Things you can do with your PiDP-11 (or PDP-11)
345 views
Skip to first unread message
Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein
Oct 10, 2021, 12:59:40 PM10/10/21
to [PiDP-11]
After you've built your PiDP-11 the question usually is: Ok, cool,
but what can I actually do with it?
As with vintage cars, you might not use it on a daily basis because, well,
more modern alternatives are just way faster and more convenient.
But once in a while you want to take the old thingy out for a ride so
it is doing something fun and/or useful. So let's discuss some ideas
here:
Today: Getting advance warning from NASA of a supernova in the Milky Way
Here's what my PiDP-11 is doing at the moment: it will give me some
advance warning before the next galactic supernova (of a certain type) will
be visible in the sky. A few minutes to many hours before the optical supernova
event can be seen, my PiDP-11 will cause its host Raspberry Pi to play a
Klaxon sound so I can start to prepare my telescope and cameras.
Like this: https://youtu.be/Ta87XFJVwf0
With (say) the I/O extender kit, you could also switch on some lights in the
bedroom etc. to make sure the alarm isn't missed even at night.
Uhh...but...how??
Every time a star in the Milky Way has exhausted its stellar fuel and
collapses under its own gravity, it will produce a strong burst of subatomic
neutrino particles. After that the star will explode in a supernova.
Some of the neutrinos will be registered by neutrino-detectors on Earth, and
this detection will then be broadcast to astronomers around the planet via
a service called "GCN" that is run by NASA. Access to the GCN service is
public, so that amateur astronomers are also able to listen for the alert.
Depending on several factors like the size of the star, there will be a
significant time delay between the neutrino signal and the first visible
signal as the supernova "breaks thru" the star's surface, and this delay
could be as long as several hours, or even longer.
So this is a de-facto early warning system, and actually you can sign-up
for email-notifications via SNEWS, the "SuperNova Early Warning System".
But the faster and more "machine-readable" way to receive alerts is
via NASA's GCN.
There is a short demo C program available from NASA that implements a client
listening for GCN events, one of those events is the SNEWS alert described
above (most other event messages deal with so-called Gamma Ray Bursts).
http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/voevent_client_demo.c
The messages and network protocol are explained here:
https://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/voevent.html
The somewhat old-fashioned way the main function is defined
[...]
int
main(argc, argv)
int argc; // Number of cmdline arguments
char *argv[]; // Pointers to all the cmdline arguments
{
[..]
tells you that this code was written some time ago so running it on a
PDP-11/70 is not completely out of whack.
But it nevertheless took me some tweaking to get the code running under
2.11BSD on my PiDP-11 (add some include files, deal with ints that are
just 16 bits long, excessively long lines, taming memory usage,....).
It's easier when your 2.11BSD is patched all the way
up to > pl460 or higher so the C compiler is ANSI-compliant, but
it's also not too difficult to rewrite the short NASA code to K&R C.
Oh, one more thing! You might ask: how often do these supernova events happen
in our Milky Way? That's a good question, scientists estimate that such a
core-collapse supernova as described above, in our own galaxy, will happen
roughly a few times every century, say, once per 30 to 40 years on average.
So if you miss the unfolding in real-time of the next one, don't count on
getting another chance in your remaining life span ;-).
Clear Skies
and a long life
HBE
P.S.: The modern way to listen for GCN event would be using the Python
library PyGCN, found here: https://github.com/lpsinger/pygcn and that's
what I do most of the time with a dedicated Raspberry Pi.
P.P.S.: No, the next galactic supernova will almost certainly not kill you
or any other earthlings, as it is very unlikely that it will happen close
enough to Earth to cause any damage. Space is big.
but what can I actually do with it?
As with vintage cars, you might not use it on a daily basis because, well,
more modern alternatives are just way faster and more convenient.
But once in a while you want to take the old thingy out for a ride so
it is doing something fun and/or useful. So let's discuss some ideas
here:
Today: Getting advance warning from NASA of a supernova in the Milky Way
Here's what my PiDP-11 is doing at the moment: it will give me some
advance warning before the next galactic supernova (of a certain type) will
be visible in the sky. A few minutes to many hours before the optical supernova
event can be seen, my PiDP-11 will cause its host Raspberry Pi to play a
Klaxon sound so I can start to prepare my telescope and cameras.
Like this: https://youtu.be/Ta87XFJVwf0
With (say) the I/O extender kit, you could also switch on some lights in the
bedroom etc. to make sure the alarm isn't missed even at night.
Uhh...but...how??
Every time a star in the Milky Way has exhausted its stellar fuel and
collapses under its own gravity, it will produce a strong burst of subatomic
neutrino particles. After that the star will explode in a supernova.
Some of the neutrinos will be registered by neutrino-detectors on Earth, and
this detection will then be broadcast to astronomers around the planet via
a service called "GCN" that is run by NASA. Access to the GCN service is
public, so that amateur astronomers are also able to listen for the alert.
Depending on several factors like the size of the star, there will be a
significant time delay between the neutrino signal and the first visible
signal as the supernova "breaks thru" the star's surface, and this delay
could be as long as several hours, or even longer.
So this is a de-facto early warning system, and actually you can sign-up
for email-notifications via SNEWS, the "SuperNova Early Warning System".
But the faster and more "machine-readable" way to receive alerts is
via NASA's GCN.
There is a short demo C program available from NASA that implements a client
listening for GCN events, one of those events is the SNEWS alert described
above (most other event messages deal with so-called Gamma Ray Bursts).
http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/gcn/voevent_client_demo.c
The messages and network protocol are explained here:
https://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/voevent.html
The somewhat old-fashioned way the main function is defined
[...]
int
main(argc, argv)
int argc; // Number of cmdline arguments
char *argv[]; // Pointers to all the cmdline arguments
{
[..]
tells you that this code was written some time ago so running it on a
PDP-11/70 is not completely out of whack.
But it nevertheless took me some tweaking to get the code running under
2.11BSD on my PiDP-11 (add some include files, deal with ints that are
just 16 bits long, excessively long lines, taming memory usage,....).
It's easier when your 2.11BSD is patched all the way
up to > pl460 or higher so the C compiler is ANSI-compliant, but
it's also not too difficult to rewrite the short NASA code to K&R C.
Oh, one more thing! You might ask: how often do these supernova events happen
in our Milky Way? That's a good question, scientists estimate that such a
core-collapse supernova as described above, in our own galaxy, will happen
roughly a few times every century, say, once per 30 to 40 years on average.
So if you miss the unfolding in real-time of the next one, don't count on
getting another chance in your remaining life span ;-).
Clear Skies
and a long life
HBE
P.S.: The modern way to listen for GCN event would be using the Python
library PyGCN, found here: https://github.com/lpsinger/pygcn and that's
what I do most of the time with a dedicated Raspberry Pi.
P.P.S.: No, the next galactic supernova will almost certainly not kill you
or any other earthlings, as it is very unlikely that it will happen close
enough to Earth to cause any damage. Space is big.
Anton Lavrentiev
Oct 10, 2021, 1:31:41 PM10/10/21
to Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein, [PiDP-11]
Not to be picking on anything, but the truly old-fashioned way may not have used the double-slash style comments in C, as they used to be only /* */
:-)
> The somewhat old-fashioned way the main function is defined
[...]
int
main(argc, argv)
int argc; // Number of cmdline arguments
char *argv[]; // Pointers to all the cmdline arguments
{
[..]
[...]
int
main(argc, argv)
int argc; // Number of cmdline arguments
char *argv[]; // Pointers to all the cmdline arguments
{
[..]
--
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 on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/97fcda80-0654-4897-bae8-e7b47d1a334en%40googlegroups.com.
Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein
Oct 10, 2021, 1:52:51 PM10/10/21
to [PiDP-11]
Indeed, I had to do some sed-, awk-, and grep-ing to get those "//" out of the code to compile for the K&R version :-) .. oh well.
HB
Johnny Billquist
Oct 10, 2021, 3:58:24 PM10/10/21
to pid...@googlegroups.com
// for comments only appeared in C99.
As for the original NASA code, one could also port it to RSX. :-)
There is a C90 compiler, TCP/IP and all kind of fun things around.
Other things to do? Well, you need to be able to program in some
language. With RSX there is a whole plethora of languages to pick from.
But then you also need some idea of something to do in the end. If you
don't have any needs, it's hard to find motivation for anything.
I run a nodename database, using Datatrieve as the backend, with a web
frontend. Been thinking about possibly also implement some kind of
management interface, so that people can administer their own data
inside this nodename database, but haven't had any time for that.
I also have a package manager for software available, I patch and
improve on a whole bunch of existing software that might amuse or help
people. I run a web server, act as a mail gateway between DECnet and the
internet, keep all kind of manuals for RSX online, try to write various
other documentation from time to time, which I also make available over
HTTP. For me, there is no end to things I'd want to do, if I just had
more time.
Of course, adding new capabilities and making more simulated hardware
accessible from RSX is another fun thing I like to think about.
Johnny
On 2021-10-10 19:31, Anton Lavrentiev wrote:
> Not to be picking on anything, but the truly old-fashioned way may not
> have used the double-slash style comments in C, as they used to be only
> /* */
>
> :-)
>
> > The somewhat old-fashioned way the main function is defined
>
> [...]
> int
> main(argc, argv)
> int argc; // Number of cmdline arguments
> char *argv[]; // Pointers to all the cmdline arguments
> {
> [..]
>
> On Sun, Oct 10, 2021 at 12:59 PM 'Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein' via [PiDP-11]
> <pid...@googlegroups.com <mailto:pid...@googlegroups.com>> wrote:
>
> After you've built your PiDP-11 the question usually is: Ok, cool,
> but what can I actually do with it?
>
> As with vintage cars, you might not use it on a daily basis because,
> well,
> more modern alternatives are just way faster and more convenient.
> But once in a while you want to take the old thingy out for a ride so
> it is doing something fun and/or useful. So let's discuss some ideas
> here:
>
> *Today: Getting advance warning from NASA of a supernova in the
> Milky Way*
> <mailto:pidp-11+u...@googlegroups.com>.
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/CAAo%3Dyr1DMn2i5h_y-HU3YkW_dcMUnm04JC6VxuYq1KEsuXgZeg%40mail.gmail.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
As for the original NASA code, one could also port it to RSX. :-)
There is a C90 compiler, TCP/IP and all kind of fun things around.
Other things to do? Well, you need to be able to program in some
language. With RSX there is a whole plethora of languages to pick from.
But then you also need some idea of something to do in the end. If you
don't have any needs, it's hard to find motivation for anything.
I run a nodename database, using Datatrieve as the backend, with a web
frontend. Been thinking about possibly also implement some kind of
management interface, so that people can administer their own data
inside this nodename database, but haven't had any time for that.
I also have a package manager for software available, I patch and
improve on a whole bunch of existing software that might amuse or help
people. I run a web server, act as a mail gateway between DECnet and the
internet, keep all kind of manuals for RSX online, try to write various
other documentation from time to time, which I also make available over
HTTP. For me, there is no end to things I'd want to do, if I just had
more time.
Of course, adding new capabilities and making more simulated hardware
accessible from RSX is another fun thing I like to think about.
Johnny
On 2021-10-10 19:31, Anton Lavrentiev wrote:
> Not to be picking on anything, but the truly old-fashioned way may not
> have used the double-slash style comments in C, as they used to be only
> /* */
>
> :-)
>
> > The somewhat old-fashioned way the main function is defined
>
> [...]
> int
> main(argc, argv)
> int argc; // Number of cmdline arguments
> char *argv[]; // Pointers to all the cmdline arguments
> {
> [..]
>
> On Sun, Oct 10, 2021 at 12:59 PM 'Heinz-Bernd Eggenstein' via [PiDP-11]
> <pid...@googlegroups.com <mailto:pid...@googlegroups.com>> wrote:
>
> After you've built your PiDP-11 the question usually is: Ok, cool,
> but what can I actually do with it?
>
> As with vintage cars, you might not use it on a daily basis because,
> well,
> more modern alternatives are just way faster and more convenient.
> But once in a while you want to take the old thingy out for a ride so
> it is doing something fun and/or useful. So let's discuss some ideas
> here:
>
> Milky Way*
>
> Here's what my PiDP-11 is doing at the moment: it will give me some
> advance warning before the next galactic supernova (of a certain
> type) will
> be visible in the sky. A few minutes to many hours before the
> optical supernova
> event can be seen, my PiDP-11 will cause its host Raspberry Pi to
> play a
> Klaxon sound so I can start to prepare my telescope and cameras.
>
> Like this: https://youtu.be/Ta87XFJVwf0 <https://youtu.be/Ta87XFJVwf0>
> Here's what my PiDP-11 is doing at the moment: it will give me some
> advance warning before the next galactic supernova (of a certain
> type) will
> be visible in the sky. A few minutes to many hours before the
> optical supernova
> event can be seen, my PiDP-11 will cause its host Raspberry Pi to
> play a
> Klaxon sound so I can start to prepare my telescope and cameras.
>
> To view this discussion on the web visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/97fcda80-0654-4897-bae8-e7b47d1a334en%40googlegroups.com
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/97fcda80-0654-4897-bae8-e7b47d1a334en%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/97fcda80-0654-4897-bae8-e7b47d1a334en%40googlegroups.com
>
> --
> 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>.
> --
> 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 on the web visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/CAAo%3Dyr1DMn2i5h_y-HU3YkW_dcMUnm04JC6VxuYq1KEsuXgZeg%40mail.gmail.com
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-11/CAAo%3Dyr1DMn2i5h_y-HU3YkW_dcMUnm04JC6VxuYq1KEsuXgZeg%40mail.gmail.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
D Gillies
Oct 11, 2021, 12:15:49 AM10/11/21
to [PiDP-11]
Well obviously you should install =rogue so you can play dungeon games on your PiDP-11.
I know the author of rogue-o-matic (another program that PLAYS rogue for you to beat the boss) and so I might be able to scrounge up a copy of that program if you cannot find it on the public websites....
- Don Gillies PhD CS
Who used a PDP-11/Unix box 1976-80 in Urbana, IL.
Palo Alto, CA
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages