4K Paper Tape Software Kit

This document describes the 4K Paper Tape Software Kit (PTS-8), a collection of programs designed to aid PDP-8 users in program development. The kit includes:

• EDIT (Symbolic Editor): A flexible editor for creating and modifying ASCII source files, allowing insertion, deletion, listing, and changing of text blocks. It offers a search feature and character-by-character editing, requiring approximately 1000 memory locations.

• ASSEMBLERS:

  • PAL III: A basic, two-pass assembler (with an optional third pass) that translates symbolic PAL mnemonics into PDP-8 machine instructions. It supports high- or low-speed paper tape and console terminal I/O and performs error diagnosis.
  • MACRO-8: An advanced, two-pass assembler (with an optional third pass) that builds upon PAL III, adding features like user-defined macros, double-precision integers, floating-point constants, and more. It also requires 4K of memory.

• FLOATING POINT MATH PACKAGES: Three packages offering optimized trade-offs between speed, accuracy, and hardware configuration for floating-point arithmetic. They include 23-bit packages (one for use with the KE8-E Extended Arithmetic Element) and a 27-bit package for greater accuracy on a smaller number range. These packages contain interpreters for floating-point pseudo-instructions and can be used in interpretive mode or as subroutines. They require about 800 decimal storage locations.

• Other Programs:
  • Binary Loader and Help Loader: A program to accept and store other programs.
  • ODT and DDT: Service programs for running binary programs, examining registers, changing contents, and making alterations.
  • Octal Memory Dump: Lists memory locations on the terminal.

Minimum Hardware Required: 4K PDP-8 and an LT33 Teletype Terminal.

Optional Hardware Supported: High-Speed Paper Tape Reader/Punch and additional memory up to 32K.

The software is furnished under a license for use on a single CPU and can be copied and modified for that CPU's use, with copyright notices retained. Ordering information is provided for different PDP-8 models.