"Len retired and wanted to make PDP-10 computers."
You can call Len a lot of things, but "retired" is not one of them. As for the PDP-10 comment, Len wanted to build a
TOAD ("10 on a desktop") in the 70's, when he worked for DEC; cisco Systems' original business plan was to do just
that.
Len's never stopped doing what he's interested in doing.
Anyone who has a system running Tops-20--besides the Toad-1 System from XKL, there are several PDP-10 emulators being written, one of which is already running Tops-10 and dying someways into the Tops-20 boot code. That's who will use this version of gcc.
The original PDP-10 architecture provides 256K 36-bit words (roughly 1.25MB) of address and 16 36-bit registers. That's on the Model 166 processor (PDP-6) and the KA-10 processor (PDP-10). Besides the OS from DEC, ITS (MIT) was developed on the PDP-6; TENEX (BBN) was developed on the PDP-10 (with a pager designed by BBN).
The KI-10 processor (where the name changed to "DECsystem-10" and the OS got called "Tops-10") provided 22 bits of addressing (4MW) to the operating system, which limited user processes to 256KW.
The KL-10 processor (originally planned to run *only* a version of TENEX named TOPS-20, with the computer to be called a "DECSYSTEM-20") also offered 22 bits of addressing in hardware; Tops-20 v4 offered 23 bits, v5.1 made this available in user programs.
The XKL-1 processor (in the Toad-1 System) offers a full 30 bits of addressing (1GW = 4.5GB). Even Linux would fit, if it were needed...
BTW, Dennis Ritchie has stated in print that the PDP-7 was not the original choice for the implementation of Unix, but he couldn't get Bell Labs to spring for a PDP-10.
If you're asking what OS Brinkhoff's GCC port is for, he's writing it for Tops-20, since that's what we provide on the Toad-1 System.
If you're asking about Franklin's FPGA implementation, he seems to be most interested in Tops-10. TENEX and ITS are remote possibilities; even more remote is Tops-20, since that was only ever run on KI-10 hardware internally at DEC (while the KL-10 processor was still being designed).
The GCC port and the FPGA implementation
on
PDP-10 Revival
·
· Score: 1
Lars Brinkhoff is indeed working on a port of GCC with our backing, to run under Tops-20. Until now, we have used the old KCC compiler--but that was enough for us to port Perl 4.036, a number of X clients, and GNU Emacs 18.59, on our Toad-1 System.
However, Hemos' posting makes it appear that Niel Franklin's FPGA implementation of the PDP-10 architecture is also supported by us; that's really a separate effort by an individual. Further, what he is interested in doing is a KI-10 processor, to run Tops-10. You can see the discussion of his project in alt.sys.pdp10 on your nearest archiving news server.
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"Len retired and wanted to make PDP-10 computers."
You can call Len a lot of things, but "retired" is not one of them. As for the PDP-10 comment, Len wanted to build a
TOAD ("10 on a desktop") in the 70's, when he worked for DEC; cisco Systems' original business plan was to do just
that.
Len's never stopped doing what he's interested in doing.
Anyone who has a system running Tops-20--besides the Toad-1 System from XKL, there are several PDP-10 emulators being written, one of which is already running Tops-10 and dying someways into the Tops-20 boot code. That's who will use this version of gcc.
The original PDP-10 architecture provides 256K 36-bit words (roughly 1.25MB) of address and 16 36-bit registers. That's on the Model 166 processor (PDP-6) and the KA-10 processor (PDP-10). Besides the OS from DEC, ITS (MIT) was developed on the PDP-6; TENEX (BBN) was developed on the PDP-10 (with a pager designed by BBN).
The KI-10 processor (where the name changed to "DECsystem-10" and the OS got called "Tops-10") provided 22 bits of addressing (4MW) to the operating system, which limited user processes to 256KW.
The KL-10 processor (originally planned to run *only* a version of TENEX named TOPS-20, with the computer to be called a "DECSYSTEM-20") also offered 22 bits of addressing in hardware; Tops-20 v4 offered 23 bits, v5.1 made this available in user programs.
The XKL-1 processor (in the Toad-1 System) offers a full 30 bits of addressing (1GW = 4.5GB). Even Linux would fit, if it were needed...
BTW, Dennis Ritchie has stated in print that the PDP-7 was not the original choice for the implementation of Unix, but he couldn't get Bell Labs to spring for a PDP-10.
If you're asking what OS Brinkhoff's GCC port is for, he's writing it for Tops-20, since that's what we provide on the Toad-1 System.
If you're asking about Franklin's FPGA implementation, he seems to be most interested in Tops-10. TENEX and ITS are remote possibilities; even more remote is Tops-20, since that was only ever run on KI-10 hardware internally at DEC (while the KL-10 processor was still being designed).
Lars Brinkhoff is indeed working on a port of GCC with our backing, to run under Tops-20. Until now, we have used the old KCC compiler--but that was enough for us to port Perl 4.036, a number of X clients, and GNU Emacs 18.59, on our Toad-1 System.
However, Hemos' posting makes it appear that Niel Franklin's FPGA implementation of the PDP-10 architecture is also supported by us; that's really a separate effort by an individual. Further, what he is interested in doing is a KI-10 processor, to run Tops-10. You can see the discussion of his project in alt.sys.pdp10 on your nearest archiving news server.