MAME and SIMH

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History Simulator (SIMH) recreates a range of historically important computing systems, including DEC PDP-11. System console terminal for a PDP-11 system would usually be one of DEC's video- or printing terminals (DEC VT100 or LA36 "DECwriter II", for example). SIMH lets its user work with simulated system from a real terminal (attached to physical serial port), or via a terminal emulator of their choice, such as MAME.

You will need:

Step 1: Configure DEC VT240 terminal emulator

  • start MAME ('mame vt240') and wait for self-test to complete ("VT240 OK" screen)
  • press F3 to enter setup menu. Use cursor keys and keypad Enter key to navigate and change options.
  • reset terminal to factory default settings -- choose "Default" in "Set-Up Directory" menu.
  • set serial port speed to 9600 -- enter "Comm" menu and change from "Transmit=4800" to "Transmit=9600", then exit this menu "To Directory"
  • save settings to terminal NVRAM ("Save") and exit MAME.

Step 2: Configure PDP-11 simulation

  • follow the gunkies.org guide, but alter inst.ini -- replace "boot rl1" with "set console telnet=1123" in inst.ini. This will configure a remote console on TCP port 1123, and disable automatic boot of simulated system.

Step 3: Install RT-11

  • start SIMH -- expected output is:
 Listening on port 1123
 sim> 
  • start MAME with null modem cable 'attached' to SIMH and wait for it to boot to "VT240 OK" screen:
 mame vt240 -bitb socket.localhost:1123
  • start simulation in SIMH -- from sim> console enter:
 boot rl1
  • follow the installer's prompts.