You operate the PiDP-11 by it’s console toggle switches. You can even write programs by using the toggle switches and you can also boot real PDP-11 Operating Systems like RSX-11M Plus, 2.11 BSD, RT-11, RSTS/E, DOS-11, Unix V5, 6 or 7 and then some.
For me the main attraction are the blinking leds to brighten up my office, so I ordered a kit by Oscar.
You have to build it yourself and the amount of leds (64) and switches (30) and diodes is a bit overwhelming but after watching some instruction videos and reading the build instructions it was not to difficult.
This is not a “how to build post” (for that you better look here) but merely a tribute to the work of Oscar.
However, I will show you some pictures of my build-process.
These are the parts you get in the kit:
As with every electronics kit you start with the lowest parts first, which in this case are the diodes (37) and the resistors (18).
I elevated the Raspberry PI GPIO connector a bit from the PCB so the USB and Ethernet connector of the RPi are a bit further away from the PCB.
Next you have to slide the 64 leds into a spacer:
and put them all into the PCB.
The switches take a bit of a fiddling but the instructions and special “tools” provided with the kit help a lot.
My PiDP-11 now sit’s blinking on a shelf in my bookcase running the BSD 2.11 operating system and serving my music collection.
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Great article about the work of Oscar!
Did you publish your updates to the KIM Uno firmware?
Hi Hans,
I mailed the updates to Oscar but at the time he was occupied with other, more important, things so I don’t think he has done much with it.
If you are interested, I have just pushed it to github.