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Digital Equipment Corporation
l\4aynard, IVIassachusetts

PDP-12

LAP6-DIAL

PDP-12
LAP6-DIAL

PROGRAMMER'S
REFERENCE MANUAL

For addiMonal copies of this documenl-, order No.
Digital Equipment Corporation,

DIGITAL

EQUIPMENT

Maynard, Mass.

CORPORATION

DEC-12-SE2D-D from Program Library
01754

•

Price: $2.00

MAYNARD, MASSACHUSETTS

1st-

Edition February 1970

2nd Printing (Rev) August 1970

The material in tliis manual is for information purposes and is subject to change without notice.

The following are trademarks of Digital Equipment
Corporation, Maynard, Massachusetts

DEC

PDP

FLIP CHIP

FOCAL
COMPUTER LAB

DIGITAL

LAP6-DIAL is an Editor, filing system, and Assembler for use with the PDP-12 computer. The Editor and filing
portion are derived from the basic

LINC program LAP6

by Mary Allen Wilkes of Washington University. The

assembly portion is derived from several programs used for the PDP-8 computer including PAL-D

2
.

The Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) wishes to express to the author, Mary Allen Wilkes (Clark), and the

Computer Research Laboratory of Washington University,

St. Louis, Missouri, its appreciation for the develop-

ment set forth in LAP6, as well as its thanks for permission to use parts of the LAP6 program.

M. A. Wilkes, LAP6 Handbook, Computer Research Laboratory Tech. Rep. No. 2, Washington University,
St. Louis,

May 1, 1967.

PAL-D Assembler Programmer's Reference Manual DEC-D8-ASAA-D.

CONTENTS
Page

CHAPTER!

USING DIAL

1.1

introducHon

1.2

Sysf-em

1.3

Source Programs

1-2

1.4

Binary Programs

1-3

1.5

Current Line

1-3

1.6

Line Calls

1-3

1.7

Files

1-4

1.8

Monitor Commands

1-4

1.9

Error

Recovery

1-6

OperaHon

1-1

1-2

CHAPTER 2 THE EDITOR
2.1

Text and Command Mode

2-1

2.2

Using the Editor Cursor

2-1

2.3

Character Editing

2-2

2.4

Line Insertion

2-3

2.5

Current Line Deletion

2-3

2.6

Large Section Deletion

2-4

2.7

Current Line Formatting

2-5

2.8

Handling Large Programs

2-6

2.9

Overlapped I/O

2-6

2.10

Use of EXIT

2-7

2.11

Leftmost Cursor Position

2-7

CHAPTERS ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE
3.1

Statement Syntax

3-1

3.1.1

Tags

3-1

3.1.2

Operators

3-1

3.1.3

Operands

3-2

3.1.4

Comments

3-2

3.2

Symbols

3-2

3.2.1

Types of Symbols

3-2

3.2.2

Use of Symbols

3-4

CONTENTS (Cont)
Page

3.3

Numbers

3-4

3.4

Expressions

3-5

3.5

Address Assignments

3-5

3.5.1

Legal Characters

3-6

3.5.2

Illegal

Characters

3-7

3.6

Pseudo-operators

3-7

3.6.1

PMODE

3-7

3.6.2

LMODE

3-8

3.6.3

SEGMNTn

3-8

3.6.4

FIELD n

3-8

3.6.5

PAGEn

3-8

3.6.6

LISTAPE n

3-8

3.6.7

DECIMAL

3-9

3.6.8

OCTAL

3-9

3.6.9

NOLIST

3-9

3.6.10

LIST

3-9

3.6.11

TEXT

3-9

3.6.12

EJECT

3-10

3.6.13

ASMIFxn

3-10

3.6.14

ASMSKPn

3-11

3.6.15

SAVSYM n

3-11

3.6.16

LODSYM

3-12

CHAPTER 4 DIAL MONITOR COMMANDS
4.1

Assemble Program

4-1

4.2

Assemble and List Program

4-1

4.3

Assemble and Quick List Program

4-2

4.4

Save Binary

4-4

4.5

Load Binary

4-5

4.6

Add Binary

4-5

4.7

Zero

4-7

4.8

Save Program

4-8

4.9

Add Program

4-8

CONTENTS (Cont)
Page

4.10

Clear Working Area

4-9

4.11

Display Index

4-9

4.12

Print index

4-10

4.13

Print Source

4-11

4.14

Exit

4-11

4.15

User's Monitor Command

4-11

CHAPTER 5 PERIPHERAL INTERCHANGE PROGRAM (PIP)
5.1

Initializing PIP

5-1

5.2

Control Commands

5-1

5.3

AAode Options

5-2

5.4

Binary or Source Input

5-2

5.5

Binary or Source Output

5-4

5.6

Auxiliary Mode

5-6

5.7

Errors

5-7

5.8

Recovery

5-7

5.9

PIP Examples

5-8

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A DIAL-V2 vs. DIAL-MS
A.l

Features

A-1

A. 2

System Build for DIAL-MS

A-1

A. 3

System Initialization

A-2

A. 4

System Startup

A-3

APPENDIX B ASSEMBLY ERROR MESSAGES

-B-l

APPENDIX C SUMMARIES
C.l

Command

C-1

C,2

Pseudo-operators

C-2

VII

APPENDICES (Cont)
Page

LODSYM, and LISTAPE

C.2.1

Assembling Lorge Programs with SAVSYM,

C.3

Character Set

C-6

C.4

Instructions

C-7

C.4.1

PDP-8 Symbols

C-7

C.4. 2

LINC Symbols

C-9

C.5

Operators and Special Characters

C-10

C.6

LAP6-DIAL Tape Allocation during Assembly

C-1

C.6.1

Allocotion of LAP6-DIAL Area

C-12

C.6.2

DIAL-MS Disk Allocation

C-12

C.7

Sample Program

C-12

APPENDIX D

C-3

I/O ROUTINES FOR DIAL-MS

D.I

Calling fhe Routines

D-I

D.2

READ and WRITE

D-1

D.3

MOVE

D-2

D.4

Bootstrap Routine

D-3

INDEX

ATTENTION
The LAP6-DIAL

tapes distributed by the Digital Equipment Corporation Progrom Library contain two versions of

DIAL: DIAL-V2, for 4K tape systems, and DIAL-MS, for 8K and larger systems, porticularly those using disks.
Users may decide to use one or both systems. See Appendix

AJ for differences between the two systems. The

system In the system area (blocks 300-345, 350-367) of the distributed tapes is DIAL-V2. Therefore, any user

who wants this system may use It immediately via the startup procedure in Appendix A, 4. DIAL-MS is distributed
as four binary files, with a program

(GENASYS) for combining them Into a DIAL-MS system. Appendix A.

describes the procedure for Initially building o
Inltiolization procedure,

DIAL-MS system on tape. Appendix A. 3 describes the DIAL-MS

which must be performed on a DIAL-MS tape whenever:

The tape Is used with a new configuration

The disk Is overwritten

A non-DIAL disk is In the drive (RK08 only).

Note that the GENASYS procedure must always be followed by the initialization procedure. GENASYS will
allow the user to perform the initialization automatically If the DIAL-MS tape built by GENASYS Is on
unit 0.

LAP6-DIAL is referred to as DIAL In this manual.

Chapter 1
Using DIAL
1.1

INTRODUCTION

DIAL provides the PDP-12 user with a keyboard operating system that includes editing, assembling, and file
handling capabilities. An interactive CRT display permits quick user response; a file index and peripheral device interchange program facilitate file manipulation.

TTie

minimum hardware configuration for using DIAL-V2 is a PDP-12B system, composed of:
a.

4096-word, 12-bit, 1.6 usee core memory

TC12 LINCtape automatic control

Two TU55 magnetic tape transports

VC12 LINCscope control and character buffer

VR12 7 in. X 9 in. CRT display (scope)

ASR33 Teletype®

Note that the DIAL character Editor is designed to be operated with an AD12 Analog-to-Dlgital Converter and
Multiplexer.

DIAL-MS requires 8K of core memory and will support the additional hardware:

Tlie

One or two DF32 disks (32K to 64K words)

One to four RS08 disks (256K to IM words) and RF08 controller

One RK08 disk (800K words)

PDP-12 includes a display for viewing source programs in the source working area

About 400 characters

can be displayed at a time on the scope.

Tlie

DIAL system is provided to the user on LINCtape

2
.

Each tape contains:

A reserved area occupied by DIAL

A working area for temporary storage of user files

A file area for permanent storage of user files

The source working area moy be on tape or on disk (refer to Appendix C, Paragraph C.6).
2

A LINCtape contains 51 2^^ blocks of 256 12-bit words.

^Teletype Is a registered trademark of Teletype Corporation.

1-1

The DIAL area of fhe tape contains the DIAL Editor, Assembler, command routines, and a file index. User

programs are saved as named files in the file area of the system tape(s) and/or disk(s). DIAL tape and disk
allocation is detailed in Appendix C, Paragraph C.6.

1.2

SYSTEM OPERATION

A LINCtape containing DIAL must be designated as the system tape and assigned to tape transport 0. Most
DIAL operations may be performed with only one LINCtape containing DIAL, but many procedures in DIAL-V2,
such as assembling programs, require another tape on unit 1 . Most efficient operation is achieved when both
tapes contain

DIAL systems.

When the system is started (refer to Appendix A, Paragraph A. 3), it automatically enters the text mode. A
source progrom may then be typed into the source working area character by character via the Teletype keyboard

and will be displayed as it is entered. DIAL automatically assigns lines numbers and formats the input. The DIAL
Editor may be used to add, modify, or delete characters, lines or large sections of the program, as detoiled in

Chopter 2.

A Monitor command may also be issued to a system program via the Teletype keyboard. When called, the
Monitor writes out its buffer pointers and is replaced by the called program. When the system program operation is completed, the Monitor is automatically called back into core and retrieves its pointers.

7lie

DIAL Assembler is implemented by three Monitor commands that provide user control of the type of listing

generated. The Peripheral Interchange Program, PIP, permits any file to be moved between interfaced I/O
devices. The rest of this chapter details basic concepts and terminology of the DIAL system

1.3

SOURCE PROGRAMS

A DIAL source program is a group of lines of program input via the Teletype in a symbolic language composed
of

PDP-8 and LINC mode instructions (refer to Appendix C, Paragraph C.4). Using DIAL, the program can be

typed into the source working area and altered with the Editor, stored in a named file, displayed on the scope,
or printed on the Teletype.

A line number (l-777p) appears to the left of each line on the scope and indicates

the sequential location of that line in the source.

Tlie

program text is placed in an input buffer in core; the buffer is 256 words long and can accommodate 512

ASCII characters. Up to 64 blocks of source program can be input to DIAL. As the input buffer is filled, the
text is written out in the source working area which starts at block 370 (see tape

C.6), Only the program currently in the working area can be edited.

Refer to Introduction to Programming,
decimal -to-octal conversion.

Appendix C, Parograph

source program input exceeds 64 blocks

DEC C-18, for detailed information on computer fundamentals, such as

1-2

or 4094 lines,

can not be assembled; the size of the source program must be reduced, or the program can be

divided into two or more parts by using the Assembler pseudo-ops SAVSYM and

LODSYM, explained in

Appendix C, Paragraph C.2.

1.4

BINARY PROGRAMS

A binary program is the result of an assembly of a source program. The Assembler converts the symbolic source
language into binary machine instructions. The binary program is stored in the binary working area and can be
saved as a named file (refer to section 4,4) or loaded for immediate execution (refer to Section 4,5),

1.5 CURRENT LINE
Every source display has a current line number. By definition,

it is

the last line number on the display. The

current line is noted by an indicator (two dashes) on the right-hand side of the scope on the same display line
as the current line. The number

been cleared

appears as the current line number whenever the source working area hos

Each time RETURN is typed to terminate a source line, the next sequential current line number

appears on the scope. From

to 17_ lines can be displayed at a time on the scope, as determined by the setting

of A/D knob 7 which maintains an approximate constant number of lines.

1.6 LINE CALLS
By issuing a line call when using the DIAL Editor, the designated line in the source program is displayed as the
last line of text

on the scope and a new line number will appear as the current line. To display a new current

line, use either of the following methods:

- LJ where

Type

L is the number of the line to be the new current line. The right arrow

LINE FEED key and J means press the RETURN key. The display will now be
positioned with line Las the last line displayed,
indicates pressing the

Type ALTMODE and then one of the following keys:

Key

When only line

Action

Reposition the display forward one frame

Reposition the display forward one line

Reposition the display backward one frame

Reposition the display backward one line

seen on the scope at startup,

may merely indicate that the source program has been

positioned at line 1 and the source working area is not clear.

1-3

These ALTMODE key combinations must be typed as the first characters on a new line.

A frame is defined as the

number of lines currently on the display, as set by A/D knob 7.

The last line of the source program in the working area can be displayed by requesting a line number greater
than the last line number. Similarly, the first line of the source program can be displayed by calling line

line 7777.

1.7 FILES
Tlie

DIAL system is file oriented. A program, either source or binary, is saved as a file in contiguous blocks of

tape (disk) in the file area, blocks

through 267 and 470 through 777. Binary files require a header block for

pointers. Every tape contains a file index in blocks 346 and 347 for the binary and/or source programs on that

tape. (Refer to Appendix C, Paragraph C.6 for tape and disk allocation.) File names, starting block, and length
in blocks are

recorded in the index. When a file is entered, the user gives it a name which must be 1

to 8 dis-

playable keyboard characters in length, of which at least one character is non-numeric. The characters slash,
question mark, and comma should not be used. Only spaces in the middle or at the end are considered to be part
of the name; leading spaces are ignored.

A full index can accommodate 63 different names; however, any name

in the index can describe both a source and a binary program,

thereby doubling the number of possible file entries

to 126.

When a file is being saved, the unused file space nearest the index within the file area that is large enough to
contain the file being saved is the next area used. Thus, the location of entries on the tape can be controlled

by their order of filing. To minimize tape movement, the most frequently used files should be placed nearest to
blocks 346 and 347 during file assignment.

.8 MONITOR

COMMANDS

The DIAL programs are requested through DIAL Monitor commands and cause DIAL to enter command mode. To
issue a

command, use the following procedure:

Turn A/D knob 3 all the way to the right.
Press the

LINE FEED key on the Teletype and observe

the right arrow in the lower left corner of the scope.
3.

Type the command (refer to Chapters 4 and 5).

Press the

RETURN key.

Improperly formatted or spelled commands are ignored and are automatically erased from the scope.

1-4

The

Monitor commands, including PIP, are summarized in this section and are treated in greater detail in
Chapters 4 and 5.
transports.

In this manual,

a reference to tape unit

Items in parentheses in the table are optional; if

means the eighth channel on TU55 LINCtape

NAME is omitted, the user's program that

was most recently manipulated is used.

The unit number required in DIAL commands can be between

and 7 in DIAL-V2 and between

and 17 in

DIAL-MS, as follows:
Device

Acc(sptoible Unit Numbers

Logical Disk Units

8 LINCtapes

0-7

RS08 disk

10 - 11

2 RS08 disks

10- 13

3 RS08 disks

10- 15

4 RS08 disks

10 - 17

RK08 disk

10- 15

0-3
0-5
0-7
0-5

DIAL MS only:
1

Each RS08 or RK08 disk is considered to be broken into smaller logical disks, each with its own directory, A
logical unit is the equivalent of one LINCtape, 1000_ blocks; thus,

of two logical disk units.
unit number.

areas.

one RS08 disk is considered to be made up

When issuing a DIAL command, the logical disk unit is addressed by an acceptable

Note that DF32 disks cannot be addressed; they are used only to hold DIAL-MS and the working

no unit is specified, unit

assumed.

Command

Function

— AS (N,U)

Assemble

Assemble and List

(L,L,)(N,U)

-* QL(L,L,)(N,U)

— LO (N,U)
— PS (L,)(L,)(N,U)
-* AB(A,)N,U

— SB N,U(,M(FA))
— SP N,U
- AP (L,L,)N,Uor B,U
— DX (,U)

Assemble and Quick List
Load Binary
Print Source

Add Binary
Save Binary

Save Program (source)

Add Program (source)
Display Index

-* PX (,U)

Print Index

—- CL

Clear Source Working Area

—* ZE

Zero Binary Working Area

~*"

Peripheral Interchonge

-* EX

Exit

1-5

Command (cont)

Function (cont)

—^ MC X(Y),U

User's Monitor Command

—

Line Call

Legend:

File name

Tape (0-7) or disk (10-17) unit

Line number

Start mode (L for

Address (4 digits)

Field

Block number

X(Y) =

Character in Accumulator

LINC or P for PDP-8)

)

Optional parameter

Press

LINE FEED key

Press

RETURN key

(

1.9 ERROR RECOVERY
If

an illegal command is requested at any time while using DIAL,

to return to

DIAL.

displayed on the scope. Press RETURN

No data is lost and the correct procedure may be requested. If the error occurs while using

PIP (refer to Chapter 5), press RETURN to generate the initiol PIP display.

If at

any time while using DIAL a typing error occurs before RETURN has been pressed to terminate the line,

the RUBOUT key may be used to delete the incorrect input. Press the RUBOUT key once for each charactrer to

be deleted from the left. Each time RUBOUT is typed, a backslash (\) is echoed on the Teletype.

1-6

Chapter 2

The Editor

TEXT AND COMMAND MODES

Affer starting DIAL (refer fo Appendix A), a portion of the source working area is displayed on the scope.
is

Issuing a Clear command at this time will

said to be in text mode at this time.

the source working area.

DIAL

remove any previous data from

Data may then be typed in the cleared working area when the Editor is in the text

mode. At the conclusion of an editing operation, the command EXIT should be issued so that the Editor will
save its pointers on the tape or disk.

If a

command is Issued (refer to Section

.8), the Editor enters the com-

mand mode. Both modes are under control of the Editor.

2.2

USING THE EDITING CURSOR

DIAL provides a powerful and flexible character Editor which is used in text mode to:
a.
b.
c.
d

Add or delete a single character
Add or delete a text line
Delete the current line
Delete an entire portion of the display
Add text at any location in the program

Input is automatically formatted and assigned line numbers by the Editor.

The Editor is controlled by a cursor that appears as an inverted T ( i ) on the scope with the text.

The cursor

moves in its own alley below a line of text and can scan up to 256 characters back from the last scope character
in a display.

The location of the cursor is at the current character; all editing operations occur at the current

character. The exact location of the cursor is determined by the setting of A/b knob 3.

how many spaces bock from the last character on the scope the cursor is to be placed.
has been determined by knob 3,

of spaces from the end of the text.

knob 3.

will

After the cursor location

move along with incoming text from the keyboard, always at that number

At any time, the location of the cursor may be changed by simply turning

Rotating the knob clockwise moves the cursor to the right.

sor advances to the left of the next line.
left.

That setting controls

When the end of a line is reached, the cur-

Similarly, rotating the knob counterclockwise moves the cursor to the

For normal input of data, knob 3 is initially rotated all the way to the right.

For a PDP-12B system without an AD12 and multiplexer, the Right and Left Switches are used instead of A/D

knobs 7 and 3, respectively.

played.

The setting of Right switches 8-1 1 determines the maximum number of lines dis-

The Left Switches can be set to values from 1 to 2047 to determine the position of the cursor.

ue of the Left Switches locates the cursor that many characters from the end of the text.

The val-

(All discussion in this

manual assumes a system configuration with an AD12 and multiplexer.)
Monitor commands, to enter the command mode, and line calls, to display a new current line, can be issued only

when the cursor is located at the start of a current line that has no text on it yet. Turn knob 3 all the way to the
right and press the RETURN key before issuing a Monitor command or a line call to locate the cursor correctly.

2-1

When a mistake has been noted in the previous text while in text mode, set the cursor to indicate where the correction is to be mode and use the RUBOUT key.

way to the right; text input can be continued.

After the correction has been completed, rotate knob 3 all the
If a

typing error occurs while issuing a command, only the RUB-

OUT key is required to correct it.
To facilitate understanding the operation of the Editor, the procedures described in this chapter should be tried
at the keyboard directly.

2.3

CHARACTER EDITING

A single text character may be deleted or added at any point in the displayed text during text mode.
a character, turn knob 3 to locate the cursor so that character is the current character,

key.

To delete

and press the RUBOUT

The character will be removed, and the rest of the line and the cursor will move one character to the left.

The current character is now the one that preceded the character that was deleted

Note that spaces and carriage RETURNs are considered to be one character each. To delete a carriage RETURN,
locate the cursor under the first space immediately after the last character on the line and press RUBOUT.

much of the following line as con fit on the line after the last character is moved up to that line on the scope.
In the following

example, the letter. A, is deleted from line 1.

before

RDSC 12

SCOIdSii

(press RUBOUT)

after

In this example, a carriage return

deleted.

CLR
7nP SETUP
DSC IZ
CLP
STC CURFLG

SCOPE:.
before

/CURSDP DISPLRV
/CLEHR FLRG
(press RUBOUT)

^,,

after

SCnPEn
DISPLRV

CLR
7MP SETUP
D5C 1£ CLR

STC CURFLG

2-2

/CURSOR

/CLERR FLOG

be inserted in a line of text.

Turn Knob 3 to locate the cursor under the

character that is to immediately precede the first new character.

As the additions are typed, they are echoed

In the same manner, characters may

on the Teletype and scope.

The cursor moves one space to the right for each character that is inserted

The characters 12 are added to line

below.

before
(type 12)
after

LINE INSERTION

2.4

To insert a line after Line L
1

issue a line call for Line L and insert the new line as the current line (L+1) or

position the cursor after the last character of Line L (i .e., the blank representing carriage RETURN),

and type the new line, including its RETURN.

SCOPE:.
before

CLR
7nP SETUP
CLR
STC CURFLG
LOn I

/CURSOR DISPLRV
/CLERR FLRG

(type
-t

z
3
4
5
€
7

after

SCOPE

10
11

CLR
7MP SETUP
DSC 12:
CLR
STC CURFLO
LDR 1
-10
jnp EHl

SET 12 ))

/CURSOR DISPLRy
/CLERR FLHG
—

CURRENT LINE DELETION

2.5

The current line of a display is the last line preceded by a line number that is visible on the scope (refer to Section

.5).

A source display always has a current line number and is so denoted by the horizontal indicator at

the far right of the scope.

MODE and D.

The current line of a program may be deleted at any time by typing the keys ALT-

The location of the cursor does not affect current line deletion.

moved by this operation. The preceding line becomes the new current line.

Only the current line is re-

Line 5 of the source display is

omitted in the following example.
^

In any editing operation, the cursor moves according to the setting of A/D

Knob 3.

This means the cursor is

always located the same number of spaces from the end of the text at any time in any procedure, if the knob is
unchanged. Similarly, the number of lines specified by A/D Knob 7 will be displayed on the scope after any
operation, assuming sufficient source in the Working Area.

2-3

Displayed In Field
Instruction

Comments

Tag

Keys Typed

P/L
P>/L

P TAB /L

Note that text displayed on the scope and the text printed on the Teletype by the commands PS,

LI, or

QL will

both have the same format.

2.8

HANDLING LARGE PROGRAMS

The DIAL Editor can handle text files that are up to 64 blocks long. (Assuming an average of 16 characters per
line,

about 2048 lines of code can be accommodated.) Only Monitor commands or deletions can be accepted by

the Editor when the program is 64 blocks long. To facilitate the processing of programs whose source is greater

than 64 blocks, the program can be edited in two or more sections and then combined during Assembly by using
the assembly pseudo-ops SAVSYM,

LODSYM, and LISTAPE (Refer to Appendix C.2).

a line is entered when the source working area is full, the line is automatically deleted when carriage

RETURN is typed. If any corrections are required to a source of that length before assembly, one whole block
must be deleted from the file first. Use the ALTMODE and

move one block from the program.

L deletion

(The LINCtape on unit

will

procedure (refer to Section 2.6) to re-

move or the disk lights will blink when this has

been accomplished.) Use the EXIT command (refer to Section 2. 10), ond then press the CONTinue key on the

computer console to perform the required editing while maintaining the current source program.

The Editor does not accept more than 120 characters on a line.

A carriage RETURN is automatically generated

as the 121st character. This 120-character limit holds both before and after any editing operation, such as deleting several carriage

RETURNs to make one long line. Note that a maximum of 40 characters can be displayed

on a scope line, so that a logical line of 120 characters occupies three scope lines.

2.9

OVERLAPPED I/O

When using DIAL-V2, the Editor writes on the core buffer on tape as they are being filled. While a tape operation is in process, up to 20 additional characters may be typed. The display will not be updated with the additional characters until the tape operation has been completed.

Teletype to assure the user that his input is being accepted.

However, the characters are echoed on the

the auxiliary buffer space is filled during a tape

operation, the Editor will indicate this to the user by not echoing the characters on the Teletype.

2-6

DIAL-MS

does not provide

this overlap

feature because writing is accomplished so quickly on the disk. Note, however,

that if DIAL-MS is run using tape, the lack of overlapped

I/O is noticeable.

2.10 USE OF EXIT COMMAND
At the conclusion of each editing session, an EXIT command (-EX J ) should be given to be sure the Editor
saves its pointers on tape (disk), thus enabling resumption of the program at a later time.

2. 1 1

LEFTMOST CURSOR POSITION

the setting of the cursor, as determined by A/D knob 3, provides for more characters than presently appear on

the scope, the cursor moves along at the value determined by the last character on the scope at the time the

cursor was set.

When enough characters have been added to equal the cursor setting value, the cursor jumps

back from its previous value to the location determined by the actual A/D knob 3 setting. For example,

the

cursor is set to ten characters from the end of the text, but only six characters are displayed at first, the cursor
will

jump bock when four more characters (AG, T) hove been added.
before

TAD

during

TAGTAD

after

TAG, TAD

20
20

2-7

Chapter 3

Assembly Language
Tlie

DIAL Assembler processes a DIAL source program by translating PDP-8 and LINC mode mnemonic operation

codes into binary codes for the corresponding instructions, relating symbols to their numeric values, assigning
absolute core addresses for data and instructions, and listing the program with error messages.

This chapter discusses the

gramming, DEC C-18,

3.1

DIAL syntax and semantics acceptable to the Assembler.

Refer to Introduction to Pro-

for more detailed information on programming techniques.

STATEMENT SYNTAX

DIAL source programs are usually prepared on a Teletype, with the aid of the Editor, as a sequence of statements. Each statement is written on a single line and is terminated by pressing carriage RETURN. The Assembler
interprets and processes these statements, generating one or more binary instructions or data words.

DIAL state-

ments can be typed without having to adhere to any column formatting.

There are four fields in a DIAL statement; they are identified by the order of appearance in the statement, and

by the separating, or delimiting character which follows or precedes the field. Statements are written in the
general form:
tag, operator,

operand/comment

A statement must contain at least one of these fields and may contain all four.

3.1.1

Togs

A tag is the symbolic nome used in the source program to identify the position of the statement in the program.
If

present, the tag is written first in a statement ond is terminated by o comma.

A mnemonic mochine instruction

(refer to Appendix C, Paragraph C.4) or pseudo-op (refer to Appendix C, Paragraph

C.2) may not be used as a

tag.

3.1.2 Operators

An operator may be one of the mnemonic machine instruction codes (refer to Appendix C, Paragraph

C .4), or pseudo-op codes which directs assembly processing (refer to Section 3.5).

Operators are ter-

minated with a space if an operand follows or with a semicolon, slash, or carriage return if no operond
follows.

Note that a semicolon anywhere in a statement, except in a comment, is interpreted by the

DIAL-V2 Assembler as the logical end of the statement.

3-1

terminates the line at that location and in-

crements the program's line numbers by 1 line for each semicolon; this causes the line numbers on an

Assembly listing to not agree with those seen on the scope.

This incrementation allows several instruc-

tions to be written on one line as, for example, RTR; RTR; RTR.

For DIAL -MS, semicolon does not in-

crement the listing line numbers so that they agree with those on the scope.

3.1.3 Operands
Operands are usually the symbolic address of the data to be accessed when an instruction is executed, or the
input data or arguments of a pseudo-op. In each cose, interpretation of operands in a statement depends on the

statement operator. Operands are terminated by a carriage return, semicolon, or slosh.

3.1.4 Comments
The programmer may add notes to a statement following a slash character. Such comments do not affect assembly
processing or program execution, but are useful in the program listing for later analysis or debugging.

3.2

SYMBOLS

3.2.1

Types of Symbols

There are two main groups of symbols, as follows:
a. Permanent Symbols

The assembler has in its permanent symbol table definitions of its operation codes, operate commands,
and many input-output transfer (lOT) micro-instructions (refer to Appendix C, Paragraph C.4). Any
symbol in the Assembler's permanent symbols may be used without prior definition by the user.
Initially, the Assembler's permanent symbol table in memory contains the mnemonic op codes of the
machine instructions of LINC mode programming and the Assembler pseudo-op codes. The symbols for
PDP-8 mode programming remain on the DIAL system unit. As the source program is processed, new
symbols defined in the source program are added to the user's symbol table.
If the programming mode is to be changed to PDP-8 mode, the pseudo-op PMODE must precede the
new program input to alert the Assembler'. This instructs the Assembler to retrieve the PDP-8 mode

permanent symbols in memory. (The same core memory block is used for the permanent symbols of
both modes.) Similarly, the pseudo-op LMODE must precede a change to LINC mode programming,,
b. User-defined Symbols

User-defined symbols, to be used as statement tags, operators, or operands, are composed according to the following rules:
(1)

The characters must be alphabetic (A-Z) or numeric (0-9).

(2)

The first character must be alphabetic. Leading numeric characters are ignored.

Distinguish between

PMODE and the LINC mode instruction PDP which modifies the hardware at run time.

3-2

(3)

Only the first six legal characters of any symbol are meaningful to the Assembler; the remainder,

if any,

are ignored.

(4)

The maximum number of symbols is 895.

(5)

The Assembler assigns values according to the following table:

Used after

LMODE

PMODE

Defined

LMODE

lObits^

12 bits

after

PMODE

12 bits

(See Section 3.6 for definition of LMODE and

PMODE).

The programmer can use two methods to specify the value to be assigned to a symbol:
a.

When the first symbol of a statement is terminated by a comma, it is assigned a value equal to the
Current Location Counter (CLC). Any instruction or dota word in the program may be so tagged.
For example:

*llZ((2f

TAG,

CLR

JMP A
B,

STC B

The symbol TAG is assigned a value of 0100; the symbol B, a value of 0102; and the symbol A,
If a programmer attempts to define the same symbol as a label again, it is redefined as the user requested, but the error message ID is given. (Refer to Appendix B.)
a value of 0103.

The programmer may insert new symbols with their assigned values directly into the symbol table by
using a direct assignment statement of the form

symbol= value

where the value may be a number or expression. For example, the symbols ALPHA and BETA are
assigned numeric values by

ALPHA=5
BETA=7
There must be no spaces between the symbol and the equal sign.

A direct assignment statement moy also be used to give a new symbol the same value as a previously defined symbol

Note that no check is made on expression arithmetic. For example, if TAG = TAG1+TAG2 where
TAGl = 1777 = TAG2, then TAG = 3776, which is more than 10 bits. Note also that an address defined in

LMODE is not the same when referenced in PMODE.

3-3

BETA=17

GAMAM=BETA
The new symbol,

GAMMA,

entered into the user's symbol table with the value
The statement

17.

The

value assigned to a symbol may be changed.

ALPHA=7
changes the value assigned to ALPHA in the first example from 5 to 7 for any future occurrence of
ALPHA. Direct assignment statements do not generate instructions or data in the object program,,
These statements ore used to assign values so that symbols can be conveniently used in othesr
statements.

3.2.2 Use of Symbols
Symbols are used in three ways.
a.

To tag an instruction or data word at any point in the program, the symbol must appear first in
If the symbol is redefined later, the

the statement and must be immediately followed by a comma.
illegal definition error message is printed.
If a

symbol is to be used as an address in LINC mode,

it should

be assigned a 10-bit value.

As an operator, the symbol must be predefined by the Assembler or by the programmer. If o statement has no tag, the operator may appear first in the statement, and must be terminated by a
space, tab, semicolon, or carriage return. Examples of operators follow.

TAD

permanent symbol

OCAL

Assembler pseudo-op

ZIP

legal only if defined by the user

Symbols used as operands should have a value defined by the user. This value may be symbolic
references to previously defined labels where the arguments to be used by this instruction are to
be found, or may be constants or character strings.

3.3

NUMBERS

Any sequence of numbers delimited by a slash, semicolon, tab, or carriage return is interpreted numerically by
the Assembler.

COMMENT

12;

4372

The radix-control pseudo-ops,
ber interpretation.

DECIMAL and OCTAL, indicate to the Assembler the radix to be used in num-

DECIMAL indicates that all numbers are to be interpreted as decimal until the next occur-

rence of the pseudo-op OCTAL, which indicates that all numbers are to be interpreted as octal until the next

3-4

occurrence of the pseudo-op DECIMAL. The radix is initially set to octal and remains octal unless otherwise
specified.

3.4 EXPRESSIONS
The arithmetic and logical operators used in numerical operations operations are:

2's complement addition (modulo
4096) after a PMODE pseudo-op.

Pli

]'s complement addition

T024) after an

(modulo

LMODE pseudo-op.

2's complement subtraction

Minus

(mod-

ulo 4096) after a PMODE pseudo-

op.
T's

complement subtraction (mod-

ulo 1024) after an LMODE pseudo-

op.

Boolean inclusive OR (union).

Exclamation

Mark

Ampersand

i__i

Space

Boolean AND (intersection).
Inclusive OR when used to separate two symbolic operators. For

example:

TAG, CLACLL
Note that there should be no spaces between operands and the operators.
Symbols and numbers (exclusive of pseudo-op symbols) may be combined by using the arithmetic and logical
operators to form expressions. Expressions are evaluated from left to right. These operations are shown in the

following example.

MODE

A+B

A-B

AIB

A&B

PDP-8

0002

0003

0005

rrn

0003

0002

0007

0005

0014

0002

0007

0005

0700

0007

0707

0671

0707

0000

0002

0003

0005

7776

0003

0002

LINC

3.5 ADDRESS ASSIGNMENTS
The Assembler sets the origin, or starting address, of the source program to absolute address 4020, which may
then be changed by the programmer. As source statements are processed, the Assembler assigns consecutive

memory addresses to the instructions and data words of the object program. This is done by incrementing a lo-

3-5

A statement which generates a single object program

cation counter each time a memory location is assigned.

storage word increments the location counter by one. Another statement may generate six storage words, thus

incrementing the location counter by six. Direct assignment statements and most Assembler pseudo-ops do not

generate storage words and therefore do not affect the location counter.

The special character .(period

)

olways has a value equal to the value of the CLC.

teger or symbol (except to the left of an equal sign).

7lie

may be used as any in-

following is equivalent to the statement JMP 0202.

*200

JMP

.+2

The next example will produce in location 0300 the quantity 700.

*300
.+400

Consider the next example.

*20

LMODE
CALL=JMP

0027

The second line, CALL=JMP

does not increment the CLC; therefore, 0027 is placed in location 20 and

CALL is placed in the user's symbol table with an associated value of 6020 (the octal equivalent of JMP,).

3.5.1

Legal Characters

Programs processed under the DIAL Assembler are prepared by the system in the Assembler's internal code. (See

Appendix C.3 for a complete list of the characters with their 6-bit octal equivalents.) The following characters
are acceptable by the Assembler:
a.

The alphabetic characters

ABCD.

.XYZ

The numeric characters
0123456789

The special characters
«—

Space

Separates symbols and numbers (refer to Expressions,

Section 3.4)

Plus

Combines symbols or numbers (add)

A period must be preceded by a delimiter or operator, or an erroneous code may result.

3-6

Minus

Combines symbols or numbers (subtract)

Exclamation Mark

Combines symbols or numbers (inclusive OR)

Carriage Return

Terminates a statement or a line

Tab

Formats symbols or numbers for source tape output

Comma

Assigns symbolic address

Equal Sign

Direct assignment of symbol values

Semicolon

Terminates coding statement (v^^ill not terminate com-

=
/

ment)
*

Asterisk

Sets CLC; redefines origin

Dot

Has value equal to CLC

Backslash

X\Y = IOOOq X+Y (X must be a single octol digit.)

Slash

Indicates start of comment

Ampersand

Combines symbols or numbers (AND)

•

3.5.2

Illegal Characters

All characters other than those listed above are illegal when not in a comment or TEXT field; their occurrence

causes the error message IC (Illegal Character) to be printed by the Assembler.

3.6

PSEUDO-OPERATORS

The programmer may use pseudo-operators (pseudo-ops) to direct the Assembler to perform certain tasks or to
interpret subsequent coding in a certain manner.

Some pseudo-ops generate storage words in the object program,

other pseudo-ops direct the Assembler on how to proceed with the assembly. Pseudo-ops are maintained in the

Assembler's permanent symbol table. Do not use pseudo-ops as variable names; erroneous logic and code may
result without generating an error message.

The function of each Assembler pseudo-op is described next.

3.6.1

PMODE

The Assembler can assemble either LINC instructions (coding) or PDP-8 instructions. Each has a pseudo-op to
designate its assembly mode.

PMODE indicates that PDP-8 coding follows. The Assembler remains in PDP-8

mode until explicitly changed to LINC mode by an LMODE pseudo-op.

3-7

3.6.2

LMODE

To designate LINC mode coding, the pseudo-op LMODE is used. The initial mode of the Assembler is LMODE
and will remain in LMODE until the PMODE pseudo-op is given.

3.6.3

SEGMNT n

(0< n<7)

SEGMNT resets the CLC to the first location of segment n, where n is an integer, a previously defined symbol,
or a symbolic expression. Each memory field is divided into four 1024- word segments, generally used whem in

LMODE.
For example:

SEGMNT 2

sets

CLC to location 4000g

SEGMNT

sets

CLC to location 2000-

Without an argument, the CLC is reset to the first location of the succeeding segment. CLC = .+1777 & 6D00;

more than T sequential SEGMNT pseudo-op with no arguments has the effect of

SEGMNT pseudo-op with no

argument.

3.6.4 FIELD n (n=0 or 1)
The FIELD pseudo-op indicates the 4K field,

T .

If the field is

not specified,

assumed as the initial

condition.

3.6.5

PAGE n {0<n<40.)
o

PAGE is used to reset the CLC to the first location of the specified PDP-8 page. If n is not specified, the CLC
is

reset to the first location of the succeeding page.

CLC = .+177 & 7600. Multiple PAGE pseudo-ops with no

argument have the same effect as one PAGE pseudo-op with no argument.

3.6.6

LISTAPE n

(0<n< 7777) DIAL-MS only

The value of n specifies the operation performed by LISTAPE. If n is negative (4000 < n < 7777), the header
block (block 447) from the previous assembly
this bit table rather than destroy it. If n

read in and preserved. The present assembly will then alter

positive

(0< n <3777), the four low-order bits (bits 8-11) of n ore

taken as a unit number (0-T7). If the six console Sense Switches are all set to 1 before an assembly, any output

encountered by the Assembler after LISTAPE is encountered in pass I
block 0.

written on the specified unit starting at

No check is made for existing files on that unit. The characters are placed one per word, right justi-

fied; the leftmost bits are meaningless. If the Sense Switches are not all set to 1,

3-8

any assembly error messages

are printed on the Teletype and the LISTAPE pseudo-op does nothing. Remember that all listing occurs on
pass 2 of the Assembler and therefore goes to the indicated device regardless of the actual location of the

pseudo-op in the source.

3.6.7 DECIMAL
Integers are usually taken to be octal numbers.

However, following the pseudo-op DECIMAL (and prior to a

succeeding OCTAL pseudo-op) all numbers are interpreted as decimal.

3.6.8

OCTAL

OCTAL is used to reset the radix to its original octal base. Note that if a decimal number is specified when
the radix is octal, the Assembler tries, often unsuccessfully, to interpret the number.

3.6.9 NOLIST

NOLIST is used to prevent printout during an LI assembly (refer to Section 4.2). The NOLIST appears in the
listing, but subsequent printout

suppressed until a LIST pseudo-op is encountered.

3.6.10 LIST
LIST is used to negate the

3.6.11

NOLIST state. The LIST statement does not appear in the listing.

TEXT

The pseudo-op TEXT enables the user to represent a character or string of characters in USASCII code trimmed
to six bits and

packed two characters to a word. The numerical values generated by TEXT are left- justified in

the storage words they occupy, with the unused bits of the last word filled with 00.

A string of text may be entered by giving the pseudo-op TEXT followed by a space, d delimiting character, a
string of text,

and the same delimiting character.

For example:

3-9

TEXT ZSTRING OF TEXTZ

If this

example is at location 0200, the listing is as follows:
200

2324

201

2211

202
203
204
205
206

1607
4017
0640
2405
3024

TEXT ZSTRING OF TEXTZ
The first printing character following TEXT is taken as the delimiting character, and the text string is the
characters which follow until the delimiting character is again encountered. Any legal character may be used
as a delimiting character

The Assembler will print out all the code, then print the entire line after it when a

carriage RETURN is encountered.

the text goes past the end of the manuscript without finding the end of

string delimiter, the error message IE (illegal expansion)

printed, and the assembly is immediately terminated.

3.6.12 EJECT

When a program is to be listed on a line printer, the command EJECT causes the next line to be printed at the
top of the next line printer paper page, thus permitting a logical splitting along page boundaries. EJECT performs no operation if the listing is to the Teletype.

3.6.13 ASMIFx n
The conditional assembly pseudo-ops, of the general form ASMIFx, can have three possible forms:

In each case the expression

Pseudo-op

Meaning

ASMIFZ n

Assemble if zero

ASMIFN n

Assemble if nonzero

ASMIFM n

Assemble if minus

evaluted, and if the value of the expression matches the condition specified

(zero, nonzero, minus), the next line

assembled.

If it

does not match, then the next line is not processed by

the Assembler. The next line may be any statement but will most frequently be an ASMSKP pseudo-op (discussed below). Sections of code may thus be altered or entirely deleted from a program just by setting some values
in the beginning of the assembly

program.

When using the TEXT pseudo-op, remember that the formatting feature of the Editor may insert unwanted tabs
,when a comma, slash, or carriage return is encountered.

3-10

3.6.14

ASMSKP

When the pseudo-op ASMSKP and the expression, n, following it are encountered, the expression on the right
is

evaluated. The number of lines equal to the value of that expression, starting on the next line, are not as-

sembled. Thus, the ASMIFx class of pseudo-ops control the assembly of one statement; the ASMSKP pseudo-op
controls any number of lines and can be used to eliminate entire blocks of statements.

For both the ASMIFx family and ASMSKP pseudo-ops,

assembled.
sults;

If an

no expression is present, the next statement will be

attempt is made to go past the end of a manuscript with one of these pseudo-ops, no error re-

the end of the manuscript is simply treated as the end of the skip block. With both the ASMIFx and the

ASMSKP pseudo-ops, a line may be a normal assembly instruction, or it may be just a comment.
Note that with the ASMIFx family and ASMSKP pseudo-ops, the condition zero must be specified by 0000.

Consider the following program listing.

0042
0043
0044
0045
0046
0047
0050

0202

ASMIFN TAPE
JMS WRITE
ASMIFN TAPE-DISK
ASMSKP 2
JMS READ
JMS WRITE
TAD Ml

4401

0203

1005

The expression after the ASMIFN pseudo-op at line 42, TAPE, had a nonzero value so the next line, 43, was
assembled. The value of the expression TAPE-DISK also had a nonzero value, causing line 45 to be executed,
thus skipping lines 46 and 47. Assembly was continued at line 50,

The two pseudo-ops described next,

SAVSYM n and LODSYM, are sophisticated tools which should be used

only in large system programs. They are used to link sections of program where the source is not all in one file
or where more than one program or subroutine

to be assembled together. These pseudo-ops are discussed

briefly here and in detail in Appendix C, Paragraph C.2.

3.6.15

SAVSYM n (n =

or 2)

The pseudo-op SAVSYM n allows the programmer to save part or all of his user symbol table for use in later
assemblies.

followed by an expression, n, which is evaluated to a value of 1 or 2. There are two cases

when a user will want to save his symbols; first, when the user has defined some common definitions which are
to be used with all his programs,

and second, when the program is too large and must be split into two or more

smaller programs that can communicate with each other.

3-11

3.6.16

LODSYM

The pseudo-op LODSYM loads a symbol table previously saved by a SAVAYM pseudo-op.

When a LODSYM

command is given, all previously defined user symbols in core ore erased. For this reason, a LODSYM should be
one of the first statements in a program.

SAVSYM and LODSYM permit the user to do an assembly, save the

symbol table, do another assembly, and call back in the original symbol table.

3-12

Chapter 4

DIAL Monitor Commands
The DIAL Monitor commands are discussed in this chapter. Remember that the Monitor must be in command

mode to accept a command. To enter command mode, the cursor must be under the first character (which must
be blank) on a new line. All commands are issued by typing LINE FEED, the command in the correct syntax

and RETURN. All DIAL-V2 assembly operations require two tapes and can only access files on unit

4.1

ASSEMBLE PROGRAM

—AS (NAME,UNIT)^
NAME = name of filed program to be assembled
UNIT = tape or disk unit on which NAME file is to be found (0-17)

iVie
is

Monitor command AS performs on assembly of the NAMEd source file on the specified UNIT,

given, the source program in the working orea on unit

no NAME

assembled. With the command AS an assembly

listing is not produced, but error messages with line numbers and a tag table are printed.

the Assembly Error Messages.)

(See Appendix B for

Note that the assembly and tag table printout can be stopped and the Editor

called back by typing carriage RETURN. The binary coding is placed in the binary working area which is on
present or on disk

tape 1

if no disks are

For all

DIAL programs,

(unit 11) if disks are in the configuration.

NAME can be one to eight characters long and must have at least

non-numeric char-

acter and no? or / characters. For a machine with a line printer, the Assembler will automatically put its listing

and symbol table on the line printer,

if it is in

the START or READY status. Otherwise, the output will go to

the Teletype,

4.2 ASSEMBLE AND LIST PROGRAM

—

(LINE NUMBER 1, LINE NUMBER 2,) (NAME, UNIT))

LINE NUMBER

= starting line number

LINE NUMBER 2 = terminating line number

NAME

= name of filed program to be assembled and listed

UNIT

= tape or disk unit on which NAMEd file is to be found (0-17)

Hie LIST command performs the same functions as the AS command, but, in addition, produces an octalsymbolic listing on the Assembler output device.

will assemble and

list

from the working area if no program

NAME and UNIT are specified. In DIAL-V2, the value of UNIT can only be
command, AS, the binary working area on tape unit

^-\

As with the ASSEMBLE

used for the binary output and tag table.

fwo line numbers are supplied, the entire program in the working area or a

NAMEd file is assembled, but only

the portion of the program between the two line numbers is listed. To assemble and list only that part between
lines

140 and 160 of the source working area, type

140,160^

To assemble and list lines 300 to 310 of file MART on unit 1 , the correct command is

—
If

300, 310, MART, 1^

a line printer is available and in the ready state, the listing will be output to that device. By using the

pseudo-operators LISTAPE, NOLIST, and LIST (refer to Section 3.6), the output listing can be controlled.

Carriage RETURN may be typed at any time to return to the Editor.

4.3 ASSEMBLE AND QUICK LIST

— QL (LINE NUMBER 1,LINE NUMBER
LINE NUMBER

2, )(NAME,UNIT)^

= starting line number

LINE NUMBER 2 = terminating line number

NAME

= name of filed program to be assembled and listed

UNIT

= tape or disk unit on which NAMEd file is to be found (0-17)

This command performs the same functions as the

command with the following exceptions:

Line numbers and all comments are deleted.

All tabs are printed out as spaces.

The QL command enables the user to examine his code without having to wait the extra time to receive a full
listing.

The QUICK LIST feature normally saves 1 to 2 seconds per line, more if the program contains many tabs

and comments.

DIAL-V2, UNIT must be

No line numbers are printed with the QL command. To help

the user determine statement line numbers from the listing,

(FIELD, *,

QL takes advantage of the fact that the pseudo-ops

PAGE, PMODE, LMODE, etc.) generate no code and the line number is printed instead of the lo-

cation counter, the assembly may be interrupted by typing RETURN to go back to the Editor.

Two listings of the same program follow to illustrate the differences between a listing produced by a LIST command and one generated by a QUICK LIST command.

4-2

TTiis

listing was produced

by a LIST command.
Octal

Number

Mnemonic

Code

Location

*20

0000
0001

PMODE

/START IN PDP-8MODE

0002
0003
0004
0005
0006
0007
0010

LINEP=0

/NO EJECTS

ASMIFN LINEP

/EJECT?

EJECT

/YES.

KCC

/CLEAR KEYBOARD FLAG
/SET TELETYPE FLAG
/EJECT?
/GO TO TOP OF PAGE.
/CHAR. TYPED?
/NO. WAIT
/YES. READ IT IN.
/TELEPRINTER READY?
/NO. WAIT

0011

0012
0013
0014
0015
0016
0017

4020
4021

6032 START,
6046

TLS

AFSMIFN LINEP
4022
4023
4024
4025
4026
4027
4030

6031

EJECT
KSF

LOOP,

5222
6036

JMP

6041

TSF

5225
6046
5222

JMP
JMP

*20

0001

PMODE /
LINEP=0 /

core

0002
0003
0004
4020

locations

4021

numbers

QUICK LIST command.

0000

0007
0010
4022
4023
4024
core
4025
locations
4026
4027
_4030

6032
6046

line

number

6031

5222
6036
6041

5225
6046
5222

0000

ERRORS

LINEP

0000
4022
4020

LOOP
START

.-1

/YES. OUTPUT THE CHAR

TLS

LINEP 0000
LOOP 4022
START 4020

This listing was produced by a

.-1

KRB

0000 ERRORS

line

Comment

ASMIFN LINEP /
EJECT /
START, KCC /
TLS /
ASMIFN LINEP /
EJECT /
LOOP, KSF /
JMP .-1 /
KRB /
TSF /
JMP .-1 /
TLS /
JMP LOOP /

4-3

LOOP

/GO GET ANOTHER CHAR.

4.4 SAVE BINARY

— SB NAME UNIT(,MODE(ADDRESS)) )
NAME

= name to be assigned to saved binary file

UNIT

= unit on which binary file is to be saved

MODE

L if program

to start in

P if program is to start in

ADDRESS

LINC mode
PDP-8 mode

= starting address (5 digits)

The binary program most recently assembled with the AS,
as file

LI, or

QL command can be saved with the SB command

NAME on the specified UNIT. If another program is assembled before this assembled binary program is

stored, the one assembled first is destroyed.

Two tapes are required for this operation with DIAL-V2.

The SB command has a load-and-go option, so that when a program is loaded into memory with the LO command,
it

will also automatically start to be executed. To use this option, the program

the program is to be started in

to start at 04020, the L is followed by typing

LINC mode when loaded, the unit number is followed by an L. If the program

5-digit address must be specified.

the program is to be started in

MODE must be specified.

Tlie

RETURN. If the program is to be started elsewhere, a full

Data Field is always set to three when the program is started.

PDP-8 mode, the unit number is followed by a P which causes the program to

be started at location 00200; otherwise the full 5-digit starting address should be specified.

the SB command is terminated after UNIT with a carriage return, the loader will halt to location

7774 after

having loaded the program.

For example:

To save the program PGMNAM on unit

will load and start in

LINC mode at location 04020

will load and start in

LINC mode at location 4020 of field

will load and halt

—SB PGMNAM,!, Lj
To save the program PGMNAM on unit

(location 20, segment 6)

— SB PGMNAM,0, LI4020J
To save the program PGMNAM on unit

— SB PGMNAM,Oj
With each assembly, a binary header block is generated by the Assembler which maps the memory blocks used.
The SAVE and LOAD BINARY commands use the data in the header to save or load the appropriate block's.

4-4

(Block 4000 is always saved in DIAL-V2). Thus,

if a

program occupied blocks 4000 and 4400, three blocks

would be saved: the two program blocks and the header block.

If a

previous version of the same program is already present on the specified tape, DIAL will display REPLACE?.

Type R to replace the existing file entry with this new entry; type RETURN if the existing file is not to be replaced. Control is then returned to DIAL.

4.5

LOAD BINARY

— LO (NAME, UNI T)J
NAME = name of binary file to be loaded
UNIT = unit from which file is to be loaded

NAME is not specified, the program is loaded from the binary working area and the loader halts (at location

7774 for DIAL-V2 and at 7775. for DIAL-MS). If NAME is specified, but the designated program is not selfstarting, the program is loaded and the loader halts as above.

the

NAMEd program is self-starting, the loader

will start the program after loading.

Note that the DIAL-V2 loader overlays locations 776]-7777 of field 0; the DIAL-MS loader will not load
locations 7750-775] of field

and locations 7600-7777 of field 1 . For both versions of DIAL, location

the starting segment for self-starting

4.6

ADD BINARY

LMODE programs is destroyed by the loader.

(DIAL-MS only)

— AB(ADDR,(FIELD,))NAME,UNIT^
ADDR
FIELD

NAME
UNIT

= 4-digit (12-bit) address
= field number (0 or 1)
= name of a binary file on UNIT
= unit on which file NAME may be found (0-17)

The binary file is copied to the binary working area, omitting zeroes. Typicolly, ADD BINARY will be used
without specifying ADDRESS and FIELD to combine standard subroutines with user-written main programs. For

example,

if a

user has written a program which requires

QANDA which is a binary file on unit 0, ond his

program is in the source working area, the correct sequence is to ZERO the binary working area (refer to Section
4.7) and then assemble the program.

there are no errors, use ADD BINARY for QANDA, and test the result.

— ZERO^
-*ASj

— AB QANDA,Oj
^LOj
4-5

By odding

QANDA in binary form, rather than source form with the ADD PROGRAM command, the user has

saved considerable assembly time and avoided the possibility of tag duplications between his program and

QANDA.
If

his program also needs FPP, for example,

can be added by the command

— AB FPP,0J
Thus, many subroutines can be combined with the user's program, without necessitating re-assembling each pro-

gram. The result may be saved, with SAVE BINARY, as if the whole had been assembled together.

ADD BINARY is also useful for patching binary programs, as follows:

— CL
— ZERO
— AB
/X IS THE FIRST LOCATION TO PATCH
/INSTRUCTIONS OF PATCH GO HERE

LISTAPE

-1

— AS
— SB PROGRAM, U

/PRESERVE HEADER

Refer to Section 3„6,6 for an explanation of the LISTAPE -1 pseudo-op.

Note that, in general, for ADD BINARY to function properly it must be used in conjunction with the ZERO

command. ZERO should always be used before assembling a program whose binary may later be added, and before adding a binary or binaries to the working area.

The binary file is added to the binary working area via a word-wise OR operation. Thus, each nonzero word
from the binary file replaces the old word at the corresponding (relocated) location in the binary working area.
All zero words in the binary file do not replace their counterparts.

Advanced users may want to use the ADDRESS and FIELD parameters to specify a new core location for the binary file.
If

ADDRESS and FIELD are not specified (or both are zero), it will be moved to its assembled address.

ADDRESS is specified and FIELD is not, it will be moved to ADDRESS in field 0. FIELD can not be specified

without ADDRESS..

No address adjustment within the assembled code is performed.

ADDRESS, if specified, is taken to be the new address of the first word of the first block of the binary files. The
relocation of the binary is equal to

[(FIELD*10000 + ADDRESS) - (ORG-7400) ]

where ORG is the lowest origin in the assembly.

4-6

A binary may not be moved to field 0,

location 0, because this is the condition recognized as no relocation.

Any program, therefore, which may be used starting at

must be assembled with origin 0.

may be moved to

any other address by specifying the new address in the ADD BINARY command.

ADDRESS and FIELD are specified such that any portion of the binary file would be moved to an address

above 20000 (i.e., in field 2 or higher), that portion of the file is ignored.

No address adjustment is performed by ADD BINARY when a binary is relocated. It is thus necessary that a program which is to be moved include self-relocating code, so that it can determine its location at execution time.

Tlie

ADD BINARY facility allows the user to build large sophisticated programs (binary) from the results of many

small assemblies and standard subroutine packages. This means that bugs can be corrected by re-assembling a
small portion of the entire program.

A sophisticated program might consist of a main program, MAIN, user-written subroutines, SUBl and SUB2, and
standard subroutines,

QANDA and FPP. The binary might be constructed as follows (MAIN is assumed to be in

the source working area):

— ZERO
— AS SUB1,0
— SB SUBl,
— ZERO
— AS SUB2,0
— SB SUB2,0
— ABSUB1,0
— AB 7000, QANDA,
— AB FPP,
LISTAPE-1
— AS
— LO

/PRESERVE BIT MAP

a bug is found in MAIN, the procedure to correct it is to restart DIAL-MS, change the source, re-assemble

MAIN (using LISTAPE -1) and try again. Note that the Assembler will store explicitly defined zeros (HLT, AND
0, etc.), but will not zero storage skipped over by an origin or segment pseudo-op.

4.7

ZERO (DIAL-MS only)

The ZERO command fills the entire binary working area with zeroes and clears the block mop, guaronteeing
that any location not used in a subsequent assembly will be zero. There are three major applications of ZERO:

0000 is HLT in LINC mode. Therefore, filling the binary working area with zeroes is equivalent to
filling unused core locations with HLT. Thus, a program being tested halts if it jumps to an unused
location.

4-7

The! paper tape output option in PIP, DZ, (refer to Section 5.5), when combined with the ZERO
command, allows the user to assemble and punch short patches to binary programs, with the re-

sulting tape only as long as the patch.

The ADD BINARY command depends on the use of the ZERO command in two instances:
(1)

Before assembling a program to be saved and later added.

(2)

Before a group of ADD BINARY commands, the ZERO command is required because ADD

BINARY does not copy zeroes from the file in the working area. TTiis is done to enable the
user to make effective patches and overlays easily.
Press the

RETURN key to return to the source working area display and text mode at any time.

4.8 SAVE PROGRAM

— SP NAME,UNIT^
NAME = name to be assigned to saved program in file
UNIT = unit to contain the NAMEd program

DIAL saves the source program by NAME in one file on the UNIT specified. When saving a program, RETURN

may be pressed at any time. This will interrupt the command and return to the source display with no effect,
since

DIAL has not updated the index. To prevent saving two programs with the same NAME, DIAL displays

REPLACE?. The user may either type R to replace the file entry with this source or press RETURN to keep the
old file entry.

To save the source file PETE on disk unit 12, the command is —* SP PETE, 12^

4.9

ADD PROGRAM

— AP BN,UNITJ
-*AP (LN1,LN2,)NAME,UNITJ

BN = first block number of source program

NAME = name of filed program
UNIT = unit on which program is located

To add DIAL source to the current source at the current line in the source working area or to call a previously
stored source program into the working area for editing, etc., the AP command requires specifying only its
starting block number,

BN, or its NAME. Two line numbers may be specified to add that portion of the

NAMEd program to the current source.

4-8

The first line of the program is added after the current line on the scope. Source lines which follow the added
source are then renumbered; if there is no current source, e.g., a CLEAR command was issued, the added
source will be the entire source.
of the source file

the arguments are omitted, the command is ignored. Lines 15 through 361

EXP6 on unit 4 are added to the current source by the command

— AP 15,361,EXP6,4^
4.10 CLEAR

-cl;
can be cleared by using the command CL. DIAL remains in core and is

The source working area on tope unit

restarted with a clean buffer area. —*CL may be typed at any time to clear the source working area without

having to manipulate any console switches.

4.11

DISPLAY INDEX

-*DX (,UNIT)J
UNIT = unit whose index is to be displayed

The tape file index of the specified UNIT is displayed on the scope by the command-* DX. For each program

on the tape, its name, source and/or binary, starting block number, and length in blocks are indicated.

To view the entire index, use the following keys to modify the display.

A frame is the number of lines defined

by the setting of A/D knob 7.

Press the

Key

Action

Forward one frame

Forward one entry

Backward one frame

Backward one entry

RETURN key to return to the source working area display and text mode at any time.

Entries may be deleted from the index. Pressing the

RUBOUT key will delete the last line on the display. If the

wrong entry is deleted, type R to restore the index. The deletions are made permanent by typing the colon key
(:)

after erasing the desired entries. The

no index or an empty index,

DIAL working area display is returned to the scope. Note that if there

displayed on the scope. Consider the index of unit 1 1

4-9

MHHE

FORSWS
Bl NLOFID

BL.KS

EOE.

.t5 4

J.<S

201

«?

'ft

I??
^42

«f8

T«- t3 :.

MHR

PRTC12-F

J. i:-

i?5

Delete the binary file. A, by typing RUBOUT.

Move the display forward to view the rest of the index by typing

NUHE

BLKS

HRR

PH1C12-F

!??
^42

«5e.

j.a<i;

3.Z

CUHRK
H3i7

EKRMJ.

?£?
P45
5£S

«4
i«
i?

nnsDN
To delete the source file EXAMl, type

s 1?'4

W twice so that

it is

the last entry on the display. Then type RUElOUT.

Make this deletion permanent by typing colon.

4.12 PRINT INDEX

— PX(,UNiT)^
UNIT = unit of index to be printed

Tlie

command PX prints out the contents of the specified index on the Teletype. Press RETURN at any time to

stop the printout and to return to the source working area display.

To check the modified index on unit 11 above, type

- PX,

The index printed is

SOURCE
NAME

FORSYS
BINLOAD
MAR
PRTC12-F
CLARK
A31J

205
201

BLKS

154

202

16
3
2

BLKS

64S
6

65
64

7 27

174

EXAMl

MASON

BINARY

4-10

177
126

525

4.13 PRINT SOURCE

—

(LNl,)(LN2,)(NAME,UNIT)j

NAME = name of file to be prtnted
UNIT = unit on which NAMEd file is to be located
LNl =

starting line number

LN2 =

terminating line number

The NAMEd source program is printed on the Teletype from the specified UNIT, The source currently in the

working area is printed when no NAME and/or UNIT are designated.
portion of the

two line numbers are specified, that

NAMEd file is printed.

Any DIAL source can be printed with the PS command. No words are split between Teletype lines. Printing
time is approximately 1 minute per page for PDP-12 program sources.

Line numbers,
it is

if specified,

provide inclusive bounds for the printout.

When only one line number is specified,

assumed to be the start of the printout and the rest of the source on unit 1

printed. To print lines 23

through 151 of file 4JA-1 on to the Teletype, use the command

— PS 23,151,4JA-1,lj
4.14 EXIT

-EXj
The EXIT command completes the updating of the source working area from the memory buffers, thus assuring
the user of leaving

DIAL without losing the current source program in the working area. An EXIT command

should be issued when editing is completed with the PDP-12. After

- EX^

DIAL halts. Press the CONTinue

console switch to return to DIAL. The program that was in the working area when the EXIT command was
issued is still there,

and any legal DIAL operation can now be performed.

4.15 USER'S MONITOR COMMAND

— MC X(Y),UNIT^
X(Y) = argument(s) to be passed by the Editor to a user program via the AC (argument Y is
optional

UNIT = unit to be read

4-11

The user's MONITOR command allows access to the free blocks of a DIAL tape. When the MC command is
issued, block 270 of UNIT is read into core locations 4000-4377; the arguments XY are placed in the AC and
the Editor turns program control over to the initial free block of code at location 4020 in

Tape blocks 270 through 277 are defined as the free blocks of a DIAL system device.
Paragraph C.6 for tape and disk allocation.)
they are meant for the user.

LMODE.

(Refer to Appendix C,

Except for the MC command, DIAL never accesses these TBLKs;

The contents of block 270 are left to the user's discretion.

The MC command has

no meaning if the user's binary at block 270 is not aware of the Editor's action during the execution of an MC

command.

The MC command is obviously not meant for the beginning programmer.

Consider the following examples.

the user wanted to expand

DIAL to process additional Monitor commands,

XX and X^X., that are not de-

fined in DIAL, they can be defined in the free area and called via the Editor by:

— MC X^X2,U^
-*MC ^2\'^J
Then, depending upon the contents of the AC, the program loaded from block 270 would either do the function

X^X^orXgX,.
If

the user had a program to be loaded into Locations 7600-7777 of field 1

(the

DIAL loader does not access

these locations), the binary can be placed in the last 200 words of TBLK 270 and a bootstrap routine in the
first

200 words to move locations 4200-4377 to 7600-7777. Then the program can be loaded by

-* MC A, U^

4-12

Chapter 5
Peripheral Interchange Program (PIP)
The Peripheral Interchange Program (PIP) for the PDP-12 permits the user to transfer source or binary files be-

tween I/O devices, including disk (RS08 or RK08), LINCtape, high-speed and Teletype paper tape reader/
punch, card reader, and line printer.

5.1

INITIALIZING PIP (DIAL-MS)

The command for calling PIP,-* Plj

loads PIP from the system unit; for DIAL-V2 users or DIAL-MS users

running without an RS08 or RK08 disk, -» P\J

equivalent to the command

equivalent to-*LO PIP, 10^

- LO PIP,0;

for

DIAL-MS users

with RS08 or RK08 systems,

it is

To implement the —

command call on a system using DIAL-MS with an RS08 or RK08 disk, PIP must be

Pl^

Copy tape

copied onto unit 10 after initialization (refer to Appendix A, Paragraph A. 3).

Typing-* LO PIP,0^

Responding to the PIP displays with Aj

to disk unit 10 by

just PIP is to be copied to the system device,

LOj

RO^

in that order.

respond to the PIP displays with &j

LO;PIP^

RO;PIP^

that order.

Note that when using PIP, disk units may be called as

through 7 rather than 10 through 17, as required for

the other DIAL-MS programs. Either value is acceptable. Thus, RO above is equivalent to RIO.

5.2

CONTROL COMMANDS

PIP implements four control commands that may be issued at any time while it is being used.

Command

Action

CTRl/P

Return to PIP options display

CTRl/D

Return to

CTRl/U

Rewind each transport that is set to REMOTE and has a tape
at block 0, Repeated typing of
on it and position unit
CTRL/U will cause tape to be unloaded also. This option
Is used to minimize tape handling for all units and to de-

DIAL

creose duplication time for unit 0.

CTRL/T

Rewind all LINCtapes completely (as with CTRL/U) and
to block 300 to permit a faster DIAL-MS
restart. Typing CTRL/T several times will unload unit 0.

position tape

5-1

5.3

MODE OPTIONS

When PIP is started, the following message is displayed. Note that lower-case letters are used in this chopter.
to indicate half-size characters on the scope.

PIP OPTIONS

auxiliary mode

binary mode

source mode

reply:

The file to be manipulated by PIP must be described at this time. Only one of the three single letter abbreviations above needs to be typed after reply.

This PIP display and all subsequent displays are followed by reply:
left

hand corner. When o response is typed,

it is

and a square-shaped cursor in the lower

seen at the location indicated by the cursor. The cursor moves

one character to the right for each character typed in. Terminate a reply with a carriage RETURN. When responding to any PIP display,

RUBOUT can be typed to delete the last character typed, or LINE FEED can be

typed to delete the entire line.

an illegal character is typed,

it is

ignored, and the PIP display is returned

to the scope.

5.4 BINARY OR SOURCE INPUT
After the mode has been selected, the input device must be specified.

the reply to the first PIP display was

B or S, the second display is shown as follows:

INPUT DEVICE
c
h

— card reader
high speed reader

line tape

rs08,rk08disl<

teletype

reply;

The auxiliary mode option is described in Section 5.6.

LINCtape or disk is the selected input device, the user's response to the second PIP display must be in the

format Ln;NAME or Rn;NAME, where L indicates LINCtape, R indicates disk, n is the input unit number (0-17)

followed by a semicolon, and NAME is a 1- to 8-character file name. Thus, to input a file named ABC3
from LINCtape unit 4, the correct command is L4;ABC3.

5-2

a card reader is to be the input device, type C after having chosen source mode. Columns 1-1 10„ are reod

unless a response is given in the form Caa;THRU,bb,

where aa is the first column to be read and bb is the lost

column to be read. To read columns 50 through 110 (octal), the correct reply string is C50;THRU,1 10. The
character codes used are not the card reader codes in the PDP-12 User's Handbook. Instead, they are the
standard IBM-029 Keypunch codes (See Appendix B of Introduction to Programming, DEC-C-18). There are

some minor changes in that set to be compatible with standard ASCII.

Card Code

0-8-2

]

(underscore)

11-8-7

- (Logical not)

12-8-2

^ (Cent Sign)

(Vertical Bar)

the user desires, he may substitute an entirely different character set Into PIP (with the exception of BLANK).

Refer to the PIP Internal Description,

If,

NONE

DIAL Character

0-8-5

12-8-7

029 Character

DEC-12-ZW2A-D.

for binary input, the device is to be the high-speed reader or the

the user's response must be in the form

DF;Mode, Address, where D is the device abbreviation (H or T), and

F is the memory field and is specified only for field

P for PDP-8 mode,

Teletype (neither is file or unit oriented),

or larger. AAode is indicated by L for

and Address is the starting address.

LINC mode and by

Mode and Address are omitted, the program is not

automatically started when loaded. The Mode must be specified for the program to start after it has been read.

More than one tape can be input during one PIP session (refer to Section 5.5). Tlie punctuation marks are
always required if the items after them are specified.

no Address is given, a LINC mode operation starts at

location 4020, and a PDP-8 mode operation starts at location 200.

When the high-speed reader is in the input device, the tape must be in the reader before the carriage RETURN
is

typed to terminate the output device command string. For ASCII paper-tape input, the character CTRL/Z

must terminate the input.

tape has been read in.

the tape was originally punched by PIP, a CTRL/Z is already present at the end of it.

must be present as the last character on the tape or typed on the Teletype after the

5-3

Consider fhe following examples.
Input is from the high-speed reader and the program,

H;P

when loaded,

will be started in PDP-8 mode at location 200.

H1;P,1000

Input is from the high-speed reader and the program,
will

T;L,6000

Input is from the Teletype and the program,
in

when loaded, will start

LINC mode at location 6000.

Input is from the high-speed reader and the program,

when loaded,

be started in PDP-8 mode at location 1000 in memory field

when loaded,

will not be started.

the specified file is not at the indicated location,

NO will be displayed on the scope. Return to PIP by

typing CTRl/P or return to DIAL by typing CTRl/D at this time.

5.5

BINARY OR SOURCE OUTPUT

When a response to the input device display has been accepted, the output device must be specified. The
following display appears on the scope.

OUTPUT DEVICE
h

high-speed punch

line tape

line printer

rsOB, rkOS disk

teletype

reply:

LINCtape or disk is to be the output device, a response in the same format as was used to specify them as the

input device is required.

Never ask to copy a file onto itself by using the same name and the same unit for both

the input and output commands. This destroys the NAMEd file. To locate the file PETE on
the correct command string is LO;PETE.

5-4

LINCtape unit 0,

When using LINCtape or disk (DIAL-MS) as the input or output device for these PIP operations, be sure to
specify the name of the file.

the file name Is omitted when specifying

LINCtape or disk output,

the file is

assigned the name question mark (?) by PIP. The file will be accessible only by using PIP ond the name ? or

no name.
?.

the file name is omitted when specifying

there is no file with that name, then

can be generated at this time.

LINCtape or disk input, PIP can locate only a file named

NO will be displayed on the scope. Only a return to PIP or DIAL

no unit is specified when using PIP, unit

of the specified device type is

assumed.

there is not sufficient room on the indicated device to perform the requested action,

displayed. Type

CTRl/P to return to the first PIP display or CTRL/D to return to DIAL.

a file with the same name is already located on that tape, the message

if the present file is

REPLACE? is displayed. Type R^

to replace the existing file or, if it is not to replace it, type CTRl/P to return to the first

PIP display or CTRL/D to return to DIAL.

For high-speed punch. Teletype, or line printer output, only the letter abbreviation is required. The punch
will generate leader tape automatically.

When the output device command string is terminated, typing a

carriage RETURN initiates the specified operation. Note that tape punched using PIP can be read directly into

DIAL by the Teletype reader.

the Teletype or high speed, paper-tape punch is chosen as the output device, an option may be used so that

zeros are not punched.

specified by the reply T;DZ or H;DZ to the output device display. Note that

the tope produced does not contain a halt instruction if in

LINC mode. If zeros are removed from the middle of

a section, however, a new origin is punched, so that the remaining code will be loaded properly. This option
is especially

useful for patching programs in conjunction with the ZERO command (refer to Section 4.7). For

example, the following sequence generates a short paper-tape of the program SCW on the high-speed punch.
TVie initial

ZERO command causes all locations to contain zeros and therefore ore not punched by the H;DZ

statement.

— ZERO
SEGMNT

*100
1

— AS
— SB SCW,
— PIP

RIbSCW
H;DZ

5-5

the input device wos the paper-tape reader, then after the first tape has been read in, the following display

appears on the scope.

MORE TAPES?
read another tape
-no more tapes

a
n
reply:

Type the oppropriate letter answer and a carriage RETURN. A reply of A will store the next file immediately
after the first one. Eoch tape must be terminated by a CTRL/Z;

CTRL/Z is not on the tape, it must be typed

on the Teletype after the tape has been read. Any operation can be interrupted by typing CTRL/P to return to
the first PIP display or by typing CTRL/D to return to DIAL.

5.6 AUXILIARY MODE
If

the letter A is typed in response to the PIP mode options display, the following is seen on the scope.

OPTIONS
c

copy specified blocks

duplicate tape

copy system
copy unit

onto 1

reply:

In addition to specifying

the option, a number can follow any of the replies to indicate the number of con-

secutive units onto which the specified blocks of tape are to be transferred.

The S option copies blocks 300-345 and 350-370, thus copying the entire DIAL system except for the index.

The U option duplicates the specified unit onto other specified units. A reply of D will perform thot operation
immediately. A response of C, S, or U will produce the second PIP display requesting the input device. The
only acceptable input devices are disk and LINCtape. For the C option, the reply must be in the format
Dn;fb,nb, or Ln;fb,nb where D Is disk and L is LINCtape, n is the unit number, fb is the first block, and nb
is

the number of blocks to be read. Thus L2;63,24 will start input from LINCtape unit 2, block 63, ond con-

tinue for 24 blocks.

Note that block numbers are octal. For the S or U option, only the device and unit must

be specified; block limits are not required.

When the input response has been accepted, the PIP output display is seen on the scope for the C, S, and U
options. The only acceptable output devices are disk and LINCtape. For the C option, response must be in
the form Dn;fb or Ln;fb where

D is disk and L is LINCtape, n is the number of the first consecutive tape unit,

and fb is the block where output is to start. The S and U options require only that the device and unit number
be specified.

5-6

5.7

ERRORS

During ail PIP operations, the program checks for errors. When one is encountered, the following message is
displayed.

DISK (TAPE) ERROR

AT BLOCK nnnn

accept as is
try again (repeat tape operation)

try to skip past error

reply:

For a disk error, the leftmost digit of the block number, nnnn,

It is

the disk unit number (0-7).

up to the user's discretion to choose one of the three options above. For a disk error, the disk status

the problem is a minor hardware error, for exomple,

the WRITE ENABLE switch was not set, then choice R can be used.

some of the block numbers have been

modified, then choice S may still yield a working system. The user can always type CTRL/P to return to PIP
or CTRL/D to return to

DIAL.

For binary tape input, the error message,

CHECKSUM ERROR, can be followed only by a return to PIP or DIAL.

For an RK08 system, the message SEEK ERROR is displayed for 5 seconds if the movable head on the disk is misthis message arises often, the disk

positioned. PIP will automatically recalibrate the disk and try again.

should be serviced. Note that if this message appears during startup,

it is

because the disk head may be ran-

domly positioned. Remember that systems with RK08 disks only permit units 10-15. Addressing additional units
with PIP will generate one of several error messages on the display, possibly SEEK ERROR.

the return commands CTRl/P and CTRL/D fail to operate, PIP may be restarted by stopping the processor,

setting the Left Switches = 0200, and pressing the START LS console key.

5.8
If

RECOVERY

the input for a PIP operation is binary paper tape and output is to tape or disk and

NO is displayed, a SAVE

BINARY command may be issued after CTRl/D to save the program on another unit without reloading the tape.
Call the program from the unit to which it was output. (This procedure is illegal for systems with two or more

DF32 disks.) To reclaim a source program if PIP displays NO, issue the following appropriate commond ofter
typing CTRl/D

-< AP370, 1^
or

— AP370, Ij
1

no disk or a DF32 disk is present

an RS08 or RK08 disk is present

5-7

5.9

PIP EXAMPLES

The following command sequences are examples of PIP operations.

Copy the binary file BINFILE from unit

to unit 6.

LO;BINFILE
1.6; BINFILE
2.

Copy the source file HOW from unit 3 to unit 7.
S

L3;HOW
1.7;

HOW

Copy the binary file OLDNAME from unit 1 to unit 7 ond call it NEWNAME.
B
Li;
1.7;

OLDNAME
NEWNAME

Read in a binary tape via the high speed reader, and store it as file JIO on unit 0, where it will
200 in PMODE.

start at location

H;P
1.0; J 10

Duplicate the source file COPY! on unit 2, and call it COPY2 on the some unit.
S

L2;COPY1
1.2;COPY2

NOTE: Never copy a file onto itself on the same unit. For example:

L1;COPYl
Ll:COPYl
This sequence could result in the destruction of the file COPY!

Punch the source file HERE on unit 3 by the high speed punch.
S

L3;HERE

H
7.

Read in a tape on the Teletype that was not originally punched by PIP, ond store it as file

MARTY on tape unit 0.
<[

T
LO; MARTY

When the tape is finished, type CTRl/Z on the Teletype (if PIP hod punched the tape originally
there would be a CTRL/Z at the end of it).

5-8

Then type

if only this

tape is to be read

A
8.

if another

Duplicate tape

tape is to be read and added after the first tape.

onto tape 1

A
D
9.

Duplicate tape

onto tapes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

A
D5
10.

Copy blocks 300-317, unit 4, to blocks 200-217, unit 6.

A
C
L4;300,30
L6;200

n. Copy blocks 600-677, unit 2 to blocks 700-777 of units 5, 6, and 7.

A
C3
L2;600, 100

L5;700
12.

Copy the system area tape from unit

LINCtape unit 3.

A
S

L3
13.

Copy the tape on unit

onto logical disk units 2 and 3.

A
U2
LI

5-9

Appendix A
DIAL-V2 vs. DIAL-MS
A.l
In

FEATURES

addition to the general system capabilities outlined in Section 1.1, the following features are
unique to each

version of DIAL:
a.

DIAL-V2
(1)

Overlapped tape I/O to accept user input during a tape read or write operation.
run on tape, input is not accepted while the tape is moving.)

(When DIAL -MS

(2)

4K system

DIAL -MS
(1)

Fully integrated tape-disk system with mass storage support for one or two DF32, one to four

RS08 or one RK08 disks.
(2)

Editor commands to clear the binary working orea (which is used in conjunction with the PIP
option not to punch zeros) and to merge binary files.

(3)

I/O routines to read, write, or move data.

(4)

Increased Assembler facilities for processing large programs.

(5)

8K system

A. 2 SYSTEM BUILD FOR DIAL -MS
The following system-build procedure must be executed to "build" a DIAL-MS tape.

Part of the procedure is

running the program, GENASYS, provided on the system tape

Step

Procedure
Start the system by the procedure in Appendix A. 4.

Type

— LO GENASYS ,0^

to load

GENASYS to specialize a tape for DIAL-MS on this system

configuration

After the message

TAPE UNIT CONTAINING GENASYS:
is

printed, type 0.

GENASYS then asks
TAPE UNIT FOR DIAL -MS:
Type an octal digit to indicate the tape unit on which DIAL -MS is to be built. If the reply is
GENASYS does not initialize DIAL-MS, the procedure in Section A. 3 must be performed

not 0,

to initialize the tape.

If the

reply is 0, another message is printed on the Teletype after

GENASYS has built DIAL-MS:
PRESS CONTINUE TO INITIALIZE DIAL-MS:
Press the CONTinue key.

The last message is

A-1

Procedure

Step

WHEN EDITOR DISPLAY APPEARS, TYPE (LINE FEED) EX (RETURN)
GENASYS initializes DIAL-MS. When that- is done, the Editor
Type— EXJ and then press CONTinue. DIAL-MS is ready to accept user

After the message is printed,
display appears.
input.

The following error conditions can occur.
a.

GENASYS is not able to find 8K of core, the following message is printed and GENASYS returns

DIAL-V2.

THIS MACHINE HAS ONLY 4K, DIAL-MS REQUIRES 8K.
b.

GENASYS is not able to find one of the four binary files needed to build DIAL-MS, the following

message is printed:

THIS TAPE DOES NOT CONTAIN BINARY DIAL-MSx,

where x is a digit,
c.

to 4.

NEEDED FOR GENASYS.

Continue at Step 4 above.

one of the binary files is the wrong length, the following message is printed:

LENGTH ERROR IN DiAL-MSx.
where x is a digit,

to 4.

A. 3 SYSTEM INITIALIZATION

A system using DIAL-MS must be initialized. This procedure causes:
the initial tape to modify itself to become a startup tape by building a set of I/O routines for

hondling the user's particular disk configurotion,
b.

the initialization routine to copy the DIAL-MS system area (blocks 270 to 345 and 350 to 467)
into the appropriate area on the disk.
from tape

System initialization may be automatically carried out by GENASYS (by a reply of

in Step 4) or may be

performed when the equipment configuration changes, if the contents of the disk are lost for ony reason, or

GENASYS does not perform the procedure, e.g., because a tape unit other than

was specified in Step 4.

The procedure is
Procedure

Step
1

Mount the DIAL-MS tope on tape unit 0.
Mount another LINCtape on tape unit

(required if configuration has no disk or

only one DF32 disk).

& 2.

Set the scope channel knob to position

Set the switches of both tape units to REMOTE and set unit

Set all disk units to WRITE ENABLE.

A second DF32,
6

if present,

to WRITE

ENABLE.

A single DF32 disk unit must be set to 0.

must be set to 1

Set the mode switch to LINC mode and press the

A-2

I/O PRESET key.

Step

Procedure
Set the Left Switches to 0701 and the Right Switches to 7310 by pushing down the
front part of the switches indicated by t and pushing down the back part of those
indicated by | in the following diagram.

ttt

iU ttt tti

Ui tu ttt ttt

Left Switches

Right Switches

DO key.

Press the

When the tape has stopped spinning, press the START 20 key.

Type-»EXJ when part of the DIAL-MS program appears on the display in order
to preserve the DIAL-MS pointers. Press CONTinue. (This step is essential it
updates the Editor's pointers.)

Set the

VD knob 3

all

the way to the right.

A DIAL command moy now be issued.

PIP is to be used, refer to Section 5.1.

A.4 SYSTEM STARTUP
The following procedure is performed every time DIAL-MS (and DIAL-V2) is to be used. For
DIAL-MS it is

assumed that the tape ond disk have been initialized (refer to Section A.

3) so thot the

DIAL-MS system looded

from tape is aware of available disks and will use them appropriately.
Step

Procedure

AAount DIAL tape on tape unit Oo

Mount another LINCtape (scratch) on unit 1

Set scope channel knob to position

Set the switches of both tape units to REMOTE and WRITE ENABLE.

Set all disk units to WRITE ENABLE.
if present,

& 2.

A single DF32 disk must be set to 0; a second DF32,

must be set to 1

Set the mode switch to

LINC mode and press I/O PRESET.

Set the Left Switches to 0701 ond the Right Switches to 7300 by pushing down
the front
part of the switches indicated by

and pushing down the back part of those indicated

in the following diagram.

ttt

Ui ttt ttl

\il

Left Switches

tu tu ttt

Right Switches

Press the

DO key.

Press the

START 20 key when the tape has stopped spinning.

Jh e version of DIAL on the tape is started and ready for any

A-3

DIAL operotion.

It is

possible for on error condiHon fo result while initializing the system, causing the computer to

the status register

for the device in the Accumulator; this informs the user of the

The Right Switches are then set to indicate the error recovery method
anything but 7777, the operation is tried again.
sole key.

It is

If the

halt with

exact nature of the error.

user sets the Right Switches to

This retry facility is activated by pressing the CONTinue con-

good practice to retry the operation that produced the error at least once.

If the

Right Switches

are set to 7717 , the data will be accepted by the computer after pressing the CONTinue key.

has been modified for the user's particular configura-

At the completion of this operation, the tape on unit
tion.

may be copied with the auxiliary "S" option of PIP if multiple copies are needed (refer to Section 5.6).

The initialization procedure may bfe repeated at any time, but it is necessary only when the DIAL-MS
the disk is lost or when the configurction changes.

Refer to PDP-12 User's Handbook,

DEC-12-SRZA-D.

A-4

system on

Appendix B

Assembly Error Messages

During source program assembly, error messages in the form of a two-letter code are included in the program
listing.

These messages, defining illegal syntax or insufficient space errors, ore explained below.
Error Code

Explanation
Illegal

Character - An illegal character was processed in the instruction

field; the character is ignored and the assembly is continued,

Illegal reDefinition of a symbol - An attempt was made to give a previously
defined symbol a new value by means other thon the equal sign; the symbol

was not redefined.
IE

Illegal Expansion - Delimiter missing in text.

Illegal Reference - An off -page reference was made.

Symbol table Exceeded - Assembly is terminated and control is returned to
DIAL; up to 895 user symbols, maximum.

Undefined Symbol - A symbol has been processed during pass 2 that was not
defined before the end of pass 1

Binary Working Area exceeded - Assembly is terminated and control Is returned
to

DIAL; more than lOOg blocks of source program have been input for ossembly

(refer to Appendix C,

Paragraph C.2).

Push-down Stack exceeded - Too many symbols to be evaluted on one line.

B-1

Appendix C

Summaries
C 1 C OMMAN D S UMMARY
.

All

commands are issued in the form

— Command^
»•

Command

FuncHon

AS (N,U)

Assemble

LI(L,L,)(N,U)

Assemble and List

QL(L,L,)(N,U)

Assemble and Quick List

LO(N,U)

Load Binary

PS(L,)(L,)(N,U)

Print Source

AB(A,)N,U

Add Binary

SB N,U(,M(FA))

Save Binary

SP N,U

Save Program (Source)

AP(L,L,)N,Uor B,U

Add Program (Source)

DX(,U)

Display Index

PX(,U)

Print Index

Clear Source Working Area

Zero Binary Working Area

Peripheral Interchange

Exit

MC X(Y),U

User's Monitor Command

Line Call

Legend
indicates an optional parameter

F = Field

N = File name

B = Tape block number

U =Tape (0-7) or disk (10-17) unit

X(Y) = Characters in accumulator

= Line number

M = Mode (L or LINC or P for PDP-8)

— = L1NE FEED
} = Carriage RETURN

A = Address (4 digits)

C-1

C.2 PSEUDO-OPERATORS
Pseudo-Op

Mode

ASMIFM n

Assemble if n is negative

ASMIFN n

8A
8A

ASMIFZ n

8/L

Assemble if n =

ASMSKP n

8A
8A
8A
8A

Continue Assembly after n lines

Indirect addressing

Negate NOLIST condition

LIS TAPE

8A
8A

LMODE

Causes subsequent coding to be Interpreted as LINC instructions

LODSYM

8A
8A
8A
8A

Load saved symbol tape (see below)

DECIMAL
EJECT
FIELD n
1

LIST

NOLIST

OCTAL
PAGE n

Operation

Assemble if n ^

Set decimal radix for Integer input
Print next line at top of next page of line printer

Defines each 4K of memory; n =

or 1

Header block and Assembler listing control

Inhibit octal -symbolic listing during assembly

Set octal radix for integer input
Start new page at n-200.

If no

parameter, start at next page

(0^<40g)

PMODE

Causes subsequent coding to be interpreted as PDP-8 instructions;

SAVSYM n

8A
8A

Saves symbol table for later assembly (n = 1 or 2) (see below)

SEGMNT n

Starts new segment at N'<2000,
(0 < n

If no

parameter start at next segment.

< 7)

TEXT

Packs two 6-bit words per cell

Page zero reference

The two cases requiring use of the SAVSYM pseudo-op and the procedure for assembling large programs with
the SAVSYM,

Case 1

LODSYM, and LI5TAPE pseudo-ops are discussed in detail in this section.

Assume that the user has defined the following symbols for his program.

INDEX = 346

/set the index pointer to 346

DISK =3

Ahree disks

TTYIN=7423

/address of Teletype input routine

TTYOUT=7520

/address of Teletype output routines

SAVSYM

/now save just these symbols (see below)

*XXXX

YYYY

/the rest of the program

C-2

The command SAVSYM 1 will cause the user-defined symbols INDEX, DISK, TTYIN, and TTYOUT to be
saved when fhe program is assembled.

Any user symbols occurring lafer in the program will not be saved.

At a later time in another program, a LODSYM command will load these symbols into the symbol table
without having to retype them.

Case 2.

If all

SAVSYM

symbols are to be saved in a common table, the SAVSYM 2 command is used.

Thus, if

replaced by SAVSYM 2 in the previous example, then the four user-defined symbols and all

symbols to follow are saved in the symbol table.
symbols are to be saved.

If a

This is useful in breaking up large assemblies when all

symbol was redefined, the last definition assigned will be the one saved.

Note that the more symbols defined and saved, the slower the Assembler will run.

The symbol table is always stored in the working area on unit 1 near the binary output and the present symbol
table. With SAVSYM 1, the symbol toble is saved at this point in pass

of the assembly. With

SAVSYM 2

the symbol table is saved at this point during pass 2. The user who wants to save a set of common definitions
or a common page zero with pointers should use the command SAVSYM 1 after the definitions on page zero.

No other symbols are saved. The user who wishes to save all his symbols because his program has to be split
into sections should put the command SAVSYM 2 at the end of his program, assuring that all symbols will be

properly defined.

In either case, the symbols will be permanently saved unless one of the following conditions occurs:

The tape is erased

The tape is used for unit

Another SAVSYM command is given at some later time and replaces the old symbol table with
a new one

workspace (source) and is overwritten.

C.2.1 Assembling Large Programs with SAVSYM, LODSYM, and LISTAPE

SAVSYM and LODSYM may be used to assemble a program that is longer than 100_ blocks by breaking the
program into several smaller files.

To avoid symbol communication difficulties, SAVSYM, LODSYM and LISTAPE
in the

following manner.

C-3

(in

DIAL -MS) are employed

PART

SAVSYM 2

PROGRAM
LONGER
THAN 100

LODSYM

BLOCKS

LISTAPE-1

PART 2

A SAVSYM 2 during the assembly of PART

will save all the symbols from PART

The LODSYM at the start

of PART 2 loads in the saved symbol table, thus putting all the symbols from PART 1 and PART 2 into a common

symbol table.

For DIAL-MS, LISTAPE with a negative argument con be used to preserve the bit map from the

assembly of PART 1

The program is then assembled by the commands

— AS PART
— AS PART

This method will work only if all the symbols referenced in PART 2 are defined in PART

Because most pro-

grams cannot easily be split so all references occur after definitions, the following technique is employed.

PROGRAM

LONGER

SAVSYM

THAN lOOg

LODSYM

0000
1

BLOCKS

CLEARSYM

LISTAPE-1

SAVSYM 2

SAVSYM

PART

PART 2

The program is assembled by the following command string.

— AS CLEARSYM
— AS PART 2
— AS PART
— AS PART 2
1

The program named CLEARSYM produces a clean symbol table.
clean symbol table.
assembled,

The LODSYM in PART 1 then loads in this

PART 2 is assembled first so that all symbols in that part will be defined when PART

ignore any error messages generated at this time.

C-4

PART 1 and PART 2 are then assembled correctly

by using a SAVSYM 2 pseudo-op at the end of each part and a LODSYM at the start of each
messages generated now indicate real errors in the program.

Any error

When starting an assembly with DiAL-V2 only, the Assembler destroys the binary coding in locations 4000-4377.
Therefore, the user must assemble the part containing this section of code last.
locations 4000-4377 ore in

the program was split so that

PART 2, then the sequence above will assemble the program correctly.

the pro-

gram was split so that locations 4000-4377 are in PART 1, then the correct sequence of commands is as follows:

— AS CLEARSYM
— AS PART 2
— AS PART
— AS PART 2
— AS PART
1

Locations 4000-4377 must be in the lost part assembled, no matter into how many ports the program has been
split.

The program may then be loaded directly, but in DIAL-V2 it cannot be saved by a SAVE BINARY command
directly because the binary header block for the file is incorrect.

Only the last part of the program to be

assembled is included in the heoder block. Block 447, the header block, must be filled with correct information. Each word of block 447 from word 340 to 377 represents 400- words of the file to be saved, as follows.

BLOCK 447
Word

Word Locations Represented
unused

336
totol

337

number word blocks sav«
-

377

400 -

777

340
341
;

377

17400- U777

any of the word locations represented contain dato, then the corresponding word of block 447 must contain

the value 7777,

those word locations are empty, then the appropriate word of block 447 contains 0000,

To correct the header block, load 7777 into the correct word of block 447.

When completed, change word 337

of block 447 to the total number of words between 340 and 377 in block 447 that contain the value 7777 .

SAVE BINARY command may then be performed. Use of the LISTAPE pseudo-op in DIAL-MS inhibits destruction
of the header block at the start of a new program assembly.

C-5

C.3 CHARACTER SET
External

Keyboard

(ASCII)

301

302
303
304
305
306
307
310

311

312
313
314
315
316
317
320

321

322
323
324
325
326
327
330

22
23
24
25
26
27
30

331

332
333
334
335
336
337
240

32
33
34
35
36

241

(

242
243
244
245
246
247
250

)

251

252
253
254
255
256
257
260

52
53
54

261

C
D
E

G
J

K
L

M
N

[

(SHIFT/K)

\ (SHIFT/L
]

(SHIFT/M)

SPACE
1
II

#
$

%
&
1

+
/

/
1

Internal

2
3

4
5
6
7

14
15

Illegal (not displayed)

44
45
46
Illegal (not displayed)

55
56
57
60

C-6

Exfernal

Keyboard

(ASCII)

Internal

6
7

262
263
264
265
266
267

8
9

270

62
63
64
65
66
67
70

271

272
273
274
275
276
277
300
212
215
375
377

72
73
74
75
76
77

4
5

;

<
=
>
?

@
LINE FEED

RETURN

ALTMODE
RUBOUT
CONTROL/I (TAB)

Illegal (not displayed)

37
43 (nof displayed)

None (not displayed)
None (not displayed)
47 (not displayed)

211

C.4 INSTRUCTIONS

C.4.1

PDP-8 Symbols

Mnemonic

AND

Operation

Octal

MEMORY REFERENCE INSTRUCTIONS
logical AND
0000

TAD

1000
2000
3000
4000
5000

ISZ

DCA
J MS
JMP

GROUP

2s complement add

increment & skip if zero
deposit & clear AC

jump to subroutine
jump

OPERATE MICROINSTRUCTIONS

NOP

7000

no operation

lAC
RAL

7001

increment AC

7004
7006
7010
7012
7020
7040
7100
7200

rotate AC & link left one

RTL

RAR
RTR

CML

CMA
CLL

CLA

rotate AC & link left two
rotate AC & link right one
rotate AC & link right two

complement link
complement AC
clear link
clear AC

C-7

Mnemonic

Operation

Octal

GROUP 2 OPERATE MICROINSTRUCTIONS
HLT

7402
7404
7410
7420
7430
7440
7450
7500
7510

OSR
SKP

SNL
SZL

SZA

SNA
SMA
SPA

halts the computer

inclusive OR switch register with AC
skip unconditionally

skip on nonzero link
skip on zero link
skip on zero

skip on nonzero AC
skip on minus AC
skip on plus AC (zero is positive)

COMBINED OPERATE MICROINSTRUCTIONS
CIA

7041

complement & increment AC

STL

7120
7204
7240
7604

set link to

GLK
STA
LAS

get link (put link in AC, bit

AC = -1
load AC with switch register

set

lOT MICROINSTRUCTIONS
Program Interrupt

ION
OF

6001

turn interrupt on

6002

turn interrupt off

KSF

6031

skip if keyboard/reader flag = 1

KCC

6032
6034
6036

clear AC & keyboard/reader flag

TSF

6041

skip if teleprinter/punch flag = 1

TCF
TPC

6042
6044
6046

clear teleprinter/punch flag
load teleprinter/punch buffer, select & print

Keyboard/Reader

KRS
KRB

read keyboard/reader buffer
clear AC & read keyboard buffer, & clear keyboard flag

Teleprinter/^unch

TLS

load teleprinter/punch buffer, select & print, and clear

teleprinter/punch flag

Clock

CLSK

6131

skip on clock interrupt

CLLR

6132
6133
6134
6135
6136
6137

load clock control register 1

CLAB

CLEN
CLSA
CLBA
CLCA

Extended Memory (Type MC8/I)
62nl
CDF

CIF

RDF
RIF

RMF
RIB

62n2
62n4
6224
6244
6234

AC to buffer preset register
load clock control register

clock status to AC
buffer preset register to AC

counter to AC

change to data field n
change to instruction field n
read data field into AC
read instruction field into AC
restore memory field

reod interrupt buffer

C-8

Mnemonic

Octal

Operation

lOT MICROINSTRUCTIONS (cont)
Processor Mode Change

LINC

change to LINC mode processing

6141

C.4.2 LINC Symbols

Mnemonic

Octal

ADD
ADA
LAM

2000
1100
1140
1200

MUL

1240

LDA
LDH

1000
1300

STC
STA
STH

4000

ROL N
ROR N

0240
0300
0340

Operoti'

ADD

ADM

add memory to A (full address)
add memory to A (index class)
add A to memory (sum also In A)
add link and A to memory (sum also in A)

MULTIPLY
signed multiply

LOAD
load A,

full

load A, half register

STORE

A (full address)
A (index class)
store half A
store and clear

1040
1340

store

SHIFT/ROTATE

SCRN

N places
N places
scale right N places
rotate left

rotate right

OPERATE
HLT

NOP

0000
0016

halt

no operation

CLR

0011

clear AC ond LINC

SET

0040
6000
0005

set register

QAC

N to contents of register Y

jump to register Y

MQ transfer to AC

LOGICAL OPERATIONS
BCL

SCO

1540
1600
1640

COM

0017

BSE

bit clear (any combination of 12-bits)
bit set (any combination of 12-bits)
bit complement (ony combinotion of 12
complement AC

SKIP
Skip next instruction if:

SAE

1440
1400

AC equals memory register, Y
right half AC unequal to specified holf of memory
register, Y

SNS N

0440+N

sense switch

SKP

0456
0450

unconditional skip

SHD

AZE

N is set

AC equals 0000 or TTT7
C-9

OperaHon

Mnemonic

Octal

APO

0451

AC contains positive number

LZE

0452
0454
0455

add overflow is set

SKIP (cont)

FLO

QLZ
SXL N
KST

SRO
XSK

link bit equals

0400+N

bit 1 1 of Z register equals
external level N is preset

keyboard has been struck

0415
1500

rotate memory register right one place; then

if bit

of Y equals 0, skip next instruction
contents of Y equal 1777; index memory register if 1 bit set

STD

0200
0416

ATR
RTA

0014
0015

AC to relay buffer
relay buffer to AC

SAMN

0100+N

sample analog channel

DIS

0140
1740
0002
0516
0517
0500

display point on oscilloscope

tape instruction completed

INPUT/OUTPUT

DSC
PDP

RSW
LSW
JOB

display character on oscilloscope (2x6 matrix)

change to PDP-8 mode

RIGHT SWITCH register to AC
LEFT SWITCH register to AC
I/O bus enable

MEMORY
LIF

LDF

0600
0640

change instruction field
change data field

LINC TAPE
read one block into memory

RDC

0702
0700

RCG

0701

read and check

WRI

write one block on tape

MTB

0706
0704
0705
0707
0703

XOA

0021

RDE

WRC

WCG
CHK

read and check one block

N consecutive tape blocks

write and check one block
write and check

N blocks

check one block of tape

move tape toward selected block
extended tape operations buffer to AC

EXTENDED OPERATION S

TMA

0004
0003
0023

AXO

0001

DJR

0006
0000
0024

ESF
TA-C

MSC
SPA

enable special functions
tape control register to AC
AC to tape control register
AC to extended operations buffer
disable Jump Return Save

miscellaneous
special functions to AC

C.5 OPERATORS AND SPECIAL CHARACTERS
Char

Mode

Operation

8/L

Assign symbolic address

Origin - dependent on mode (LINC or PDP-8)

C-10

Char

Mode

8/L

Define parameters

Combine symbols or numbers

8/L

Combine symbols or numbers

8/L

Has value of current location counter

8/L

Comment

Add 10_ to instruction

Add 20g to instruction
Add 400g to instruction

8/L

Terminate coding line

•

Operatron

SPACE

8/L

lOR

8/L

Logical

AND

8/L

Logical

lOR

Operator x\y = 1000„x+y where x is a single
octal digit

C.6 LAP6-DIAL TAPE ALLOCATION DURING ASSEMBLY
Systems Unit:

Scratch Unit:

FILE

FREE

267
277

INDEX

345
347

FREE

267
277

INDEX

345
347

LAP6-DIAL

367

BINARY

SOURCE
WORKING AREA

WORKING AREA

427

USER SYMBOLS (4K only)

CORE MEMORY MAP
SAVSYM SYMBOL AREA

467

FILE

446
44/
457

FILE

777

c-n

Allocation of LAP6-DIAL Areo

C.6.1

DIAL -MS

DIAL-V2
Blocks

Content

Same as DIAL-V2 except:

300-321

EDITOR

Blocks

Content

322-345

ASSEMBLER

310

SYS BUILD

346-347

INDEX

322-323

I/O ROUTINES

350-353

FILECOMS

324-344

ASSEMBLER

354-355

LOADER

345

I/O CONTROLLER

356-360

SAVE BINARY

356-360

UNUSED

361 -362

PX, DX

363

TTY

363

364

TTY

365-366

UNUSED

365-366

MASTER I/O ROUTINES

367

SCRATCH

C.6.2 DIAL-MS Disk Allocation
Disk allocation for the available PDP-12 mass storage configurations with DIAL -MS is as follows.

Contents

Disk Used

DF32

2 DF32's

1-4RS08'5

Disk contains
First

DIAL-MS system and source working area

DF32 as above; second dijsk contains binary working area

First disk (logical Units 10 and 11) contains

DIAL-MS system program and

source and binary working areas and files assigned to logical units 10 and
Each RS08 disk is equivalent
11 . Up to three additionol units may be used.
to two LINCtapes and eoch may be used for storage of source and/or binary
files.
1

RK08

Logically equivalent to six LINCtapes; DIAL-MS system programs and source
working area are on first unit. Binary working area is on the second, source

and/or binary files are on all six units.

C.7 SAMPLE PROGRAM
The following listing is an example of a program which will read in a paper tape in image mode.
in only source or binary.)

and packed with zeroes.
to indicate

(PIP will read

This program reads in 8 bits from the Teletype and puts it in one word, right justified,

The data is then written out onto the working area of unit 1 .

when the end of the tape has been reached and then to restart DIAL.

tape, it can be copied and used as input to another user program.

and is not the only way to do this task

C-12

Sense switch

used

Once the data is written on

Remember that this program is an example

*20

0000
0001
0002
0003
0004
0005
0006
0007
0010
0011
0012
0013
0014
0015
0016
0017
0020
0021
0022
002«i

0024
0025
0026
0027
0030
0031
0032
0033
0034
0035
0036
0037
0040
0041
0042
0043
0044
0045
0046
0047
0050
0051
0052
0053
0054
0055
0056
0057
0060
0061
0062
0063
0064
0065
0066
0067
0070
0071

/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
/

/
/
/

THIS PROGRAM WILL READ IN A PAPER TAPE
AND PLACE THE CONTENTS OF IT ON L NC TAPE,
THE PAPER TAPE IS READ AS AN 8 BIT CODE
AND IS PACKED ONE CHARACTER PER WORD,
RIGHT JUSTIFIED, WITH THE LEFT BITS
CONTAINING 2ER0,
THE DATA IS WRITTEN ONTO THE WORKING
AREA OF UNIT 1, STARTING AT BLOCK 370.
IS THE END OF INPUT SIGNAL,
SENSE SWITCH
IF THERE IS TOO MUCH DATA, THE PROGRAM
WILL HALT WITH 7777 IN THE AC,
WHEN FINISHED, THE PROGRAM WILL RESTART DIAL.
I

/
f

*1
/
/

0001

0000

BLOCKN,

0002

0000

BLOCKC,

0003

0000

POINT,

0004

0000

BCOUNT,

/CURRENT BLOCK NUMBER
/BEING WRITTEN ON,
/NUMBER OF BLOCKS LEFT
/IN THE WORKING AREA.
/POINTS TO NEXT FREE
/SPACE IN BUFFER,
/NUMBER OF FREE WORDS
/LEFT IN BUFFER,

/
/
/

THIS IS THE BOOTSTRAP TO RESTART DIAL,

0015
0016
0017

0643
0701
7300

DIAL,

»15
LDF
RCG
7300

/SET DATA FIELD TO 3
/READ IN DIAL
/8 BLOCKS FROM BLOCK 300

/
/

DIAL WILL START HERE,

»20
LDA

0020
0021
0022
0023
0024
0025
0026

1020
0020
0004
0061
0367
0062
7676

START,

SET

0027
0030
0031
0032

6056
0460
6042
0500

LOOP,
JMP
INLOOP, SNS
JMP

4033

6031

0034
0035

6030
0500

ESF
SET

BLOCKN

WKAREA=1
BLOCKC
=WKSIZE=1

RESET
DUMP

/I-O PRESET CODE
/DO I-O PRESET
/INITIALIZE POINTER
/TO WORKING AREA=1
/SET COUNTER TO WORKING
/AREA SlZE+1 TO ALLOW
/FOR RESET
/START OF A NEW BLOCK
NOT UP?
/SENSE SWITCH
DUMP BUFFER
/IT IS UP.

lOB

PMODE
KSF
LHODE
JMP

/DO PDP-8 lOT
/IS A CHARACTER READY?

INLOOP

/NO CHAR THERE,

/CHAR THERE

lOB

PMODE

C-13

WAIT

0072
0073
0074
0075
0076
0077
0100
0101
0102
0103
0104
0105
0106
0107
0110
0111
0112
0113
0114
0115
0116
0117
0120
0121
0122
0123
0124
0125
0126
0127
0130
0131
0132
0133

<1036

6036

0037
0040
0041
0042
0043
0044
0045
0046

1063
0224
6030
1000
0001
1560
7000
i620

4047

1000

0050

4052

KRB
LMOOE
STA I
POINT
XSK I
BCOUNT
JMP
INLOOP
LDA
BLOCKN
BCL
5777
BSE
PMODE
BUFFER + 400S300li
LMODE
STC
,*2

0051
0052
0053
0054
0055

0714
0000
0440
6027
6015

WRC
0000
SNS
JMP
JMP

LOOP
DIAL

/GET BLOCKN NUMBER AND PLACE
/IN WRITE INSTRUCTION
/WRITE OUT ON UNIT 1
/BLOCK NUMBER GOES HERE
/SENSE SWITCH
UP?
/GO BACK AND GET SOME MORE
/YES,
LOAD IN DIAL.

XSK
SET

BLOCKN
POINT

/INCREMENT BLOCK NUMBER
/SET BUFFER POINTER

'bcount

/SET BUFFER WORD COUNTER NOW
/400 0CTAL=256 DECIMAL
/TOO MUCH DATA?
/NO,
RETURN

DUMP,

/READ IN THE CHAR
/PLACE IN BUFFER
/BUFFER FULL?
GET ANOTHER WORD.
/NO.
/YES.
WRITE OUT BUFFER
/ONLY 9 BITS OF INTEREST
/AND WITH 777
/SET CORRECT FIELD BITS
/FOR 12 BIT CALCULATION
/SETS CORRECT BITS ON

/
/

0056
0057
0060
0061
0062
0063
0064
0065
0066
0067
0070

0134
0135
0136
0137
0140
0141
0142
0143
0144
0000 ERRORS
BCOUNT 4004
BLOCKC 4002
BLOCKN 4001
BUFFER 4400
4015
DIAL
4042
DUMP
INLOOP 4030
4027
LOOP
POINT 4003
RESET
4056
START 4020
WKAREA 0370
mSliZ 0100

0221
0063
4377
0064
7377
0222
6000
1020
7777
0000
6065

RESET,

BUFFER-1
SET I
= 400
XSK I
JMP
LOA I
7777
HLT
JMP

BLOCKC

WKSIZE=100
WKAREA=370

BUFFER=4400

C-14

/YES.
/ONLY

HALT WITH 7777 IN AC
RESTART PERMITTED NOW

/WORKING AREA SIZE IS
/100 BLOCKS
/WORKING AREA STARTS FROM
/BLOCK 370
/TAPE BUFFER AREA

Appendix D
I/O Routines for DIAL-MS
D

CALLl N G THE ROUTI NES

DIAL-MS provides a set of ready-to-go READ, WRITE, or MOVE I/O routines on tape

that may be called to

perform block transfers on LINCtape or disks, thus eliminating the need to write or assemble these routines.

and may be loaded into locations 7000 through

The DIAL-MS routines occupy blocks 322 and 323 of LINCtape

77T7 of any field,

A typical sequence to load the routines into locations 7000-7777 of field

follows.

As will

be explained later, placing the routines in field 1 has a definite advontage over any other field.

LDF

RDC
6\322

RDC
7\323
Each of the three DIAL-MS routines, READ, WRITE, and MOVE, are called in PDP-8 mode and in the same
manner.

A typical call is:
/CURRENT IF
/SUBROUTINE

CDF N
CIF

JMS ROUTINE

ARGUMENTS
The CDF instruction sets the data field to the present instruction field so the routines will know where to
return.

(If the

data field is already set to the instruction field, this statement is not needed.)

struction sets the instruction field to the field of the routines.

calling programming, this statement may be removed.)

(If the

The JMS

(or

D.2 READ and WRITE
The READ and WRITE routines are called in the same manner, as:

JMS READ
POINTER
/RETURN IS HERE.

POINTER points to the following:
POINTER, UNIT NO

CORELOC
START

BLOCKS

D-1

The CIF in-

routines are in the same field as the

JMS I) is the call

UNIT * is the logical unit number of the I/O device for the READ or WRITE. CORELOC is the first location of
transfer divided by 400; thus 13 refers to location 5400.

START is the starting block number of the transfer.

BLOCKS is the number of blocks to transfer.

A program to read in eight blocks from block 30 on disk

into location 2000

as follows:

LINC

LMODE
7

/READ THE ROUTINES INTO SEGMENT 7

CDF

CIF

/SAVE THE CURRENT IF FOR RETURN
/ROUTINES ARE IN SECOND PDP-8 FIELD

LDF

RDC
6\322

RDC
7\323
CLR
PDP

PMODE
J MS

PRE AD

HLT
PI, 10

04
30
10

/UNIT NO.
/CORE LOC.
/TBLK

/NO. BLOCKS

PREAD, READ

D.3

MOVE

The MOVE routine transfers core locations from one area of core to another, as:
J

MS MOVE

CDF FROMF

FROML
CDF TOP
TOL

WORDS

Aeturn is here
FROMF is the "from" field, FROML is the first "from" location, TOF is the "to" field, and TOL is the first

WORDS is the number of words to be transferred.

"to" location.

The MOVE entry point is at 7200, the READ is at 7774, and WRITE is at 7775. Remember thot locations 7750 and
7751 of field
Section 4.5).

are the data break locations and should not be written over for o DF32 or RS08 disks (refer to
If

data must be read from the disk into those locations,

it is odvisable

to read the dota into

another location and then use the MOVE routine to transfer the information to 7750 or 7751.

D-2

D.4 BOOTSTRAP ROUTINE
By JMPing to 7777 in field 1, the bootstrap location,

DIAL-MS is restarted. The bootstrap will not function

properly unless the routines are in field 1, thus the advantage of having the I/O routines in field 1

D-3

INDEX

A/D Knob 3, 2-1, 2-2

DECIMAL, 3-4, 3-9

A/D Knob 7, 2-1

Disks, 1-1, 1-5, 5-2,

ADD BINARY, 4-5

DISPLAY INDEX, 4-9

ADD PROGRAM, 4-8

Duplicate Tape, 5-6

C-12

Address Assignments, 3-5

ALT MODE, 1-3, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5
ASMIFx, 3-10

Editor, 1-2, 2-1

EJECT, 3-10

ASMSKP, 3-11
Error

Messages (Assembler), B-1

ASSEMBLE, 4-1
Error Recovery, 1-6,

ASSEMBLE and LIST, 4-1

ASSEMBLE and QUICK LIST, 4-2

5-7

EXIT, 2-1, 2-7, 4-11
Expressions, 3-5

Assembler, 1-2, 3-1
Auxiliary Mode, 5-6

FIELD, 3-8
Fields, 2-5, 3-1

Binary Input, 5-2
File Index,

1-4

Files, 1-1,

1-4

Binary Output, 5-4
Binary Programs, 1-3
Binary Working Area, 1-3, 4-5
Bootstrap Routine,

D-3

Hardware Requirements, 1-1

High-Speed Reader, 5-3, 5-S
Cord Reader, 5-3
Choracter Editing, 2-2
Chorocter Set, C-6, C-10

CLEAR, 2-1, 4-9

Commond Mode, 2-1
Comments, 2-5, 3-2

Illegal Characters,

3-7

Initializing PIP, 5-1

Input Buffer, 1-2, 2-6
Instructions, 2-5, 3-2,

C-7

I/O Routines, D-1

Control Commands (PIP), 5-1

Copy, 5-6

Large Programs, 2-6

Current Line, 1-3

Large Section Deletion, 2-4

Deletion, 2-3
Formatting, 2-5

Legal Characters, 3-6

LINCtape, 1-1, 1-2, 5-2, 5-A
Current Location Counter, 3-3
Cursor, 2-1, 2-7

Line Calls, 1-3, 2-2
Line Insertion, 2-3

INDEX (cont)

Line Printer, 5-5

SAVE BINARY, 4-4

LIST, 3-9

SAVE PROGRAM, 4-8

LISTAPE, 3-8, C-2, C-4

SAVSYM, 3-11, C-2, C-4

LMODE, 3-7

SEGMNT, 3-8

LOAD BINARY, 4-5

Semicolon, 3-1

LODSYM, 3-12, C-2, C-4

Source Input, 5-2
Source Output, 5-4

Mode OpHons (PIP), 5-2
Monitor Commands, 1-2, 1-4, 1-5, 2-2, 4-1, C-1

MOVE, D-2

Source Progroms, 1-2
Source Working Area, 1-1, 1-2, 2-1, C-11

Statement Syntax, 3-1
Symbols, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 3-5

System Build, A-1

NOLIST, 3-9
Numbers, 3-4, 3-5, 3-6

System Initialization, A-2
System Operation, 1-2
System Startup, A-3

OCTAL, 3-4, 3-9
Operands, 3-2
Operators, 3-1, C-10

Overlapped I/O, 2-6

Tabs, 2-5
Tags, 2-5, 3-1

Tape Allocation, C-1

TEXT, 3-9

PAGE, 3-8

Text Mode, 1-2, 2-1

PIP, 1-2, 5-1

PMODE, 3-7
PRINT INDEX, 4-10

Unit Numbers, 1-5
User's Monitor Command, 4-11

PRINT SOURCE, 4-11
Pseudo-Operators, 3-7, C-2

Punch Zeros, 5-5

Radix, 3-4

READ, D-1

RUBOUT, 2-2

WRITE, D-1

ZERO, 4-7

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