A retro computing enthusiasts group has published the PiDP-10 project, aimed at creating a working reconstruction of the DEC PDP-10 KA10 mainframe from 1968. A new plastic housing for the control panel has been manufactured, featuring 124 vacuum tube indicators and 74 switches. The computing components and software environment have been recreated using a Raspberry Pi 5 board with the Raspberry Pi OS distribution based on Debian, and the SIMH toolkit, which supports full simulation of the PDP-10, including the reproduction of known errors.
The emulator can run a multitasking and multiprogramming operating system, TOPS-10, which was originally supplied on PDP-10 mainframes. An alternative operating system, ITS, developed in 1967 at MIT for the PDP-10, is also supported as an option. Over 400 historical applications, restored from MIT tape archives, are available for use in ITS. The code for the components used in the project and the automation installation script are published on GitHub. A community-developed assembly toolkit has been used to run ITS.
An event is scheduled for April 1st at the computer museum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to introduce the PiDP-10 into operation, which will be combined with a seminar on the history of PDP-10 usage at MIT. Future plans mention the creation of similar clones for computers like Whirlwind (1945), PDP-1 (1959), PDP-8 (1968), and PDP-11/70 (1975). The project also focuses on the complete reconstruction of the computing center with a PDP-10, allowing for an immersive experience in the computing atmosphere of the 1960s.
Forrás: opennet.ru
