Back in my day, we punched tape instead of each other
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
- Platform: Heathkit H11 a LSI-11/03 PDP-11 (on loan)
- IO: Punched paper tape drive (on loan)
- Level masters: Mark and Adrian
- Difficulty: Easy
A secret message has been written to a paper tape. Your mission is to write a PDP-11 program to operate the H11 paper tape reader in order to reach this tape. A RS-232 controller is your only form of output.
This level is still under development, we haven't actually created a secret paper tape yet or the proof of concept program.
Working Development Tools
Tools needing further development
- Mark's PDP-11 ODT memory dumper -- allows you to use the built-in hardware debugging of the LSI-11/03 (DEC ODT console over serial) to dump out ranges of active memory addresses to your PC. Was written but yet tested -- code needs to be posted.
- PDP-11 memory loader -- allows you to use the built-in DEC ODT console to load a program into memory over serial. Not yet started.
Documentation needing development
- H11 documentation provided on request.
- Should link to PDP-11 assembly documentation.
- Need to write abbreviated instructions on how to build gcc for PDP-11 cross compiling.
- Should link to C documentation, but note that c libraries are not available.
- Should write summary doc of memory address assignment and meaning of registers for serial card and tape reader.