howell@grover.llnl.gov (Louis Howell) (11/03/90)
I have recently considered writing simulators for various obsolete computers like the PDP-10, PDP-11, TRS80, etc., purely for historical interest. For the PDP-11, for example, I would need to write an assembler to convert MACRO-11 programs into PDP-11 machine code, and a "virtual machine" to run the machine code. Would this be a copyright violation? Could it conceivably even be a patent violation, if the companies involved hold patents relating to parts of the instruction sets? Is the situation analogous to the Lotus 1-2-3 look-and-feel copyright questions, or is there a difference I have overlooked? -- Louis Howell "A few sums!" retorted Martens, with a trace of his old spirit. "A major navigational change, like the one needed to break us away from the comet and put us on an orbit to Earth, involves about a hundred thousand separate calculations. Even the computer needs several minutes for the job."