DECUS 12 BIT SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP NEWSLETTER

This September 1977 newsletter for the DECUS 12 Bit Special Interest Group announces the Fall Symposium (Nov 28 - Dec 1 in San Diego), detailing various sessions, workshops, and poster presentations on PDP-8 product lines, OS/8 software (like EULER and FUTIL updates), and 12-bit hardware topics.

The newsletter reports that the DECUS Library is discontinuing PDP-12 support in favor of a PDP-8 configuration and will begin distributing DEC Software Standards. It highlights recent software submissions including COMPAF (file comparison), BRAILE (braille embosser), extensions to OS/8 BASIC (e.g., for data acquisition and games), and HYFOC (hybrid FOCAL for EAL580/PDP-8e systems).

A significant portion is dedicated to member contributions and technical discussions. This includes an improved 'DIRECT V5' directory listing program with enhanced sorting and output options, as well as several user-submitted ODT patches for OS/8 components (EDIT, BASIC, BRTS, FRTS) to implement features like backspace/erase on video terminals. John Van Essen details his 'CCLX' extension for the Command Line Interpreter and modifications to SABR, also questioning DEC's software copyright policies. Stuart Dole shares methods for signed/unsigned compares and co-routines.

The document also features a comprehensive list of OS/8 system bugs across various modules (ABSLDR, BASIC, BATCH, CCL, DIRECT, EDIT, FORTRAN II, LOADER, KEYBOARD MONITOR, PAL8, RESORC, SRCCOM). Other topics include improved rounding in FORTRAN IV and a fix for the FORLIB 'SYNC' routine. Member letters discuss the challenges of extending OS/8 BASIC for larger memory, communication between OS/8 and IBM VM370, an overview of Intersil 6100-based PDP-8 microcomputers, and a detailed comparison of OS/8 versus RT-11 by a user who transitioned to the latter. Issues regarding standardizing numeric date formats (advocating ISO 2014) and the complexities of modifying software for elongated output lines are also addressed.