Big updates on software, documentation, and yes: AI assistant

[Oscar Vermeulen]

It is worth doing an update of the software, some major changes and improvements.

SOFTWARE: 

The easiest way:

sudo rm -r pidp1

Or, the official way (which needs to be more friendly, WIP):

git pull

/opt/pidp1/install/install.sh

-- enter y to 

--- --- Set owner of PiDP-1 directory, Update git submodules, Make required PiDP-1 binaries, Install PiDP-1 commands into OS, Use USB sticks as paper tapes.

(Tape utilities added, USB-paper-tape now works properly, tape library cleaned up)

DOCUMENTATION:

https://obsolescence.dev/pdp1-manual.html

https://obsolescence.dev/pdp1-programming-introduction.html

PDP-1 AI ASSISTANT:

https://obsolescence.dev/pdp1-manual.html#4

(This has gotten to the point where Claude Code or ChatGPT really can write a little program, with a bit of help from a conversation with the user. Also, as an interactive tutor, this works wonderfully well! Paste in example code and ask it to explain, it is a very fast way to learn)

I hope to keep updates rapid in the coming week.

Kind regards,

Oscar.

[Oscar Vermeulen]

>> The easiest way:

>> sudo rm -r pidp1

Forgot a crucial step... and do a reinstall again:

sudo git clone https://obsolescence.dev/pidp1

/opt/pidp1/install/install.sh

No need to download dependencies again, so it is very quick.

[John Kennedy]

sudo git clone https://github.com/obsolescence/pidp1

[John Kennedy]

I'm a little unclear with the last questions in the install process:

>Use PiDP hardware front panel (Y) or on-screen virtual panel (V)? y

ok, I get that.

>Use the Pi's GUI (Y), the Web (W) or the Apps (A)? 

Apps means nothing on the Pi's screen, but the Apps are hosted on an external PC?

>Autostart the PDP-1 using the GUI(Y), or using .profile for (H)eadless Pis, or (N)ot at all?

When would I want it headless? Is this what the Apps does? Does Headless mean start in terminal mode?

Maybe some slight rewording, or a matrix of use cases and subsequent settings in the documentation would help.

[Oscar Vermeulen]

John,

On Thursday, September 18, 2025 at 3:42:13 AM UTC+2 johntk...@gmail.com wrote:

>Use the Pi's GUI (Y), the Web (W) or the Apps (A)? 

Apps means nothing on the Pi's screen, but the Apps are hosted on an external PC?

So I need to clarify that! You have the web server, the GUI mode interface. But the third option is really meant for customising the setup. It uses stand-alone apps for the Type30 (p7simES) , the tape visualiser (tapevis), and the typewriter. You can install the whole pidp1 package on a linux laptop as well, and then compile these apps there. And connect them to the pidp1 for a remote view.

But the 'pdp1control set apps' mode will not be used much - 'set web' or 'set gui' make much more sense unless you are setting up a PiDP-1 for some special demonstration mode.

I will add a section to the manual to explain this and give a practical example. Because without that, it's mostly a source of confusion. Coming tomorrow!

>Autostart the PDP-1 using the GUI(Y), or using .profile for (H)eadless Pis, or (N)ot at all?

When would I want it headless? Is this what the Apps does? Does Headless mean start in terminal mode?

No, headless autostart adds the start command to .profile, rather than to the wayland autostart process. It is useful if you install on Raspberry Pi OS Lite, which does not come with the gui.

-->More need to explain in the manual, and perhaps in the install script too. Coming tomorrow :-)

 

Maybe some slight rewording, or a matrix of use cases and subsequent settings in the documentation would help.

Indeed, thank you for the feedback! Please keep it coming.

Kind regards,

Oscar.