pcjs/_posts/2017-01-03-pdp-11-tutorials.md

layout	title	date	permalink	machines
post	PDP-11 Tutorials	2017-01-03 15:00:00	/blog/2017/01/03/	id type debugger config connection test1170 pdp11 true /devices/pdp11/machine/1170/vt100/debugger/machine.xml dl11->vt100.serialPort id type config connection sticky vt100 pc8080 /devices/pc8080/machine/vt100/machine.xml serialPort->test1170.dl11 top

Introducing PDP-11 tutorials. For more information, keep scrolling.

{% include machine.html id="vt100" %}

PDPjs is able to run a variety of old DEC operating systems, such as RT-11 and RSTS/E, and while there are manuals available online, thanks to the efforts of those who operate and contribute to websites like bitsavers.org, I suspect most people don't have a lot of interest or time to spend reading old manuals.

In an effort to remedy that situation, I'm adding some new features to PCjs. The first feature is what I call "Sticky Machines", and it's more a website feature than a machine feature. At the top of any PCjs webpage, in the machines section, a machine can now have a sticky property. For now, the only supported value is "top"; e.g.:

machines:
  - id: vt100
	type: pc8080
	config: /devices/pc8080/machine/vt100/machine.xml
	connection: serialPort->test1170.dl11
	sticky: top

A sticky machine makes it easier to construct a tutorial page for a single machine, by preventing that machine from scrolling off the top of the page; it "sticks" to the top instead. The rest of the page scrolls normally, allowing the user to progress at their own pace through the text and/or images of an accompanying tutorial.

The second feature is a generalized method for sending commands to components within a machine. For example, if we want to send some keyboard commands to machine:

{% raw %} {% include machine-command.html type='button' label='Try It!' machine='vt100' component='Keyboard' command='sendString' value='Hello World' %} {% endraw %}

which should translate into a control that looks like:

<button type="button" onclick="commandMachine('vt100','Keyboard','sendString','Hello World')">Try It!</button>

In fact, let's try it now. {% include machine-command.html type='button' label='Try It!' machine='vt100' component='Keyboard' command='sendString' value='Hello World' %}

Obviously, every component we want to control will need to be updated to export the necessary functions.

{% include machine.html id="test1170" %}

@jeffpar
Jan 3, 2017