[Info-vax] Further on the PDP-10 [was Re: Hard links on VMS ODS5 disks]

[gah4]

On Friday, July 28, 2023 at 1:03:20 PM UTC-7, Rich Alderson wrote:

(snip)

> The byte size on a PDP-10 is defined in the byte pointer (so not equivalent to 
> an integer). The standard character set in DEC's systems, all the way back to 
> the PDP-6 in 1964, is 7-bit ASCII, with 5 characters per word. The extra bit 
> was even used by the editor to mark line numbers in test files; the assembler 
> and various compilers ignored words so marked. 
 
SOS would generate and use those numbers. 

At least the Fortran compiler would use them in messages, 
if they were there.  I don't remember if Macro-10 does that.

> As noted elsewhere, the C compiler uses 9 bit bytes. 
 
Choices would be 9, 18, or 36 for char.

With the H.. instructions, I once thought 18 might be easier.

(snip)
> [2] The Stanford developed Ethernet interface for the KL-10, available years 
> before the NIA-20 which came out of the cancelled Jupiter project. The 
> MEIS was more featureful than the eventual Digital product.
 
3MB/s or 10MB/s?  I only recently learned that Stanford built the 3MB/s
Ethernet for the Sun-1.  That way they could use the Sun-1 as a gateway.