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PiDP-10

m_thompson

m_thompson

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Joined
Jul 8, 2014
Messages
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Location
Rhode Island, USA
I recently bought a PiDP-10 from Oscar Vermeulen at: https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence/pidp10. He also makes replica PDP-8/I and PDP-11/70 front panels. Oscar plans to make additional KA-10 display panels that will connect to the KA-10 console.

The PiDP-10 front panel is a 60% scale reproduction of a KA-10 front panel with a Raspberry Pi on the back. The Pi can see all of the switches and control all of the lights on the KA-10 panel through GPIO pins. The switches work like a real KA-10 so you can toggle in a program and single-step it or just run it.

Lars Brinkhoff is managing the software effort. His plan is to emulate everything that was in the MIT AI Lab. The PDP-6, KA-10, KI-10, KL-10, and KS-10 CPUs, as well as GT-40, Knight TV, IMLAC, Tektronix 4010, TV11, DEC Type 340 display emulators are all available from https://github.com/PDP-10/its. The package includes the ITS, TOPS-10, and TOPS-20 operating systems. You actually don't need the PiDP-10 from panel to run the software, but it is cool to see the blinking lights when it is running.


1712597532428.png
 
Can you comment on the quality of the plastics and the switches? They look to be high quality in the pictures.
 
shirsch said:
I'm champing at the bit for Oscar's next round of kit shipments. There should be one there with my name on it :)
Click to expand...

thunter0512 said:
I am on Oscar's list for the next shipment - or at least I hope I am. :)
Click to expand...

You can download and install the PiDP-10 software package on a Pi without the front panel. That will give you some time to learn about the software before you get a front panel.
 
> You can download and install the PiDP-10 software package on a Pi
> without the front panel. That will give you some time to learn
> about the software before you get a front panel.

Or you can try out Jörg Hoppe's SimH-with-"REALCONS" emulators
that drive (Java-based) **virtual** front panels.

You can get **both** binaries and source for Hoppe's latest release (1.6)
of all the front-panel simulators from:
https://github.com/j-hoppe/BlinkenBone/releases (Dec 27, 2018; Merged with SimH code base from March 2018)
("Win32" was tested on WinXP and Win10 x64,
"Ubuntu" was tested on 14.04 LTS,
"rpi" was tested on RaspberryPi 2 Raspian 4.1. )

(GitHub link via:

Software docs and downloads

Joomla! - dynamische Portal-Engine und Content-Management-System
retrocmp.com retrocmp.com
https://retrocmp.com/projects/blink...he-holy-gral-of-blinkenlights-on-your-desktop )

As far as I know, the software that runs on Oscar Vermuelen's various PiDP
replicas **is** Jörg Hoppe's SimH-with-"REALCONS" emulation software (or a lightly
modified version thereof) -- though it maybe a later "merge" with SimH
than the version available from the above GitHub link.

++++
PiDP-11 USER MANUAL
DRAFT 29 April 2019

. . .

About the BlinkenBone project

The PiDP-11 is a BlinkenBone device. Created by Jörg Hoppe, BlinkenBone
extends simh with front panel drivers. The project initially allowed you
to revive authentic front panels with an adapter board. Useful if you have
a real machine that has died; or for a museum that wants to present its
exhibits ‘alive’ without silly electrical and maintenance bills. Later on,
photorealistic on-screen ‘virtual’ front panels were written in Java, for
Windows and Linux. The PiDP-11 is the third BlinkenBone option: a physical
front panel replica. You can mix and match options; so you can set up the
PiDP-11 to be just the front panel for a simh that is running on a fast PC.
++++
 
Oscar is really swamped with orders. Apparently interest greatly exceeded expectations and he is working hard to ramp up shipments. A good problem to have if you are the seller :) . We'll just have to be patient!
 
shirsch said:
Oscar is really swamped with orders. Apparently interest greatly exceeded expectations and he is working hard to ramp up shipments. A good problem to have if you are the seller :) . We'll just have to be patient!
Click to expand...
Ahh ok, that does explain it. So, will be patiend.
 
Are these going to be for sale on Tindie at some point, like the -8/11?
 
Smart money says that will be the case when production is scaled appropriately. Like I said, a good problem to have when you are the vendor :)
 
I did not know that Oscar also was selling the PiDP8 and PiDP-11 via Tindie.
Tindie "wants" a piece of the action, so either the price is up or Oscar loses some money on each unit he sells via Tindie.
Ramping up PIDP10 is not so simple. They work from Panama with 3 to 4 guys assembling packages. ISTR that Oscar wrote on the forum that they handle some 4 orders each day, or was that assembling 4 PiDP10s per day? Hmmm ... anyway, it is a labour-intensive task, done by a few hobbyists/enthousiast. Add to that alll the logistic hassles, and I can only say that I admire all the effort that Oscar and his team do. CHAPEAU!
 
Oscar posted about it in the PiDP-10 Google Group. There are 2 guys in Panama assembling PiDP-10's. They do one a day each and then spend the rest of the time packaging kits. IIRC Oscar got 1000 of the injection molded cases (minimum order). Assuming the kit is as popular as the others then he will have to order bore, but at least the mold is created and it should be just production.

Hi,

So we're working our way through all the people on this Google Group, we've made 200 kits so far, of which about 80 still are in the fulfillment center as we work our way through the 'interested people' list. Maybe we're not very efficient in our order processing, but at the same time we're making more kits, and handling all the logistical snafus that we inevitable hit upon...

If you prefer an assembled & tested machine, maybe I should explain the setup. over in Panama, Ivan and Aidil make them, and both make about one a day, next to helping out with packing up kits. You can't do more than one a day - soldering stops being fun if you do it for too long and if it stops being fun, quality suffers too. And sometimes, we run out of parts, adding to delays. We're just five people, and not all full-time :)

But I think if you prefer assembled, the wait maybe is 2-3 weeks longer than in kit form. So I'd argue that if you prefer assembled, don't worry about excessive delays! And Ivan and Aidil appreciate it, for them it is 'good business' making assembled machines! So please don't hesitate to pick the Assembled option.

If you want to know more about how we make the PiDP-10 kits, this link gives you the background story: https://www.obsolescence.dev/about

Kind regards,

Oscar.
Click to expand...
 
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