Running TSS/8

[Gary Myers]

Hello,

I've been having an issue getting TSS/8 up and running over wifi/ssh. I restart with IF switch 2 depressed, and it just sits there listening to port 4000. Hitting "enter" a couple of times and dose nothing. I try to connect to port 4000 using telnet over ssh from another terminal, and it connects but also just sits there.

I'm following the latest trunk as well.

checkout:     ed581f385ce47bc98ca0a8a4afef5eaefe115d30 2026-04-15 23:52:04 UTC
tags:         trunk
comment:      Whitespace fix (user: tangent)
changes:      None. Already up-to-date
pidp8i@raspberrypi:~/pidp8i $

Any help or tips you all might have would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Gary
 

[Gary Myers]

I also tried running it manually from sim pdp8. It freezes after entering "run 24200".

PDP-8 simulator V4.0-0 Current        git commit id: 2f66e74c
sim> load /opt/pidp8i/share/media/tss8/tss8_init.bin
sim> set rf enabled
sim> set df disabled
sim> attach rf /opt/pidp8i/share/media/tss8/tss8_rf.dsk
RF: buffering file in memory
sim> attach ttix 4000
Listening on port 4000
sim> run 24200

Sim version: 

sim> show version
PDP-8 simulator V4.0-0 Current

Gary

[Steve Tockey]

Gary,

You're never seeing the:

LOAD, DUMP, START, ETC?

message from TSS-8? If not, after TSS-8 appears to be hung when you started it manually, i.e., after you typed

sim> run 24200

then either:

1) Press the Stop switch on the front panel (3rd in from the right) and tell us what the Program Counter (top row of lights) is--assuming you can translate the lights into octal notation.

Or,

2) Press Control/E on the keyboard and let us know what simh says back to you. It should say something like:

Simulation stopped, PC: 20511 (KSF)

sim>

the 5 digit number after the PC: is the critical information.

-- steve

[Gary Myers]

Hi Steve, thank for the reply!

Correct, I'm not seeing the LOAD, DUMP, START, ETC in both cases, the replica and typing it manually using simH.

0012 is what I'm seeing on the program counter.

Here is the message I'm getting from hitting ctrl+E:

Simulation stopped, PC: 00012 (AND 0)
sim>

Thanks!

Gary

[Gary Myers]

I found a workaround in one of the older posts that works:

https://groups.google.com/g/pidp-8/c/EdqMPILxRnM/m/AI4ry1CzBgAJ

Now I get  LOAD, DUMP, START, ETC, and can login to LXHE

Joining simulator session already in progress...

rf.dsk
RF: buffering file in memory

/opt/pidp8i/share/boot/2.script-34> attach ttix 4000
Listening on port 4000

LOAD, DUMP, START, ETC?
MONTH-DAY-YEAR: 12-12-1983
MONTH-DAY-YEAR: 12-12-83
HR:MIN - 09:27

TSS/8.24  JOB 01  [00,02]  K00    09:27:37

SYSTEM IS DOWN, INC.

.

 Yippee!

[Gary Myers]

And I'm also now able to telnet in from a remote host!

TSS/8.24  JOB 02  [00,03]  K01    09:31:53

SYSTEM IS DOWN, INC.


.

This is really great! I love my replica! 

Thank you all for the help and the group here. Lots of great information and tips.

Cheers,

Gary

[Steve Tockey]

Gary,

Yes, that's what I was suspecting. You've got an old version of simh that has a defect in the implementation of extended memory. If you update to a more recent version of the pip-8/I software, that problem will have been fixed. You might consider the most recent 15-Apr-2026 release from the Tangentsoft site, it is now the latest and greatest release. I tested that one and the extended memory problem didn't appear. Check here for the thread about this latest new release and a pointer into where to get it:

https://groups.google.com/g/pidp-8/c/5VZrPxlZ9ZA

Glad it's working for you,

-- steve

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PiDP-8" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pidp-8+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-8/12a78008-de17-4aad-977c-8d2dec3a2e4an%40googlegroups.com.

[Gary Myers]

Thank you, Steve! When I built this kit last year, I used an old PI Zero 1.3 and now no longer takes apt updates. So now I ordered a PI Zero 2 W that I can update to the latest release on.

Thank you again!

Gary 

[Steve Tockey]

Gary,

By the way, in case you didn't already know, you can edit the 2.script file in the /opt/pidp8i/share/boot directory as follows:

Anywhere before the line that says,

ATTACH TTIX 4000

You add another line that says,

SET TTIX LINES=n

Where n is a number in the range of 2 to 16, it will allow you to have up to that n value of multiple telnet sessions into TSS/8 all open at the same time. You can then use TSS/8 in true multi-user mode.

Also, just in case you didn't already know, TSS/8 was marketed by DEC as EduSystem-50. You can get a .PDF copy of the EduSystem Handbook

https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/pdp8/tss8/EduSystem_Handbook_197301.pdf

Chapter 9 is all about Edu50 aka TSS/8 and covers use of the different available programming languages, BASIC, FOCAL, FORTRAN-D, PAL-D.

Finally, the default 2.script file is not set up for supporting DECtape and paper tape. It's relatively easy to add that in, if you want.

-- steve

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pidp-8/ca26f0c3-88f8-4375-8774-b4a89cfb38fbn%40googlegroups.com.