DECUS 12 BIT SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWSLETTER

This November 1976 DECUS 12 Bit SIG Newsletter (Number 19) covers administrative updates, significant software and system challenges, user-contributed solutions, and new utility programs.

Key topics include:

• OS/8 Date Problem: A major discussion addresses the impending 1977 date overflow for the OS/8 12-bit date word. The newsletter solicits user input on potential solutions, including a proposed compromise involving additional bits for extended years (up to 2001) or a "back eight years" display scheme for dates beyond 1977.
• Administrative & Feedback: Contact information for contributions (Robert Hassinger, Lars Palmer) and submission guidelines are provided. The DECUS/US Executive Board's refusal to grant SIG representation is noted for discussion at the Fall Symposium. Chase Ambler expresses frustration over high OS/8 update costs ($400) and seeks help finding affordable typewriter-quality terminals. DECUS encourages submissions of RX01 diskette programs to its library.

• Software Enhancements & Utilities:

  • Hal Singer details FILSAV, an OS/8 ASCII File Saving Program for data recovery, and modifications to EDU25 to create a multi-user BASIC system.
  • H. Dominic J. Covvey shares SUPERFOCAL (a superset of FOCAL 1969 with an integral OS), and information on clinical systems (CLIFFS, HEMO) and a light pen display system (LP).
  • Harold E. Cronin introduces NAVY FOCAL, a 12K OMSI FOCAL version for PDP8e with various I/O and virtual memory features.
  • Phil Siemans submitted Mode A EAE routines for FORTRAN II. Friedemann Brauer revised Sykes 7100/7250 floppy disk device handlers (FLOPSY, FLOPNS) for DECUS submission.
  • Vernon Blackmore developed OS/8 programs KBLD (for KV8 display integration with OS/8 components) and LOG (for machine usage tracking and mass storage allocation).

• System-Specific Issues & Patches:

  • Charles Lasner describes the Polytechnic Question Society Monitor System (P?S/8), a PDP-8 development environment, and reports issues with the RX01 floppy disk system and details various device handlers.
  • Jim Van Zee discusses the deprecation of the OS/8 .DEASSIGN command and provides an ODT-based workaround.
  • Lars Palmer introduces tools to improve RALF code handling, including a program to integrate FORTRAN statements as comments and a patch for CREF to better support RALF.
  • I.M. Templeton provides notes on adapting FRTS (V4) and BASIC (V4A) for non-TD8E 2-page system handlers.
  • Ernst Lopes Cardozo describes a "CHAIN & RETURN" subroutine implementation for OS/8 and a BASIC.FF patch to fix core location modification issues.
  • Dan Smith identifies a bug in RALF V60A (FORTRAN IV) related to incorrect relocatable output with 2-page nonsystem handlers.

• Console & Interface Discussion: Christopher F.F. Mackay developed an RX01 bootstrap and seeks experience linking a Nuclear Data ND100 to Omnibus 8. Hans Peter Stoehrel inquires about OS/8 FORTRAN IV handling of upper/lower case and DOUBLE PRECISION software. Brian Converse offers a detailed critique of the PDP-12 console design (preferring the LINC's), highlights issues with PDP-12 E-stop/EXAM functions and a FAST SAMPLE mode interrupt problem, and envisions an LSI-11-based "console scope." The newsletter also suggests standardizing the RUBOUT mechanism to a single backslash for OS/8 in virtual/timesharing environments.