PDP-12: HELLORLD!

Nick Moffitt (teh.entar.net/@spacehobo) takes over the channel today to regale us with the saga of his implementation of "Hellorld!" on the PDP-12.
"Don't you mean 'Hello, World!'?" Why no, dear viewer, I mean "Hellorld!" Hellorld! is a delightful version of "Hello, World!" that was first created by @UsagiElectric on their Centurion minicomputer but has become a fun challenge program for all types of platforms.
This video is packed with lots of interesting stuff, such as:
- why "Hellorld!"?
- Intercontinental debugging
- The power of blinkylights
- Dramatic Ken Burns-style zoom and pan effects
- A description of how a PDP-12 draws characters on what is basically an oscilloscope
- and much more!
The overall Hellorld! challenge can be found here: github.com/Nakazoto/Hellorld/... ... with a call to action here: • Hellorld!
Nick's entry described here: github.com/Nakazoto/Hellorld/...
Nick's Hellorld! source code: zork.net/git/SpaceHobo/hellor... -- running make on this code will download Vince Slyngstad's in-progress PDP-12 emulator and let you see Hellorld! on a virtual VR-12.
You can find Vince online at: svn.so-much-stuff.com/
For more on our project, or to donate to our work, see:
umdpdp12.blogspot.com/
To follow along with our behind the scenes work, see:
forum.vcfed.org/index.php?thr...
Instagram: / umdpdp12
I'm on Mastodon: teh.entar.net/@tastytronic
More videos of our PDP-12: • PDP-12

[@alabamacajun7791]

Shout out to David @UsagiElectric getting world creds.

[@kenromaine2387]

So glad to see the 1970-1980s Warrex-Centurion computer from Richardson, TX. has touched so many engineers around the world. As one of the old Centurion employees & other people from around the world helping David, I enjoyed this video.

[@pahp]

Thank you for helping preserve history!

[@apogeedata]

This was great thanks for the memories

[@kerryedavis]

That's a nice-looking -12! The ones I had in the past, trying to start a computer school in the 80s, hadn't been treated that well.

[@unixerius6632]

Thank you for sharing! What a great video! I'll include a link in my Linux+ slides, when we're discussing character sets etc, as an illustration of where we came from and how easy we now have it with "just use ASCII or UTF". 🤓

[@pjcnet]

No ASCII or similar predefined fonts, but it means you have control over a full monochrome bitmap which is incredible for a machine initially released in 1969. Creating full bitmap moving objects would be possible and therefore games, so I checked and I see you've already featured Space Wars on this machine about 5 years ago, incredible.

[@derekchristenson5711]

Nice! The old-timey, serious news voice was fun, too, hehe.

[@pahp]

What's amazing is that Nick just sounds like that!

[@evanbarnes9984]

Instant subscription! This is the first video of yours I've seen.

[@pahp]

I'll be honest, the production quality of the others is much much lower, but the PDP-12 is the same! Thanks for subscribing.

[@hansoak3664]

Same. 🙂

[@john.dough.]

Love the production quality!! ❤

[@pahp]

Thanks, I'll let Nick know! I can't take any credit for it!

[@ForgottenMachines]

We are LOVING this machine and celebrating it over on our Forgotten Machines server... And you even feature Usagi! Another friend of our server and machines...so well done, thank you!!!

[@pahp]

Thank you so much!

[@ForgottenMachines]

So creatively done and well produced, congratulations and cheers to all who were involved! Not to mention the most amazing PDP console I've ever seen in action...

[@Kae6502]

That was Wonderful! 😃❤

[@binarydinosaurs]

That was a great collaborative effort and fun to watch :D Many thanks to all involved!

[@pahp]

Our pleasure!

[@andrewgrillet5835]

A giant leap for Emulated mankind !?!

[@soniclab-cnc]

I am so happy hellorld is a thing.

[@mekafinchi]

Well done!

[@goldfinch-gh]

Great to see the PDP-12 take up the challenge of Hellorld!, @UsagiElectric is great fun to follow.

[@slaquers]

super cool! thanks for the video, love the old PDP's

[@TeslaTales59]

Nice work!

[@jackrubin]

Warren is smiling!

[@pahp]

I think so, too!

[@landspide]

This is brilliant, manyanks!

[@AaronJackson1]

This was great :D

[@kensmith5694]

Many years back I worked with a PDP-12. There was a way to do the character display from within the 8 mode. It involved some I/O AKA (Slow NOP) instructions that drive the X, Y and Z of the "scope" that is the display. Sadly I don't remember the details. I found the section on the VR12 in what I have but it doesn't say what I/O numbers it is. Basically there are two 9 bit DACs for the X,Y and As I recall, you needed to TAD the X into the accumulator and then do a 6??? instruction, then you do the same for the Y and then a 3rd 6??? to light that spot on the CRT. There was a "space battle" game for the PDP-12 that was kind of fun. Two space craft orbited a planet and could rotate, fire their rocket and shoot.

[@hansoak3664]

Awesome! Thank you to everyone involved.

[@e_fission]

This was very cleverly done!

[@pahp]

Nick did an amazing job.

[@ForgottenMachines]

So, now where can we find Nick Moffitt's KZbin channel, so I can listen to his dramatic announcer voice for another hour or so...

[@pahp]

He doesn't have one... yet.

[@VincentGroenewold]

That is so cool, what a time it was for a developer

[@YuTv1408]

That flat screen looks so cool. If only computers were smarter and cs language was easier to code.

[@pahp]

Fortunately, it is infinitely easier to code nowadays!

[@xenaretos]

Hmmm, there wasn't a PDP-12 emulator available last time I checked... Things sure change.

[@pahp]

It's not complete yet, as you can see here -- but it can do a lot of things. We just added links to the Hellorld! source which also grabs vrs' PDP-12 SIMH-based emulator.

[@floeki-jekker]

geweldig !

[@belstar1128]

10:47 i love how it makes a sound when something is on the screen is it the screen or something else making the sound ?

[@pahp]

The screen makes noise when it displays things, but the machine also makes noise (and generally speaking, more of it). When a certain bit in the accumulator changes state, the speaker clicks. The faster it changes state, the higher the frequency -- you can actually play music with it. This video shows how it works: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnnIoZ6IpJysiKs

[@johnpenner5182]

great investigative debug! thanks for reporting! 👾

[@pahp]

Thank you for watching!

[@nistam]

Google: Young man, what else can you do, besides programming in C#, Java, Typescript, blah-blah, this-that-the other thing? Candidate: Well, i can program a PDP-12. Google: You are hired.

[@alexandervonzoller-sakharo6386]

Try running "hellorld" on the IBM System/9000 (HAL) computer and see if that improves its personality any.

[@HeathLedgersChemist]

His parents were so poor they could only afford one name.

[@pahp]

🤣🤣🤣

[@der.Schtefan]

No PDP-12 computer has ever made a mistake, or distorted Hellord! These things have happened before, and they have always been attributed to emulator error.

[@pahp]

🏆

[@archivis]

:)

[@rty1955]

Hate OCTAL. Yuck We have a PDP9(working) PDP11 (working) PDP11 (working playing space invaders) in our hands on museum