TID: Mystic BBS 1.12 A46   
   MSGID: 1:387/26 9ddc34c0   
   REPLY: 1:18/200.0 60de289c   
   TZUTC: -0500   
   On 01 Jul 2021, Sean Dennis said the following...   
    SD>  JT> Here's the current state of my PDP-8 FPGA project:   
    SD>    
    SD> That's really cool.  The oldest computer I've used is a VAX.   
      
   I worked with DEC Alphas for a few years, but have only encountered   
   architectures older than that as a hobbyist. SIMH will emulate a VAX, but the   
   problem is in acquiring the OS. HP (which bought Compaq, which bought DEC)   
   still requires a license to use VMS. Up until fairly recently they had a   
   hobbyist program through which one could get a non-commercial hobbyist   
   license for free, but they discontinued it. I'm not sure what, if anything,   
   took its place.   
      
   I completed all but the Extended Arithmetic Element opcodes yesterday; it was   
   much easier than I thought it would be.   
      
   I have, however, run into a small snag. The Mojo IO Shield uses all of the   
   available IO pins, so there are none left for peripherals such as an SD card   
   or a serial port. I figure I have 4 options:   
      
   1. Try to use IO pins for unused switches or LEDs, despite those components   
   being hardwired in;   
   2. Make a new fron panel from scratch with only the necessary components   
   (which I could, of course, make any size and with any layout that I'd like);   
   3. Forgo the front panel altogether; or   
   4. Move everything to an Alchitry Au/Au+ FPGA board which has more IO pins   
   and a virtually identical IO shield, but is physically almost ridiculously and   
   unusably small.   
      
   Jeff.   
      
   "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and   
   wrong." -- H. L. Mencken, who indeed was a racist thereby proving himself   
   right.   
      
   --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Raspberry Pi/32)   
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