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--- tss_8 [2019/12/19 21:06]
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+++ tss_8 [2020/06/16 03:01] (current)
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-//TSS/8// is a timesharing system for the DEC PDP-8 designed by Adrian van de Goor, a grad student at CMU.  It originally required a specific hardware configuration of the PDP-8, 8I or 8E incorporating the RF08 with at least one RS08 or a DF32.  At LCM+L TSS/8 has been modified by Josh Dersch to run on a PDP-8/e with DECtapes and RK05 disk drives.
+//TSS/8// is a timesharing system for the DEC PDP-8 originally designed by Adrian van de Goor, a grad student at CMU and later enhanced and sold as a complete system by DEC in 1968.  It originally required a PDP-8, 8I or 8E with an RF08 or DF32 attached to at least one RS08 or a DS32 drive for swapping and filesystem.  At LCM+L TSS/8 has been modified by Josh Dersch to run on a PDP-8/e using an RK05 for swap/filesystem.
-**SURVIVAL NOTES:**
+Each user gets a virtual PDP-8 with 4KW of memory, and a directory on disk for file storage.
-  - Commands must be typed in UPPER CASE
+**Logging in:**
-  - LOGIN will not echo
-  - Job control: //CTRL-BS// or //^BS// will suspend the existing job and return to the monitor - //START// will reenter
+After connecting, you will be at the login "." prompt.  Type
-  - //R CAT// will list your directory
-  - //R BASIC// will run BASIC
+''LOGIN <PPN> <PASSWORD>''
-  - //R LISP// will run LISP 1.5
-  - //R HELP:*// will list all subsystems that have online HELP documentation
+Substituting your PPN and password.  **NONE OF THE ABOVE INPUT WILL ECHO** -- if it does it means you've connected to a session that was not properly logged out -- type "LOGOUT" to log out and then try logging in again.
+**Logging out:**
+The ''LOGOUT'' or ''KJOB'' command will log you out of the system.  ''K'' can be used as a shorthand for this.  It is important to log out before disconnecting as the system will not automatically log you out.
+If for some reason you seem to be stuck, try ''^BS'' or ''CTRL-B S''.  Further details about what ''^B'' does can be found down below in the **Stopping a running program** section.
+**Running programs**
+Running a program from the system library or from your directory can be accomplished via the ''R'' command:
+''R CAT''
+will run the CATALOG program, displaying the contents of your directory.  The currently available programs in the system library are:
+<code>
+DISK FILES FOR USER  0, 2 ON 19-DEC-79
+NAME      SIZE  PROT    DATE
+PALD  .SAV  16   12  31-MAR-76      - PAL Assembler
+LOADER.SAV   4   12  31-MAR-76      - Binary loader
+FORT  .SAV   6   12  31-MAR-76      - FORTRAN II
+FOSL  .SAV   6   12  31-MAR-76      - FORTRAN system
+PIP   .SAV  10   12  31-MAR-76      - Peripheral Interchange Program
+SYSTAT.SAV   5   12  31-MAR-76      - Displays system status
+EDIT  .SAV   8   12  31-MAR-76      - Line-oriented text editor
+FOCAL .SAV  16   12  31-MAR-76      - FOCAL language interpreter
+BASIC .SAV  38   12  31-MAR-76      - BASIC language interpreter
+CAT   .SAV   6   12  31-MAR-76      - Disk catalog
+PUTR  .SAV  21   12   3-FEB-84      - File transfer utility
+ODTHI .SAV   2   12  29-FEB-84      - ODT debugger
+FLAP  .SAV   1   12   7-APR-84      - Absolute assembler
+PTLOAD.SAV   1   12  29-APR-84      - Paper tape loader
+CHESS .SAV  17   12  11-NOV-74      - CHEKMO II chess program
+ALGOL .SAV  32   12  21-NOV-79      - TSS/8 ALGOL (DECUS 8-330)
+ACTUNG.SAV   5   12  21-NOV-79      - Prints a cute message
+LISP  .SAV  17   12  25-NOV-79      - LISP 1.5 interpreter (DECUS-8-102a)
+</code>
+**Stopping a running program**
+''CTRL-B'' indicates to the system that you want send a command to the ''Monitor''.  Once you hit Ctrl-B, the following input will be sent to the monitor and executed.  To stop any program while it is running, Type ''CTRL-B'' followed by ''S'' and Carriage return.  ''S'' is the monitor's STOP command, sending it will cause the currently executing program to stop.  The program can be restarted from the monitor with the ''START'' command.
+**Talking to other users**
+The ''TALK'' program can be used to send messages to other terminals.  Use ''SYSTAT'' to see what other users are logged onto the system, e.g.:
+<code>
+.SYSTAT
+STATUS OF TSS/8.24 DEC PDP-8 #1 AT 12:47:30 ON 19 DEC 79
+UPTIME 19:06:31
+JOB      WHO     WHERE      WHAT       STATUS     RUNTIME
+     10, 0      K00      BASIC      KEY   ^Q    00:00:04
+     10, 0      K01      SYSTAT     ^BS   ^Q    00:00:00
+     10, 0      K04      HI         ^BS   ^Q    00:00:00
+      0, 2      K06      CAT        ^BS   ^Q    00:00:00
+      0, 1      K07      SYSTAT     RUN   ^Q    00:00:00
+AVAILABLE CORE  4K   FREE CORE=252
+BUSY DEVICES    NONE
+FREE DISK SEGMENTS
+</code>
+The "WHERE" column shows the console (K00 through K07) the user is logged into.  To send a message to a specific console, type:
+''TALK <CONSOLE #> <YOUR MESSAGE HERE>''
+So for example,
+''TALK 2 HEY, CHECK OUT THIS COOL PROGRAM I WROTE''
+Sends a friendly message to console K02.
+**Documentation**
+The Edusystem-50 manual provides fairly accurate documentation for the version of TSS/8.24 running at LCM+L, and is available at [[http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp8/tss8/DEC-08-E50UA-A-D_UG_Aug75.pdf]].  It covers user-related activities on the system and covers using the PAL-D assembler, BASIC, FOCAL and numerous utilities.
+Detailed documentation for BASIC is available at [[http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp8/tss8/DEC-T8-KJZA-D-TSS-8_BASIC_8_Programming_Manual_Mar1969.pdf]].
+ALGOL documentation can be found at [[http://svn.so-much-stuff.com/svn/trunk/pdp8/src/decus/8-213/decus-8-213.pdf ]] with [[http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/decus/pdp8/8-330_tss8_ALGOL.pdf ]] covering the TSS/8-specific changes.
+LISP is documented at [[http://svn.so-much-stuff.com/svn/trunk/pdp8/src/decus/8-102a/decus-8-102A.pdf]]
-The EDUsystem-50 provides fairly accurate documentation for TSS/8.24 and is available here:
-[[http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp8/tss8/DEC-08-E50UA-A-D_UG_Aug75.pdf]]

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