This is a text-only version of the following page on https://raymii.org:
---
Title       : 	Running Adventure on the DEC PDP-8 with SIMH
Author      : 	Remy van Elst
Date        : 	23-07-2015
URL         : 	https://raymii.org/s/articles/Running_ADVENT-on-the-PDP-8-with-SIMH.html
Format      : 	Markdown/HTML
---



[![pdp-8][1]][1]

  * An original PDP-8/i.

In this guide I'll show you how run the classic Colossal Cave Adventure game on
a PDP-8, emulated by the SIMH emulator. The PDP-8 was an 12 bit minicomputer
made in 1964 by DEC, the Digital Equipment Corporation. We will install and set
up SIMH, the emulator with a RK05 diskimage running OS/8. We will use FORTRAN on
OS/8 to load ADVENTURE, then we use our brain to play the game. As a bonus, I
also show you how to edit files using EDIT, and show you a bit of the OS/8
system.

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### Introduction

I've recently accuired a PDP-8 remake, the [PiDP-8/i by Oscar Vermeulen][3].
This beautiful piece of hand made hardware uses a Raspberry Pi to emulate a
PDP-8 with SIMH. The front panel actually works, you can use the switched to
load paper tapes, the RIM and BIN loader and all the other legacy goodness. It
is a bit smaller than a real PDP-8, it is scale 2:3. The real PDP-8 has 1.5 cm
switched, the PiDP-8 has 1.0 cm switches.

I have an interest in legacy systems like the PDP-11, VAX/VMS and other
mainframes and minicomputers. The PiDP-8/i allows me to have a small piece of
this legacy myself. It also motivated me to learn more about the PDP-8 and it's
hard and software. It also inspired me to write this article about it. Since
these systems are way older than me, emulation and recreation are the only way
for me to use them, sadly.

I really encourage you to check out the PiDP-8. Order one as well, you can
either get a kit to construct yourself, or order an assembled version. Support
this beautiful piece of work!

[![pidp-8][4]][4]

  * The [PiDP-8/i remake by Oscar Vermeulen][3].

SIMH is an emulator which not only emulates a PDP-8, but a lot more older
mainframes and minicomputers. See the [website][5] for more information about
SIMH.

This guide shows you how to run the classic Colossal Cave ADVENTURE game on an
emulated PDP-8 with SIMH. We will use Ubuntu 14.04 as our host operating system,
but any OS that runs SIMH will do.

[If you like this article, consider sponsoring me by trying out a Digital Ocean
VPS. With this link you'll get a $5 VPS for 2 months free (as in, you get $10
credit). (referral link)][2]

Colossal Cave was written by Willie Crowther and quickly became one of the most
popular games of that time. Because it was written in FORTRAN it was ported to
various machines, even to the IBM-PC and the Apple II.

The PDP-8 can run plain paper tapes with software, but later in it's lifetime it
got access to magnetic disks and therefore is able to run actual operating
systems. The ADVENTURE game runs, via FORTRAN, on the OS/8 operating system for
the PDP-8. Wikipedia has more information on [OS/8][6], that is a very
interesting read.

[![pdp-11][7]][7]

  * An original PDP-8/i with attached periferals.

We will use a disk image graciously provided by Rick Murphy with both OS/8 and
the adventure program already compiled in it. You can download it from [Rick
Murphy's website][8] [(direct link to the rk5)][9] or from [here][10]. This is a
disk image in the [RK05 DECpak][11] disk format. The RK05 is a moving head
magnetic disk drive approximately 2.5 MB on a 14", single-platter IBM-2315-style
front-loading removable disk cartridge.

[![RK05][12]][12]

  * An original RK05 drive with a mounted RT-11 disk pack.

### Installing and configuring SIMH

First create a folder where you will store the disk image and the configuration
files, and go in that folder:

    
    
    mkdir pdp8
    cd pdp8
    

Ubuntu, and many other operating systems, have packages available for SIMH. We
can use the built in package manager to install simh:

    
    
    apt-get install simh
    

If your distro doesn't have simh, see their website for installation
instructions.

Download the prepared disk image:

    
    
    wget https://raymii.org/s/inc/downloads/pdp/advent.rk05
    

To make the start up proces easier you can set up an 'pdp8.ini' file with a few
commands in it. SIMH will load and run these commands at startup if you execute
the `pdp8` command.

Our `pdp8.ini` file has the following in it:

    
    
    set cpu 32K
    set cpu idle
    attach rk0 advent.rk05
    boot rk0
    exit
    

First it sets up the CPU. Then it attached the `advent.rk05` file as the first
disk and finally it boots up from that attached disk.

Do note that you don't need to create this file, you can also enter these
commands manually at the simh prompt.

### Running the PDP-8

In the current folder, execute the following command to start up simh with our
configuration file:

    
    
    pdp8
    

If all goes well, you should see something like below:

    
    
    $ pdp8
    
    PDP-8 simulator V3.8-1
    
    .
    

Some distributions, like Arch name the command `simh-pdp8`. It does the same
thing.

Congratiulations, you are now in a 1960's era operating system. Look around a
bit, for example, execute the `DIR` command:

    
    
    .DIR
    
    DIRECT.SV   7            FRTS  .SV  26            BASIC .WS  11
    PIP   .SV  11            PASS2 .SV  20            SET   .SV  20
    FOTP  .SV   8            PASS2O.SV   5            RTFLOP.SV  15
    [...]
    BRTS  .SV  15            LCSYS .BI   3            ADVENT.LD 145
    F4    .SV  20            UCSYS .BI   3            LOAD  .LS   8
    
     162 FILES IN 2648 BLOCKS -  544 FREE BLOCKS
    

You can get help at any moment using the `HELP` command:

    
    
    .HELP
    <[?3L[?4L[?5L[?5LHJ\
    OS/8 MONITOR COMMANDS
    
    CMD     PROG    EXPL
    
    ASSIGN  KBM     ASSIGNS LOGICAL NAME
    BACKSP  CAMP    BACKSPACES DEV
    BASIC   BASIC   ENTERS BASIC SYSTEM
    BOOT    BOOT    BOOTSTRAPS TO DEV
    CCL     CCL     DISABLES CCL
    COMPARE SRCCOM  COMPARES FILES
    COMPILE PAL8    COMPILES PROG
        F4/FORT
        BASIC
        RALF
        SABR
    COPY    FOTP     COPIES FILES
    CREATE  EDIT     OPENS FILE FOR EDITING
    [...]
    #NNN    TAKE INTERNAL OCTAL FORM OF FILENAME
    @FILE   REPLACE IN CMD LINE BY FILE'S CONTENTS
    $       COMPLEMENT DEFAULT ALTMODE SWITCH
    

### Editing files on OS/8 with EDIT

If you just want to run adventure, skip this section.

You can edit a file for example, using a LINE EDITOR. First create the file, in
this example, `A.PA`.

    
    
    .CREATE A.PA
    
    #
    

You can edit files with the `EDIT` command later on.

Your prompt changes from a `.` to a `#`. If this is an existing file, you must
read the first page into the buffer by typing

    
    
    #R
    

To insert text at the top of the buffer, use `I`. To append to the end, use `A`.

    
    
    #I
    THIS IS A TEST
    

Press `CTRL+L` to exit the edit prompt.

You can start inserting before any line by typing `$nI` where `$n` is the line
number (which is never displayed). For example, to insert a line before line 20,
use `20I`.

The `L` command lists the current buffer:

    
    
    #L
    THIS IS A TEST
    

`5L` displays line 5 and `1,5L` displays lines 1 through 5. `.` indicates the
current line. If you type `.L` the current line is displayed.

To delete a line, use `$nD` where `$n` is `.` or a line number. To change a line
use `$nC` where `$n` is `.` or a line number. It deletes the line indicated by
`$n`, then waits for you to type in a replacement.

As said, EDIT reads a page from disk into the buffer. When you are done with
that page and ready to move to the next type `N`. This writes the existing page
to the output file (`P` command), clears the buffer (`K` command), and reads the
next page from the input file (`R` command). You can use the `P`, `K`, and `R`
commands individually, but be careful. Doing these commands out of sequence can
mess up your file.

When you are done editing, use the `E` command to exit. This will write the
current buffer to the output file, then copy all remaining pages from the input
to the output file if you aren't already on the last page.

    
    
    #E
    

You can use the `TYPE` command to see the contents of a file:

    
    
    .TYPE A.PA
    THIS IS A TEST
    

See [this page][13] for a detailed guide on using PDP-8 EDIT.

### Running Adventure

To run Adventure we first need to run the FORTRAN environment. Start it up with
the following command `R FRTS`:

    
    
    .R FRTS
    *
    

Your prompt changes to a `*`. The `HELP` command explains what the `R` command
does:

    
    
    R   KBM   RUNS PROGRAM FROM SYS:
    

Tell the FORTRAN system we want to load Adventure with the following command,
`ADVENT.LD`:

    
    
    *ADVENT.LD
    

Press the ESCAPE key on your keyboard to start the execution. Below you'll find
the full sequence of commands plus some ADVENTURE output:

    
    
    $ pdp8
    
    PDP-8 simulator V3.8-1
    
    .R FRTS
    *ADVENT
    *$
    WELCOME TO ADVENTURE!!  WOULD YOU LIKE INSTRUCTIONS? 
    
    > NO
    YOU ARE STANDING AT THE END OF A ROAD BEFORE A SMALL BRICK BUILDING. 
    AROUND YOU IS A FOREST.  A SMALL STREAM FLOWS OUT OF THE BUILDING AND
    DOWN A GULLY.
    
    > ENTER 
    YOU ARE INSIDE A BUILDING, A WELL HOUSE FOR A LARGE SPRING.
    
    THERE ARE SOME KEYS ON THE GROUND HERE.
    
    THERE IS A SHINY BRASS LAMP NEARBY.
    
    THERE IS FOOD HERE.
    
    THERE IS A BOTTLE OF WATER HERE. 
    
    > TAKE LAMP
    TAKEN. 
    
    > 
    

To exit SIMH and the PDP-8, press `CTRL+E`. SIMH will stop and you will be back
at your command prompt.

You can view some more help on the PDP-8 SIMH version by executing (in OS/8) the
following command:

    
    
    .TYPE ADVENT.DC
    

Enjoy!

   [1]: https://raymii.org/s/inc/img/pdp-8-i.jpg
   [2]: https://www.digitalocean.com/?refcode=7435ae6b8212
   [3]: http://obsolescence.wix.com/obsolescence#!pidp-8/cbie
   [4]: https://raymii.org/s/inc/img/pidp-8-i.jpg
   [5]: http://simh.trailing-edge.com/
   [6]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/8
   [7]: https://raymii.org/s/inc/img/pdp-8-i-big.jpg
   [8]: http://www.rickmurphy.net/adventure.html
   [9]: http://www.rickmurphy.net/advent/advent.rk05
   [10]: https://raymii.org/s/inc/downloads/pdp/advent.rk05
   [11]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RK05
   [12]: https://raymii.org/s/inc/img/RK05.jpg
   [13]: https://bigdanzblog.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/editing-files-on-a-pdp-8-using-os8-edit/

---

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