How to build the PiDP-11 "PDP-11" replica

I'm off to venture into almost prehistoric ages: The PiDP-11 kit it is a miniaturized replica of the DEC PDP-11.
Powered by a Raspberry Pi behind the scenes, this accurate replica is simple enough to build in an afternoons work, and opens an entire world of historic operating systems, even the origins of UNIX.
00:00 Intro
00:42 Initial Software Setup
01:26 Unboxing the Kit
02:14 Assembling Diodes & Resistors
03:19 Assembling the LEDs
03:56 Mounting the Raspberry Pi
04:38 Intermediate Functional Test
05:35 Assembling the Frame, Bezel and Switches
07:07 Mounting Panel Breakout Connectors
08:12 Front Panel Key Switch
08:36 Wood Work
09:57 System Serial Console
11:50 Booting 2.11BSD
12:38 Serial Ports for Emulated Serial Consoles
14:30 Final Assembly
15:48 Conclusion
16:57 Outro
Visit also THE PHINTAGE COLLECTOR website at phintage.phunsites.net for insights into my retro computer collection.
Copyright @ 2022 THE PHINTAGE COLLECTOR, Gianpaolo Del Matto. All rights reserved.
Theme Music composed by Abdallah El-Ghannam.
www.fiverr.com/abdallahghannam

[@sylsau6506]

Glad someone is living my dream! Thank you for sharing.

[@johnmaxwell4941]

Thank you for the video. You may have inspired me to get my real PDP-11/84 and my two PDP-11/73 boxes dusted off, repaired and back into service! The 84, as I recall, needs some major power supply attention - now if only I can manufacture the time!

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

@John Maxwell now you make me jealous for having any such historic nuggets! ;) Go ahead and save them before they‘re lost in time. It‘s well some effort to preserve vintage tech. I‘d love to get my hands on a real one! You‘re a lucky man! :)

[@RN1441]

This is very exciting. It means that if things go very well, in 2065 it will be possible that someone will build a computer that looks and runs like a PDP-11, but behind it there will be a RPi4 emulated on a CPU made in 2062 with a few petabytes of RAM.

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

Who knows what role todays CPUs and operating systems will play in 40 years from now? Maybe they‘ll live on through emulation, at least as long as there are still enthusiasts.

[@GeoffreyGrinton]

Thanks for this. I'd love to have one of these but am not sure my soldering skills are up to the mark!

[@hotplatelabs]

Perfect, thank you. Guess I have no excuse to wait building mine now…

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

Yes, do that! It’s worth every minute :)

[@gort59]

Thanks for the most excellent video!

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

My pleasure!

[@sonsm4881]

휼륭한 영상입니다

[@wa4aos]

Very informative video. I have the PDP11 pi kit and plan to get started assembling it soon. I also have the PDP 8 replica, the Altair and IMSAI clones as well. I worked of DEC for a number of years and having these early system clones I worked with in the past is a real hoot. ONE QUESTION for you, which Raspberry Pi did you use and is there and advantage to going to a faster Pi like the Rev 4/ Thanks for your well done video !!

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

@wa4aos You're welcome. If I remember correctly, I put a Raspi 4 in. I didn't do any comparison between earlier or later generation Raspis, but I'm definitely up to say, the faster multi-core CPU of the RPi 3 and RPi 4 have an advantage. The RPi 2 is a bit more sluggisch in present day operation, that's my personal experience. Maybe that matters not so much if you just want to use the supplied OS and run some of the software. But if you are up to do some heavier lifting inside the emulation, i.e. recompiling 211BSD, then I'd definitely go for the RPi 4.

[@werdsfrghnwyrjuw2q3]

front beezal? what is a beezal?

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

I can only guesswork and assume you wanted to point me onto the fact of wrong pronounciation of the word "bezel". You're right, it should be pronounced 'ˈbezəl' and not 'bēzel'. Thanks for pointing that out. As a non-english speaker I learned something today!

[@markgarrett8963]

“you keep using that word, I don’t think it means what you think…” fixate is not the right word

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

That is very well possible. As a native german speaker, I‘m prone to trip into the false friends of words. I use it as a synonym to mounting or fastening something. But as you say, it is maybe wrong. Would love to hear your suggestions to improve.

[@user-xn8fj7bo8f]

🙃🙃🙃

[@triggerthesound767]

The transition graphic is interesting the first few times but then becomes kind of painful to endure.

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

Thank you. I take you talk about the chapter bumpers, are you? Any suggestion how to improve?

[@triggerthesound767]

@@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR yes those. I think you could get rid of them entirely. Maybe just pop up that text at the bottom for a few seconds if you think they are needed.

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

@@triggerthesound767 I went with the chapter bumpers on purpose when I'm switching context. But maybe you're right, that's really not necessary. I had it toned down already as when compared to the very first videos. But I will give it some thinking again. Thanks for the insights!

[@THEPHINTAGECOLLECTOR]

@Trigget TheSound In case you haven't seen it, but I was experimenting with less intrusive chapter markers in a recent video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5vcZ3p4gbp_edE Let me know what you think :-)