Re: help: Apple][<==> PDP-8

["Larry A. Shurr" <lshurr@lucent.com>]

James wrote:
> 
> Hi.
> I would like to replace my near dead teletype (paper tape works, 
> but the CR does not work properly) with either my //c or //e.
> I figure I could just use a serial port, but the PDP-8 
> (compatible) uses a teletype connector, and I don't know how to 
> create a proper cable.  

Hmmm... sounds like a current loop interface?  Personally, I 
never knew a TTY Model 33 (if that's what you have) that had 
anything else, but that doesn't necesarily prove anything.  
Current-loop-to-RS232 adaptors used to be available from 
outfits like Blackbox.

> Also, how would I get the PDP-8 programs from the paper tape 
> reader on the teletype to the Apple ][?

Oh! Boy!  You don't want much, do you?  If your TTY is truly a
Model 33, the "interface" between it and the punched tape was
electro-mechanical... i.e., relays and levers and etc...

'Course Teletype Corporation had later models which were more
electronic and maybe you have one of those.  There were also
such things as optical paper tape readers.  I used TTY's and
paper tape on some machines back in the 70's on a PDP-8's &
on an SDS... something (a Scientific Data Systems minicomputer
similar to PDP-8, even had 12-bit word length).  This is
pretty old stuff.  Teletype Corporation was eventually bought
by Western Electric which became AT&T Network Systems which 
is now part of Lucent Technologies, but, I'm sorry to say, I 
wouldn't even begin to know who to talk to.

> Has any one done something like this before? I have heard that 
> people have done this with a PC. The PDP-8 news group appears 
> dead, and I have not been able to find any web resources on 
> this subject.

It's "pre-web" technology... for that matter, it's pre-internet, 
though they coexisted for awhile... well with Arpanet, anyway.
Maybe someone from the PDP-11 Preservation Society could tell
you something... it may be a longshot, but TTY's & paper tape
were used on PDP-11's.  Check out 

	http://minnie.cs.adfa.oz.au/PUPS/index.html

for contact information.

BTW: Check out the same address for PDP-8, PDP-11, PDP-18,
NOVA 840, and (get this) IBM 1401 emulators by Bob Supnik.
Thanks to various organizations holding the rights, software
for some of these emulators, including Unix Editions 5, 6, & 7
(AT&T & SCO have given the OK), RDOS for the NOVA, OS-8 for
the PDP-8 and some other software are available for download
in a form suitable for use with the Supnik emulators.

> You may ask "Why?"
> Well, I'm not really sure, but I sure do love watching all 
> those pretty LED's flickering on the PDP-8 front panel! I also 
> have loads of paper tape, and I want to know what it all does.

That's good enough for me.

> Thanks for your help,
> James
> jmcp@pacbell.net

-- 
Larry A. Shurr (lshurr@btl.lucent.bogus.com)
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