TOPS-10 was quite a nice operating system for its time. It has some "modern" capabilities associated to mainframe-class computing, including a somehow advanced accounting system, job protection, resource allocation based on user and group, priority based scheduling, operator interface and batch system. Its command language is, anyway, quite basic and its help system is limited.
The successor to TOPS-10 for the PDP-10 architecture was named, in a show of originality, TOPS-20. It was itself based on a previous operating system developed by a private company named TENEX. TOPS-20 supported the execution of TOPS-10 binaries, but was an enormous improvement over its predecessors...And we could say it was also a big improvement over its successors too. Its command processor has an awesome feature, similar to the command completion we find in "modern" shells as bash or ksh. The difference is that the TOPS-20 command processor "knows" about the syntax and options of whatever you are typing and offers you a choice of suitable completions. And that facility can be used from user programs too... Incidentally, those of you who are openVMS users or hobbyists can experience that kind of help in the MULTINET command. Press '?' and you will get a list of options. Press 'ESC' and your current typing will be completed, as long as there are just one possible completion.
In this post we will see how we can set up a simulated TOPS-20 system. And, specifically, we will set it up on a Raspberry Pi computer. So we will have a mainframe class computer within a credit-card sized gizmo...
Simulating a KL10 system
Our good friend simh is not a good option to run TOPS-20. The reason is simh emulates a Decsystem-10, based on the KS-10 CPU. The KS-10 was a scaled down version of the "big" PDP-10 machines. It is posible to run TOPS-20 in a KS-10, but it is limited to the 4.something version. The last TOPS-20 version, the one we will want to run, is 7.1. Nevertheless, the real reason we will not want to use simh is the lack of the NI20 networking interface, necessary to plug the simulated machine into the network, either internet, decnet or both. Fortunately, there is another simulator we can use: Ken Harrenstien's KLH10.
KLH10 has not been enhanced for some time. The newest version you can get, as far as I know, comes with a full image of TOPS-20, ready to be used. This is the work of Mark Crispin, and can be found also here. Unfortunately, the package contains binaries just for Linux over intel processors. Since we want to use a Raspberry, which is ARM-based, we will have to compile KLH from sources.
The directory structure we get after expaning the tarball is:
panda-dist -- klh10-2.0h --- doc
+-- contrib
+-- run
+-- src
+-- bld --- fbppc
+-- fbx86
+-- lnx86
+-- lnxarm
+-- lnxppc
+-- nbaxp
+-- nbx86
+-- osfaxp
+-- solsparc
We must start the compilation from the appropiate bld subdirectory. For the pi we could use the lnxarm one, but in my experience the setup in that directory does not work very well. What I did was to create another subdirectory (which I called lnxarmpi) and to copy everything from lnx86. Then, open the Makefile in your editor of choice and edit the stanza:
CENVFLAGS = -DCENV_CPU_I386=1 -DCENV_SYS_LINUX=1 \ -DKLH10_DEV_LITES=1 \ -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE
So it reads:
CENVFLAGS = -DCENV_CPU_ARM=1 -DCENV_SYS_LINUX=1 \
-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE
That is, change CENV_CPU_I386 to CENV_CPU_ARM and remove the KLJ10_DEV_LITES definition (there is no parallel port in the Pi).
Before trying to compile KLH10 we must do another change. Move to the src directory and search for the base-kl rule. You can now create a new rule with a different name or simply edit the current one, changing these lines:
-DKLH10_ITIME_INTRP=1 \ -DKLH10_CTYIO_INT=1 \
To:
-DKLH10_ITIME_SYNC=1 \ -DKLH10_CTYIO_INT=0 \
This magic spell comes from this alt.sys.pdp10 post.The reason is "high performance" computers wreck the asynchronous mechanisms of KLH10. Of course, KLH10 was written during the late 90's so almost every current computer is a "high performance" platform. Even the humble Rapsberry Pi. Oh, and aparently there is no fix for that problem (I guess the whole simulator would have to be reengineered). I tried changing some timer related constants, just as a wild try, and did not succeed.
Once you have done this, change to the bld/lnxarmpi directory and issue the "make base-kl" command (unless you created a new rule; in that case use that new rule name). And then go for a coffee. Or two. The Raspberry Pi is not a fast machine!
Once the compilation is over, just follow the instructions you will find in the panda distribution package to do the initial run and setup of TOPS-20. If everything goes well you will have a telnet-accessible TOPS-20 system, connected to the internet (or, at least, to your local network). The system has a bunch of goodies: FORTRAN, COBOL, PASCAL and other compilers. Several games (text based, of course), including the original ADVENTURE (type "run advent" to play), colosal cave, a VT version of STARTREK and some more.
To learn about the system itself, nothing better than the original user manual. You can find a webified copy at http://tilt.twenex.org/ The original manuals are also available in scanned format at http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/pdp10/TOPS20/. If you want to get deeper into TOPS-20 you will need at least the administration manuals.
To learn about the system itself, nothing better than the original user manual. You can find a webified copy at http://tilt.twenex.org/ The original manuals are also available in scanned format at http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/dec/pdp10/TOPS20/. If you want to get deeper into TOPS-20 you will need at least the administration manuals.
Finishing touch
Having an internet connected TOPS-20 emulated system is cool, but it is even cooler to enable the "native" networking of those machines: DECNET. To do it just add the following lines at the end of the SYSTEM:7-1-CONFIG.CMD file:
DECNET MAXIMUM-ADDRESS 1023
NODE NODNAM A.NNNN
DECNET ROUTER-ENDNODE
ETHERNET 0 DECNET
Use your own nodename instead of NODNAM and your area and address instead of A.NNNN. Reboot your system and DECNET should come up. Remember to set up adequately the network interface (check the KLH10 documentation about setting up a DECNET capable configuration). Now, to populate your DECNET databases, you must use the SETNOD program:
@RUN SETNOD
SETNOD> SET NODE N.MMM NAME NODE1
SETNOD> SET NODE X.YYYY NAME NODE2
(...)
SETNOD>SAVE FILENAME
SETNOD>INSERT
The SAVE command saves the entered nodes into a binary file. The INSERT command updates the live tables with the defined nodes (something similar to the SET KNOWN NODES ALL command in VMS NCP). To reload the node database at startup, add the following lines to SYSTEM:7-1-SYSJOB.RUN, just after the ^ESET LOGIN ANY:
RUN SYS:SETNOD
GET FILENAME
INSERT
EXIT
Replace FILENAME by the name you used when you saved the node database from SETNOD.
You must also uncomment three lines from the file SYSTEM:SYSTEM:CMD
WAIT 5
NCP SET CIRCUIT NI-0-0 SERVICE ENABLED
NCP SET CIRCUIT NI-0-0 STATE ON
You must also uncomment three lines from the file SYSTEM:SYSTEM:CMD
WAIT 5
NCP SET CIRCUIT NI-0-0 SERVICE ENABLED
NCP SET CIRCUIT NI-0-0 STATE ON
And this is all for now. As always, if you want to try any of these recipes and have any kind of trouble, just drop a commend and I will try to help..
Post-scriptum.
This post has been in draft status for a while. I begun to wrote it just after the one about TOPS-10. When I was about to publish it, Mr. Mark Crispin, the man behind the PANDA distribution and a lot of other things, passed away. I did not have the pleasure to know him, neither personally nor thru electronic communication, but I have read his comments in the PDP-10 mailing lists and other places. It would be presumptuous to pretend to pay him an homage in this humble blog post, so all what I will say is a very big THANK YOU. We human beings all pass away, but for some admirable people, their work will live forever.
Update
I have just run into this post: http://victor.se/bjorn/its/raspi.php, which explains clearly and succintly the steps to do to run KLH10 in the Raspberry Pi, including a patch for KLH which makes it much easier to network. To apply the tap patch, just download it into the main panda distribution unzip directory and run:
$ patch -p0 < tuntap.patch
And then rebuild KLH10.
