DEC PDP-10 Emulation

DEC PDP-10 Emulation

Last Updated: 12AUG01

Step 1. Obtain an emulator:

ts10 written by Timothy Stark
- KS10 Emulation, KL10 and VAX emulation being worked on
- Primarily for Linux
simh written by Bob Supnik
- KS10 Emulation as well as many platforms besides the PDP-10
- Good multiplatform support
- Current Version 2.6b
- The Win32 executables for 2.5 and 2.6b are available courtesy of Douglas Quebbeman
simh w/DZ11 patches Arthur Krewat's site
- Current Version 2.6a

Step 2. Obtain Installation Documentation:

TOPS-10 7.03 Monitor Installation Guide (text) Someones site
TOPS-10 7.04 Monitor Installation Guide (PDF) Al Kossow's site
TOPS-20 4.1 installation procedure from Bob Supnik (Part 1) (Part 2)
The TOPS-20 KL Model B Installation Guide 7.0 has some good information that can be of help in installing TOPS-20 4.1.

Step 3. Obtain Software:

TOPS-10 7.03 Distribution Tim Shoppa's site
1. The distribution Tape
2. MPE - (CPNSER) - an unbundled product No copy known to exist
3. DECnet-10 - an unbundled product No copy known to exist
4. Bootable Media (KL10) (KS10) You'll need the KS10 tape
5. DEC-Supported CUSP Distribution (tape 1) (tape 2)
6. Customer Supported Tape
7. Tools Tape
TOPS-10 7.04 Distribution (currently not running on emulators) Primarily Tim Shoppa's site
1. The distribution Tape
2. MPE - (CPNSER) - an unbundled product Probably not usable
3. DECnet-10 - an unbundled product (all that exists is a DECnet-10 Supplemental Tape which is unusable)
4. DEC-Supported CUSP Distribution (tape 1) (tape 2)
5. Customer Supported Tape
6. Customer Supported Tools Tape
7. RSX20F - DECtapes (KL10-D sites)
8. RSX20F - Floppy diskettes (KL10-E/R sites) John Wilson's site
TOPS-20 4.1 Distribution (I'm still trying to figure out what is needed) Tim Shoppa's site
1. TOPS-20 V4.1 2020 Installation tape
2. TOPS-20 V4.1 2020 Distribution tape one of two (2nd tape doesn't appear to exist)
3. TOPS-20 V4.1 Tools tape

Step 4. Obtain Further Documentation

Tim Shoppa's TOPS-10 V7.04 Doc Archive

TOPS-10 Operating Systems Command Manual (PDF) (HTML)
TOPS-10 Crash Analysis Guide (PDF) (HTML)
TOPS-10 Monitor Calls Manual Volume 1 (PDF) (HTML)
TOPS-10 Monitor Calls Manual Volume 2 (PDF) (HTML)
TOPS-10 Monitor Tables Description (PDF) (HTML)
TOPS-10 Operator's Command Reference Manual (PDF) (HTML)
TOPS-10 Operator's Guide (PDF) (HTML)
TOPS-10 Software Installation Guide (PDF) (HTML)
TOPS-10 Stopcodes Specification (PDF) (HTML)
TOPS-10 User Utilities Manual (PDF) (HTML)

Related Links

The Computer History Simulation Project (simh)

Arthur Krewat's Website

The PDP-10 Software Archive

The 36bit.org website

Joe Smith's PDP-10 page

Carl R. Friend's KI-10 Webpage

The Lyrics website includes a link to "Customer Subitted Programs" where you can find a copy of simh 2.6b for Windows.

Outdated Information

Prior to the discovery of the TOPS-10 7.03 MIG I'd written a Installation of TOPS-10 v7.03 document and Michael Thompson has done an updated version of this document.