[Info-vax] Y3K for PDP-11 Operating Systems

[Richard B. Gilbert]

On 5/4/2011 12:33 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> In article<KsmdnY-dhd7k_VzQnZ2dnUVZ_vqdnZ2d at giganews.com>,
> 	"Richard B. Gilbert"<rgilbert88 at comcast.net>  writes:
>> On 5/4/2011 9:01 AM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>> In article<H9mdnUTgT5LYfF3QnZ2dnUVZ_uOdnZ2d at giganews.com>,
>>> 	"Richard B. Gilbert"<rgilbert88 at comcast.net>   writes:
>>>> On 5/3/2011 8:07 PM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>>>> In article<7d287cc3-4605-49a0-826e-fb92fc14e98d at j28g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>,
>>>>> 	onedbguru<onedbguru at yahoo.com>    writes:
>>>>>> On May 3, 2:39 pm, Henry Crun<m... at rechtman.com>    wrote:
>>>>>>> On 03/05/11 20:51, Bob Koehler wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>      >Bob Koehler wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> In article<bdd4fd3d-bb52-43fb-ad9c-746b901f4... at gu8g2000vbb.googlegroups.com>, jjh<jjhu... at gmail.com>      writes:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> To make sure I understand, y3K =3D 3000, it is 2011 now...um that is 989
>>>>>>>>>> years from now...or roughly  12.5 lifetimes....I seriously don't think
>>>>>>>>>> that anyone in the year 3000 will want to know anything about DEC hw
>>>>>>>>>> or sw.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> You obviously have not read the historical documents.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I am curious, I have not read the historical documents.
>>>>>>>> Can you please post a link?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> As for Y3K for RT-11, since the date is presently managed
>>>>>>>> up to 2099 as of V05.07 of RT-11, dates starting in 2100
>>>>>>>> become the next problem.  And since adding support only
>>>>>>>> for an additional 128 years seems like a complete waste of
>>>>>>>> time, then 3000 CE was chosen as the next minimum step.
>>>>>>>> In practice, at least an additional 4000 years would probably
>>>>>>>> be added, more than enough to handle dates until the rules
>>>>>>>> for the CE (Commercial Events, Common Era, Christian Era
>>>>>>>> or Gregorian - all are identical and have a 400 year cycle)
>>>>>>>> Calendar requires a rule change to handle years which are
>>>>>>>> less than the current 365.2418 days.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> So Y3K is really just Y2.1K if that makes a difference.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> IIRC there was an article by someone from DEC who promised that RSTS would be
>>>>>>> patched to accept five-digit years before the year 9999. However I doubt that
>>>>>>> current versions would be supported until then...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> question... who cares??? I can almost guarantee that none of us will
>>>>>> be here in 2099... and by that time you might be using neural-net
>>>>>> technology that will make the PDP look like a TRS80.
>>>>>
>>>>> Hey, just what xfdo you think was wrong with the TRS80?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Other than primitive hardware and primitive software?  It was a good
>>>> machine in its day but its day is LONG GONE!
>>>>
>>>
>>> Now that's funny, here.  Just how is the Z80 more primitve than the PDP-11?
>>> And software?  At least 5 different OSes.  Wide language support.  Many
>>> commercial applications.
>>>
>>> And, at this point it is probably debatable which one between the TRS80
>>> and PDP-11 has more users on both real hardware and emulators.  I have
>>> quite a bit of both.
>>>
>>
>> I disposed of my "TRASH 80" and replaced it with a used Rainbow 100.
>
> I always wanted a Rainbow, too, but never had the luck of finding one.
>
>> The lack of a few milligrams of gold plating made the TRASH 80 a
>> nightmare.  Tin oxidizes and did so on critical connectors!
>
> Wow, you have gold on all your PDP-11 modules?  Maybe those old
> cards are worth more than I thought.  :-)  I have a number of
> TRS-80 Model-I's with the Expansion Interface and they all work
> quite well. I spent more time cleaning edges connectors on my
> daughters Nintendo than on the TRS-80.  And, of course, like the
> PDP-11, today it is mostly done with emulators anyway.
>

I have no PDP-11.  I had one at work many long years ago.  I don't miss 
it.  Poor cripple!  The screwing around necessitated by the microscopic 
address space was more trouble than it was worth!