[img] Installing PDP-11 BBC BASIC
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To install PDP-11 BBC BASIC the file bbcbasic, basic.sav or basic.rom needs to be downloaded and copied to an appropriate location on your PDP-11 system.

bbcbasic is BBC BASIC for PDP-11 Unix. basic.rom is BBC BASIC optimised for a PDP-11 Tube CoProcessor.
Both will run on PDPTube, but only basic.sav is BBC BASIC for RT11 or RSTS. bbcbasic will run natively on Unix.

!PDPTube on RISC OS

  • Download PDPTube.zip, extract !PDPTube and save it somewhere appropriate.
  • !PDPTube comes with PDP-11 BBC BASIC bundled with it, and running !PDPTube by double-clicking on it will run BASIC.
  • To use a later version of BASIC, download bbcbasic or basic.rom and save it somewhere appropriate. It should be filetyped to &FE6 (UnixEx).
  • If !PDPTube has been "seen" by the filer and booted, then bbcbasic can be double-clicked on to run it.
  • !PDPTube can be run with bbcbasic on the command line to run it on startup. For instance: PDP11 adfs::Sylvia.PDP11.bbcbasic
RISC OS

PDPTube on Windows or DOS

  • Download PDP11Em.exe and save it somewhere appropriate. (see note)
  • PDPTube comes with PDP-11 BBC BASIC bundled with it, and running PDPTube by double-clicking on it will run BASIC.
  • To use a later version of BASIC, download bbcbasic or basic.rom and save it somewhere appropriate.
  • PDP11Em can be run with bbcbasic on the command line to run it on startup. For instance: "C:\Program Files\PDP11\PDP11Em.exe" "C:\My Documents\PDP11\bbcbasic"
  • On DOS/Windows systems you may find it convenient to rename bbcbasic to bbcbasic.pdp. You can then assign the ".pdp" extension to PDP11Em.
Windows

BBC PDP-11 second processor

  • Download basic.rom and save it somewhere appropriate. It should have load and execution addresses of &B000.
  • You can load basic.rom into a sideways RAM bank or program it into an EPROM.
  • With the PDP-11 second processor enabled, *PDP11 will enter BASIC from ROM, or *RUN basic/rom will run it from disk.
Matchbox

Real hardware PDP-11

  • Download bbcbasic and save it somewhere appropriate.
  • You then need to copy bbcbasic onto a disk used by the PDP-11.
  • With Unix is running, BBC BASIC is run by typing bbcbasic.
Unix

Using UxFiler to copy BBC BASIC to Ersatz-11 or SIMH

  • Download UxFiler.exe and save it somewhere appropriate.
  • Download bbcbasic and save it somewhere appropriate.
  • Run Ersatz-11 or SIMH, boot Unix and log on as root. See here for sample .INI files.
  • Create a dummy file for BBC BASIC and set the file mode, for instance:
    • with Unix v6: cp /unix /bin/bbcbasic, then chmod 755 /bin/bbcbasic
    • with Unix v7: cp /unix /usr/bin/bbcbasic, then chmod 755 /usr/bin/bbcbasic
  • Log off from Unix and shut down, in SIMH by pressing Ctrl-E, in Ersatz-11 by pressing Shift-Enter, and then enter quit.
  • Run UxFiler.
  • Select the Unix disk image with, for instance: mount "C:\My Documents\PDP11\unix0_v6_rk.dsk"
  • Select the Unix directory with the bbcbasic file in with, for instance: cd usr followed by cd bin.
  • Copy the bbcbasic file into the disk image with, for instance: import "C:\My Documents\PDP11\bbcbasic" bbcbasic.
  • Exit from UxFiler with quit, rerun Ersatz-11 or SIMH, boot Unix and log on.
  • BBC BASIC is run by typing bbcbasic.

Using putr to copy BBC BASIC to Ersatz-11 or SIMH

  • to be written...

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Last update: 20-Aug-2015