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https://github.com/pdp-10/its

Incompatible Timesharing System
https://github.com/pdp-10/its

chaosnet computer-history continuous-integration ddt emacs incompatible-timesharing-system maclisp midas operating-system pdp-10 retrocomputing teco virtual-memory

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Incompatible Timesharing System

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README 

        
# Incompatible Timesharing System



![CI Build Status](https://github.com/PDP-10/its/workflows/Build/badge.svg)



### About ITS



ITS, the Incompatible Timesharing System, is an operating system for

the PDP-10 computer family.  It was created by hackers at MIT in the

1960s.  The MIT site was shut down in 1990, but enthusiasts continue

to operate ITS systems to this day.



Some notable ITS features:



- Hosted the first versions of Emacs, Zork, Macsyma, Maclisp, Scheme, and

  multi-player Maze War

- Virtual memory

- User-space device drivers

- Networking: TCP/IP, ARPAnet, Chaosnet

- Transparent network file system

- Terminal-independent text output

- Graphical workstations



There is a mailing list for discussion about ITS.  Go to

http://its.victor.se/mailman/listinfo/its-hackers_its.victor.se

for more information.



### About this project



This repository contains source code, tools, and scripts to build an

ITS system from scratch.



The goals are:



- To provide an automated build from start to end.  No user

  intervention is necessary.



- To check which programs have source code, and [which programs are missing

  source code](https://github.com/PDP-10/its/issues/61).



- To ensure that we know how to build all programs.



- To update programs with the latest bug fixes and enhancements.



- To be able to set configurable options across the whole system, such

  as host name, IP address, hardware devices.



The build currently runs on the SIMH and KLH10 emulators.  Of course,

we'd be delighted to test this on a real KS10.



### Building



To build ITS with this repository, you need some tools installed; see

the table below.  Ensure all submodules are checked out, and then type

`make EMULATOR=simh`, `make EMULATOR=pdp10-ka`, `make

EMULATOR=pdp10-kl`, `make EMULATOR=pdp10-ks`, or `make

EMULATOR=klh10`.  This will leave built files in the `out` directory,

some of which are disk images with ITS installed.



| Emulator | Dependencies |

| --- | --- |

| klh10 | git, c compiler, make, expect, curses, autoconf

| simh | git, c compiler, make, expect, curses, autoconf, sdl2

| pdp10-ka | git, c compiler, make, expect, curses, autoconf, sdl2, sdl2-image, sdl2-net, gtk3

| pdp10-kl | git, c compiler, make, expect, curses, autoconf, sdl2, sdl2-image, gtk3

| pdp10-ks | git, c compiler, make, expect, curses, autoconf, sdl2



### Usage



To start ITS, type `./start`.  If you see `KLH10#`, type `go` and

Enter.  If you see the `DSKDMP` prompt, type `its`, press Enter, and

then ESCG.  If you use the `pdp10-kl` emulator there is no prompt

and you need to type ESCL `ITS`, press Enter, and then ESCG.

Eventually, you will see `SYSTEM JOB USING THIS CONSOLE`.  You are now

ready to log in, so type CTRLZ.  See [doc/DDT.md](doc/DDT.md) for

a list of useful commands.



Alternatively to logging in directly in the system console window, 

which will always be displaying daemon messages, you may prefer to 

use a seperate terminal session for logging in.  To do this just

run `telnet localhost ` from another shell window and press

CTRLZ to log in there. The port should be determined as per this list:



| Port  | Type             | Emulator

| ----  | ----             | -------

| 10000 | TK10             | pdp10-ka

| 10002 | Datapoint kludge | pdp10-ka

| 10003 | Morton box       | pdp10-ka

| 10004 | DZ11             | simh, pdp10-ks

| 10007 | DTE2             | pdp10-kl

| 10008 | DL10             | (pdp10-kl in the future?)



To shut down ITS, type `:lock` and then `5down`.  Log yourself out to

avoid the 5 minute grace period: type `:logout`.  When ITS writes

`SHUTDOWN COMPLETE`, it's safe to stop the emulator.  Press CTRL\\

to escape to the simulator command prompt and `quit` to close it.  If

you had a separate telnet user session running you can similary

press CTRL\[ and then exit telnet.



ITS can optionally use some additional peripheral devices.  To attach

a simulated GT40 graphics terminal, type `./start gt40`.  If you run

the KA10 emulator, you can use the Knight TV raster display by typing

`./start tv11 tvcon`.  On a TV, type F1 instead of CTRLZ.



Here is an overview of the repository:

- bin - PDP-10 binary files necessary to bootstrap the system.

- build - build scripts.

- conf - configuration for building ITS.

- doc - documentation, most of which appear in the INFO system.

- src - source code for ITS and all programs.

- tools - build tools.

- out - build output.

- user - optional user files installed in ITS.



### Terminal Emulators



Several emulators for terminals and peripheral processors are built

along with ITS.  They can be started conveniently with the `start`

script, or separately.  Not all terminal emulators are set up to work

with all PDP-10 emulators by default.



| Name    | Description       | Type   | klh10 | pdp10-ka | pdp10-kl | pdp10-ks | simh

| ------- | ----------------- | ------ | ----- | -------- | -------- | -------- | ----

| type340 | Type 340          | vector | no    | yes      | no       | no       | no

| gt40    | GT40 PDP-11       | vector | no    | yes      | no       | yes      | yes

| imlac   | Imlac PDS-1       | vector | no    | yes      | no       | no       | no

| simh_imlac | Imlac PDS-1    | vector | no    | yes      | no       | no       | no

| tv11    | Knight TV PDP-11  | cpu    | no    | yes      | no       | no       | no

| tvcon   | Knight TV console | raster | no    | yes      | no       | no       | no

| datapoint | Datapoint 3300  | text   | no    | yes      | no       | no       | no

| vt52    | VT52              | text   | no    | yes      | yes      | yes      | yes

| tek     | Tektronix 4010    | vector | no    | yes      | yes      | no       | no



### Documentation



See the [`doc` subdirectory](doc) for documentation.



There are some short introductions for beginners:

- [How to create a new user](doc/new-user.md)

- [DDT cheat sheet for Unix users](doc/DDT.md)

- [Basic editing with EMACS](doc/EMACS.md)

- [TECO survival guide](doc/TECO.md)

- [DDT debugging newbie guide](doc/debugging.md)

- [Hello MIDAS](doc/hello-midas.md)

- [Hello Maclisp](doc/hello-lisp.md)

- [Introduction to Muddle](doc/muddle.md)

- [DUMP and itstar](doc/DUMP-itstar.md)

- [Games](doc/games.md)

- [Printing](doc/printing.md)

- [Assembling ITS](doc/NITS.md)

- [Com link mode](doc/comlink.md)

- [Logo](doc/logo.md)

- [PDP-6](doc/pdp6.md)

- [Networking](doc/networking.md)



A list of [known ITS machines](doc/machines.md).



How [ITS is built](doc/build.md).



### Applications



Some major applications:



- Adventure, game

- C10, C compiler

- CLU, progamming language.

- DDT, debugger

- Emacs, editor

- Logo, interpreter

- Mac Hack VI and Tech II, chess programs

- Maclisp, interpreter and compiler

- Muddle, interpreter

- Macsyma, symbolic math

- Maze War, game

- Midas, assembler

- Muscom and musrun, for playing music

- PDP-11 simulator

- Scheme, interpreter

- Spacewar!, game

- Stanford University Drawing System

- TECO, editor

- TOPS-10 and WAITS emulator



There is a [detailed list of all installed programs](doc/programs.md).