While GRC has been collecting the names of people who would be interested in acquiring the parts needed to recreate the PDP-8 system I have shown on these pages, interested people have asked what more can be done with the resulting system beyond making the lights blink.
Readily available software for the SBC6120 PDP-8 includes the well documented OS/8 operating system, complete with text editors, BASIC, FORTRAN II & FORTRAN IV compilers, a FOCAL language interpreter, a large assortment of games, puzzles, simulations & demonstrations, with source code, and even a well-documented PDP-8 CHESS (human versus computer) and the classic “Colossal Cave” game “Adventure.” |
The PDP-8 was so beloved, popular, and successful for its time, that a large community of enthusiasts have worked to keep the memory — and the software and documentation — alive. When the Internet came along, many hard core collectors put everything they had been saving online.
What that means for those of us who have newly minted, fully PDP-8 compatible systems, is that there is documentation for everything, and we get to play with and experiment with all of the software that was created 40 years ago. It still works today just like it did back then.
Here is Digital Equipment Corporation's (DEC) official license to use their OS/8 PDP-8 software, with their blessing, for non-commercial purposes: |
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In case you haven't yet taken the time to poke around the Internet to get a feel for how much of the PDP-8 legacy has been preserved, here are a few online repositories to give you a sense for how much more is still available to enrich your PDP-8 experience:
Note that I will be tweaking the exact content of these two file sets to add additional files (there's plenty of room in each) pulling things together like the OS/8 PASCAL compiler, etc.
ABSLDR.SV 5 Absolute Loader ADDEX .FC 2 FOCAL "Addition Exerciser" for elementary school kids AXIS .RL 6 FORTRAN IV Plotter Axis drawing library BARON .FC 6 FOCAL Be the "Baron" of a town - manage resources BASIC .AF 4 BASIC runtime arithmetic functions overlay BASIC .BA 11 A rather odd BASIC "interactive" therapist BASIC .FF 4 BASIC runtime file function overlay BASIC .SF 4 BASIC runtime string functions overlay BASIC .SV 9 BASIC language editor BASIC .UF 4 BASIC runtime user functions overlay BATCH .SV 10 BATCH (script) processing utility BCOMP .SV 17 BASIC language compiler BITMAP.SV 5 Builds a core memory bitmap BLOAD .SV 8 BASIC compiler post-processor BOOT .SV 5 Boots specified device BRTS .SV 15 BASIC Runtime system BTLSHP.FC 7 FOCAL Game of Battleship (requires Tek terminal) BUILD .SV 33 OS/8 build utility to link drivers CALNDR.FC 3 FOCAL Perpetual Calendar: day of week for any date CATLOG.FC 3 FOCAL Catalog of all FOCAL programs shown below CCL .SV 18 "Concise Command Language" keyboard monitor extension CHESS .SV 15 Chess Game? CHISQR.FC 5 FOCAL CHI Square statistics calculations COMMA1.RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system COMMA2.RE 4 Part of FOCAL help system COMMA3.RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system CREF .SV 13 Cross Reference utility DIRECA.RD 6 Part of FOCAL help system DIRECI.RD 4 Part of FOCAL help system DIRECR.RD 4 Part of FOCAL help system DIRECT.SV 7 DIRectory printing command EABRTS.BN 24 Something-or-other Runtime System ECHO .SV 2 "ECHO" program EDIT .SV 10 Symbolic text editor EPIC .SV 14 "Edit, Punch, Compare" utility program ERASE .FD 1 F4 .SV 20 FORTRAN IV compiler - Pass 1 FADTES.FC 1 FOCAL Short exerciser for the FOCAL FADC() function FBOOT .SV 2 FDIS .PA 8 Plotting Routines, PAL source FOCAL .BN 17 FOCAL absolute binary code module FOCAL .TM 1 Part of FOCAL help system FOCDEF.PA 4 FOCAL EQUivalent definitions file FOCINT.PA 9 FOCAL Initial Dialog, PAL source FOCLIB.PA 69 FOCAL Library Routines FOCOVR.PA 28 FOCAL Overlay PAL source FORLIB.RL 165 FORTRAN runtime library FORT .SV 25 FORTRAN II compiler FOTP .SV 8 "File Oriented Transfer Program" FRTS .SV 26 FORTRAN runtime system FUNCT1.RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system FUNCT2.RE 5 Part of FOCAL help system FUTIL .SV 26 File Utility? GRAPH .FC 5 FOCAL Euclidean graph of 2D equation on Tek terminal HANGMN.FC 5 FOCAL Plays the game of hangman using HANGWD.FD file HANGWD.FD 2 Word list used by FOCAL HANGMN.FC (Hangman) program HANOI .FC 5 FOCAL Classic "Towers of Hanoi" puzzle solver HARMON.FC 4 FOCAL "Harmonograph" (Spirograph) drawing HELP .FC 6 FOCAL HELP SYSTEM (while in FOCAL, enter: L G HELP) HELP .HL 55 Help file data HELP .RE 6 FOCAL HELP SYSTEM program code HELP .SV 8 Help program HELPER.RE 2 Part of FOCAL help system HERROR.RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system HFILE1.RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system HFILE2.RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system ID01NS.BN 1 SBC6120 OS/8 IDE device driver ID01S .BN 1 SBC6120 OS/8 IDE device driver INDEX .RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system INITAL.BN 7 FOCAL module, initial setup dialog and configuration INTRST.FC 3 FOCAL prints interest, payments, principal, etc. LIB8 .RL 29 FORTRAN IV code librarian LIBRA .SV 11 FORTRAN IV code module librarian LIBRAR.RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system LINE .RL 3 FORTRAN IV Plotter Line drawing library LISTAL.FD 4 FOCAL data file for LISTAL.FC program to list all LISTAL.RD 4 FOCAL The FOCAL command: 'O I LISTAL' dumps all progs. LOAD .SV 15 FORTRAN IV relocatable program loader MAP .SV 5 Display map of OS/8 core memory allocation MISCL1.RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system MISCL2.RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system MISCL3.RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system NUMBER.RL 5 FORTRAN IV Floating Point Number Plotting Library PAL8 .SV 19 PDP-8 Assembler for absolute code PASS2 .SV 20 FORTRAN IV compiler - Pass 2 PASS3 .SV 8 FORTRAN IV compiler - Pass 3 PFOCAL.BN 34 FOCAL interpreter binary module PFOCAL.SV 26 FOCAL interpreter PIP .SV 11 Peripheral Interchange Program (copy, backup, etc.) PLOTER.FC 5 FOCAL Simultaneously plots any three functions PLOTLB.RL 195 FORTRAN IV Calcomp Incremental plotter library PLOTR .FT 2 Sample FORTRAN plotter program source PLOTR .LD 25 FORTRAN IV Plotter support POLAR .FC 4 FOCAL Polar graph of 2D equation on Tektronix terminal PSCALE.RL 4 FORTRAN IV Plotter Scaling Library RALF .SV 19 FORTRAN Relocatable Assembler RESORC.SV 10 "Resource" shows system device resources RXCOPY.SV 6 Media copy utility SABR .SV 24 Symbolic Assembler for relocatable code SDIREC.RD 2 Part of FOCAL help system SET .SV 14 SET command to set system parameters SPY .SV 3 STAT1 .FC 6 FOCAL Computes stats of two sample sets STAT2 .FC 5 FOCAL Uses stats from STAT1.FC to compute more stats SUMCOM.RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system SV2BN .SV 3 SYMBO1.RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system SYMBO2.RE 6 Part of FOCAL help system TECO .BN 16 TECO text editor binary file TECO .PA 151 TECO text editor PAL8 assembly language source TECO .SV 14 More capable text editor TRIANG.FC 4 FOCAL Computes missing info about a right triangle VM01NS.BN 1 SBC6120 OS/8 RAM Disk device driver VM01S .BN 1 SBC6120 OS/8 RAM Disk device driver WEB .FC 3 FOCAL Draws a spider and her web XYPLOT.RL 9 FORTRAN IV Plotter XY plotting library 4801 .PA 8 Plotting Routines, PAL source 4WDMOD.BN 1 FOCAL 4-Word overlap to increase floating point res. |
BASIC .AF 4 BASIC runtime arithmetic functions overlay BASIC .FF 4 BASIC runtime file function overlay BASIC .SF 4 BASIC runtime string functions overlay BASIC .SV 9 BASIC language editor BASIC .UF 4 BASIC runtime user functions overlay BASIC .WS 39 BASIC compiler intermediate file BBALL .BA 19 BASIC Baseball simulation BBALL .SV 14 Compiled Baseball simulation BBALLA.BA 19 BASIC Baseball simulation II BBALLA.SV 14 Compiled Baseball simulation II BCOMP .SV 17 BASIC language compiler BINGO .BA 13 BASIC Computerized game of BINGO BLKJAC.BA 22 BASIC "BlackJack" (Las Vegas Style) game BLKJAK.BA 7 BASIC EduSystem BlackJack (dealer: Petey P. Eight) BLOAD .SV 8 BASIC compiler post-processor BRTS .SV 15 BASIC Runtime system BUNNY .BA 7 BASIC Prints a famous and well known "Bunny" head CALNDR.BA 5 BASIC Prints a 12-month calendar for a year CHECKR.BA 12 BASIC "Checkers" game CHEKMO.BN 18 CHESS program binary module CHEKMO.SV 15 CHESS program for the PDP-8! (see chess.pdf doc) CHEKMO.WU 34 CHESS program overlay file CODBRE.BA 9 BASIC Very nice "Mastermind" code breaker game (source) CODBRE.SV 10 BASIC Very nice "Mastermind" code breaker game CODMAK.BA 8 BASIC A simpler "Mastermind" game (source) CODMAK.SV 9 BASIC A simpler "Mastermind" game CRAPS .BA 8 BASIC game of "Craps" (dice) CUBIC .PA 35 3D Tic-Tac-Toe PAL-8 assembly language (sourcecode) CUBIC .SV 8 3D Tic-Tac-Toe PAL-8 assembly language DICE .BA 2 BASIC Dice rolling simulation FOOTBA.BA 19 BASIC Football game simulation (sourcecode) FOOTBA.SV 16 BASIC Football game simulation FOOTBL.BA 23 BASIC Football game simulator FOTBAL.BA 21 BASIC Rather sophisticated Football Simulation GOLF .BA 17 BASIC "Maynard Country Club" Golf course simulation HELLO .BA 11 BASIC Rather odd interactive "conversation" program HELP .HL 102 HELP source file for OS/8 and several games HOCKEY.BA 16 BASIC Hockey simulation K12DEB.SV 4 KERMIT-12 terminal communications module K12DEC.SV 5 KERMIT-12 terminal communications module K12ENB.SV 4 KERMIT-12 terminal communications module K12ENC.SV 6 KERMIT-12 terminal communications module K12MIT.SV 33 KERMIT-12 terminal communications program KING .BA 23 BASIC Kingdom management simulation, you are king LIFE .BA 5 BASIC Conway's Game of "Life" simulation LIFE2 .BA 7 BASIC "Competitive Life" (based on Conway's Life) MONPLY.BA 22 BASIC The Game of Monopoly MORTT .FT 7 FORTRAN Mortgage Amortization Table Generator (source) MORTT .SV 21 FORTRAN Mortgage Amortization Table Generator NIMBLE.BA 12 BASIC The classic game of NIM (source) NIMBLE.SV 13 BASIC The classic game of NIM OTHELO.BA 21 BASIC The game of Othello (source) OTHELO.SV 16 BASIC The game of Othello POKER .BA 20 BASIC Play POKER against the machine RESEQ .BA 6 BASIC "Resequence" line numbers in BASIC source file ROCKET.BA 6 BASIC Apollo Lunar Landing Simulator (source) ROCKET.SV 8 BASIC Lunar landing simulator (executable) ROCKT1.BA 8 BASIC David Ahl's Lunar Landing Simulator ROULET.BA 11 BASIC Game of Roulette. Start with 100 chips ROULET.SV 10 BASIC Roulette simulator SIGNS .BA 19 BASIC Large Sign Printer SNOOPY.BA 10 BASIC "Curse You Red Baron!" Snoopy Printer SPACWR.BA 39 BASIC Star Trek Space Adventure Simulation STARTR.BA 31 BASIC StarTrek space simulation (source) STARTR.LS 4 Star Trek Simulation Documentation (TYPE this file) STARTR.SV 28 BASIC StarTrek space simulation T3BZSR.SV 17 Appears to be some sort of tic-tac-toe game T3ZSR .SV 17 Appears to be some sort of tic-tac-toe game TD81 .BN 2 Assembled binary for TD81.PA TD81 .PA 20 TD8E system resident handler for OS/8 TD82 .BN 2 Assembled binary for TD82.PA TD82 .PA 20 TD8E handler for OS/8 TD8E .SY 50 TD8E DECtape controller device driver TICTAC.BA 7 BASIC Tic-Tac-Toe - play against the machine WAR .BA 7 BASIC Simulation of the card game of WAR WAR2 .BA 9 BASIC Army/Navy/AirForce warfare simulation WEKDAY.BA 10 BASIC Interesting facts about any date you enter WUMPUS.BA 17 BASIC Classic "Hunt the Wumpus" game YAHTZE.BA 20 BASIC Game of Yahtzee implementation YAHTZE.SV 20 The game of Yahtzee |
.BA BASIC source file .BI BATCH input file .BN Absolute binary file Output from PAL8 assembler .CM Command File .DI Directory Listing .F4 FORTRAN IV source .FC FOCAL8 (DEC's "FOrmula CALculator" language) .FT 8K FORTRAN source file .HL Help File Data .HN I/O Device Handler Save Image .LD FORTRAN load module .LS PAL8 and SABR assemblers output listing .MP Linking Loader Map file .PA PAL8 (assembly language) source file .RA RALF - FORTRAN intermediate assembly source .RL Relocatable binary file 8K SABR output Linking Loader input file .SB 8K SABR (assembly language) source file .SV A directly executable "core image" "SAVE" file .TM BASIC/FOCAL intermediate temporary file .WS BASIC compiler intermediate |
As you can see from the extensive available documentation, and the file directory details, the contemporary SBC6120 PDP-8 system can function every bit as capably as any DEC PDP-8 did when its paint was still fresh in the late 1970's.
CLICK HERE to learn how YOU can acquire & build one of these complete PDP-8 systems for yourself !!! |
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