+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/baccf8f1-9cc7-4a9c-a790-48dd5345fcd5n%40googlegroups.com.

[Johnny Billquist]

The visuals are excellent, but could you please learn how to use ptys,
controlling terminals, terminal groups, and how to run processes through
that, so that this actually works in a sane way?

Something like executing the shell as the command would be a very
expected thing to be able to do, and not just telnet or rsh. Not even
ssh is possible to run as you are doing things now. Check how any
terminal program (why not check xterm?) how this is done, so that you
can do it properly, the way it should be done.

Setting up pipes, and doing communication through those is the *wrong*
way to do this. pipes are something you use for pure communication. You
want to be a terminal, which is a different thing.

Johnny

On 2026-04-13 09:23, Rene Richarz wrote:
> Some years ago I posted an early Tektronix 4010 emulator here.
>
>
> I have since reworked it into a more accurate version that reproduces
> storage tube behavior, including drawing speed and visible beam.
>
>
> It can be connected to the PiDP-11 under 2.11BSD and can be built on
> Raspberry Pi, Linux, macOS and Windows.
>
>
> Short demo:
>
> Tektronix 4010 Emulator – Authentic Storage Tube Graphics at Original

> Speed <https://youtu.be/vk9uMM8LpFk?si=PhAek8d5fDDl-oHd>

>
>
> Source:
>
> https://github.com/rricharz/Tek4010
>
>
> Usage with PiDP-11 and 2.11BSD:
>

> pidp11-2.11bsd <https://github.com/rricharz/pidp11-2.11bsd>

>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "[PiDP-11]" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
> an email to pidp-11+u...@googlegroups.com

> <mailto:pidp-11+u...@googlegroups.com>.

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/

> baccf8f1-9cc7-4a9c-a790-48dd5345fcd5n%40googlegroups.com <https://
> groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/baccf8f1-9cc7-4a9c-
> a790-48dd5345fcd5n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

--
Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
|| on a psychedelic trip
email: b...@softjar.se || Reading murder books
pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol

[Ggrinton]

versions.txt still says this is version 1.9 from March 2024. Has there been an update since then?

Geoffrey

[John Brezak]

To try this on rsx11, do you just type or pip the plt file to ti: or is there some special tt driver settings to have it pass the “gs” character?

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 13, 2026, at 16:06, Johnny Billquist <b...@softjar.se> wrote:
>
> The visuals are excellent, but could you please learn how to use ptys, controlling terminals, terminal groups, and how to run processes through that, so that this actually works in a sane way?

> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pidp-11+u...@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/330abd71-ec1f-4d97-9431-c09cacb1529c%40softjar.se.

[Johnny Billquist]

The characters will pass just fine when you type the file. But you
probably want to make sure wrap is off.

Johnny

On 2026-04-14 03:58, John Brezak wrote:
> To try this on rsx11, do you just type or pip the plt file to ti: or isthere some special tt driver settings to have it pass the “gs” character?

>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Apr 13, 2026, at 16:06, Johnny Billquist <b...@softjar.se> wrote:
>>
>> The visuals are excellent, but could you please learn how to use ptys, controlling terminals, terminal groups, and how to run processes through that, so that this actually works in a sane way?
>>
>> Something like executing the shell as the command would be a very expected thing to be able to do, and not just telnet or rsh. Not even ssh is possible to run as you are doing things now. Check how any terminal program (why not check xterm?) how this is done, so that you can do it properly, the way it should be done.
>>

>> Setting up pipes, and doing communication through those is the *wrong*way to do this. pipes are something you use for pure communication. You want to be a terminal, which is a different thing.

>>
>> Johnny
>>
>>> On 2026-04-13 09:23, Rene Richarz wrote:
>>> Some years ago I posted an early Tektronix 4010 emulator here.

>>> I have since reworked it into a more accurate version that reproducesstorage tube behavior, including drawing speed and visible beam.

>>> It can be connected to the PiDP-11 under 2.11BSD and can be built on Raspberry Pi, Linux, macOS and Windows.
>>> Short demo:
>>> Tektronix 4010 Emulator – Authentic Storage Tube Graphics at Original Speed <https://youtu.be/vk9uMM8LpFk?si=PhAek8d5fDDl-oHd>
>>> Source:
>>> https://github.com/rricharz/Tek4010
>>> Usage with PiDP-11 and 2.11BSD:
>>> pidp11-2.11bsd <https://github.com/rricharz/pidp11-2.11bsd>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "[PiDP-11]" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pidp-11+u...@googlegroups.com <mailto:pidp-11+u...@googlegroups.com>.
>>> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/ baccf8f1-9cc7-4a9c-a790-48dd5345fcd5n%40googlegroups.com <https:// groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/baccf8f1-9cc7-4a9c- a790-48dd5345fcd5n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
>>
>> --
>> Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
>> || on a psychedelic trip
>> email: b...@softjar.se || Reading murder books
>> pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "[PiDP-11]" group.

>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, sendan email to pidp-11+u...@googlegroups.com.

>> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/330abd71-ec1f-4d97-9431-c09cacb1529c%40softjar.se.