EVERHART@arisia.dnet.ge.com (08/29/90)
A DECmate III is a PDP8 (yes, 12 bit words and all). You can use WPS on it, or by a bit of fiddling with os/278 (available from the DECUS library cheap) turn it into a real PDP8 with Basic, Pascal, assembler, and some other languages. I don't think anyone has ever written an 8088 emulator for PDP8, though I seem to recall 'way back when that an 8080 emulator did exist. There may be 8088 boards for the DECmate that will let it run some msdos programs, but the thing will be not much like an IBM PC at all. There is a lot of interesting (if old) software for PDP8 out there however.
Robert_L_Armstrong@cup.portal.com (08/30/90)
There was an 8088 add-on processor board for the DECmate-III available from DEC which gave some degree of MSDOS compatibility. You also need the special software from DEC to make it work. Any way you look at it, trying to use the DECmate as a PC is a loss. It's much more interesting to get OS/278 and use it in its native mode. Bob
SLSW2@cc.usu.edu (Roger Ivie) (08/30/90)
In article <1990Aug28.170919.21475@athena.mit.edu>, infinity@athena.mit.edu (An-Jen Tai) writes: > In particular, I am interested in > communications software and whether DECMATE III is an IBM-clone and run > MS-DOS stuff. > Wow! A DECmate III! I'm jealous; I've only got a II. Your box is much smaller than mine. The DECmate III is not PC compatible. It is the end of the PDP-8 line, a venerable line of minis and micros stretching all the way back to 1965. Although DEC made a DOS coprocessor for it, I do not believe it was ever IBM compatible. I've never used the DOS coprocessor, but the CP/M coprocessor is very nice. If you're interested in using the PDP-8 side of the machine, you can get OS/278 from DECUS. OS/278 is the version of OS/8 for the DECmates; that what I'm using on my DECmate II even as I type. OS/8 eventually became RT-11, which inspired CP/M that was eventually translated into DOS... KERMIT is available for OS/278 (again, I'm running it even as I type), but it's a bit difficult to get there in the first place; I was only able to do it by converting it from CP/M to WPS and then from WPS to OS/278. -- =============================================================================== Roger Ivie 35 S 300 W Logan, Ut. 84321 (801) 752-8633 ===============================================================================
bob@teda.UUCP (Bob Armstrong) (09/01/90)
SLSW2@cc.usu.edu (Roger Ivie) writes: >If you're interested in using the PDP-8 side of the machine, you can get >OS/278 from DECUS. OS/278 is the version of OS/8 for the DECmates; that >what I'm using on my DECmate II even as I type. OS/8 eventually became >RT-11, which inspired CP/M that was eventually translated into DOS... OS/278 is certainly a great thing to have for your DECmate (it's at least as useful as CP/M), but you should be aware that some of its functions sort of depend on WPS. You'll be able to run OS/278 from diskette without anything else, but to use a hard disk will require the Master Menu (MM) software that comes with WPS. OS/278 contains a hard disk driver, but no utilities to format or parition the disk (if someone knows how to do this w/o MM, I'd like to hear!). >KERMIT is available for OS/278 (again, I'm running it even as I type), but >it's a bit difficult to get there in the first place; I was only able to >do it by converting it from CP/M to WPS and then from WPS to OS/278. The SLU (serial line unit) driver that comes with OS/278 supports XON/XOFF handshaking, so I just copied the source for KERMIT (K278.PA) over the COM port from another computer using PIP. Of course you have to fix any transmission errors by hand, but it beats typing it all in. The KERMIT I have for my DECmate is about 3 years old. Does anybody know if there is a new, improved version ? Bob Armstrong {sun,decwrl,pyramid}!teda!bob
SLSW2@cc.usu.edu (Roger Ivie) (09/06/90)
In article <13409@teda.UUCP>, bob@teda.UUCP (Bob Armstrong) writes: > The KERMIT I have for my DECmate is about 3 years old. Does anybody know > if there is a new, improved version ? The version I'm using is dated 6 sep 89. Sounds like a big Yes to me. =============================================================================== Roger Ivie 35 S 300 W Logan, Ut. 84321 (801) 752-8633 ===============================================================================