hal-barnes/dtcyber

Nostalgic Computing Center fork of DtCyber

DtCyber

DtCyber is a high fidelity simulator of Control Data 6000, 70, 170, and 700, series supercomputers. This version of DtCyber is a direct derivative of Desktop CYBER 5.5.1 created by Tom Hunter. This version simulates additional types of peripheral I/O devices, includes additional networking features, and supports the Nostalgic Computing Center. This repository also provides automation and artifacts intended to make it easy for anyone to build the simulator and run historic software on it.

Visit these subdirectories to find artifacts and information enabling you to install operating systems on DtCyber after building it:

• NOS2.8.7 : NOS 2.8.7 was the last operating system formally released by CDC for its Cyber 170 series supercomputers.
• NOS1.3 : the NOS 1.3 operating system and a corresponding version of PLATO.

Visit the doc directory to find the somewhat outdated Basic Operation guide for DtCyber. This guide is oriented toward operation of an older version of the operating system. Nevertheless, most of the basic concepts apply to NOS 2.8.7 and NOS 1.3, and most information about operating DtCyber itself still applies.

Visit the CDC documentation archives at Bitsavers for a wealth of preserved documentation on Control Data hardware and software. In particular, the scans contributed by Tom Hunter provide a wealth of information about the CDC 6000, 70, 170, and 700 series machines and the software that ran on them (and continues to run on DtCyber).

Building the simulator

This root directory contains the source code for the simulator and makefiles for many types of machines and operating systems that can host it. Some of the most commonly used ones are:

• Makefile.linux32 A makefile for 32-bit Linux systems that produces a 32-bit DtCyber executable.
• Makefile.linux64 A makefile for Linux systems that produces a 64-bit DtCyber executable.
• Makefile.linux64-armv8 A makefile for ARM-based Linux systems (e.g., Raspberry Pi running 32-bit OS) that produces a 64-bit executable.
• Makefile.linux64-armv8-a A makefile for ARM-based Linux systems running a 64-bit OS (e.g., Raspberry Pi4 running 64-bit Linux) that produces a 64-bit executable.
• Makefile.macosx A makefile for 64-bit, Intel-based MacOS systems.

Project (DtCyber.vcxproj) and solution definition (DtCyber.sln) files are provided for Microsoft Visual Studio too.

For example, to build the simulator on MacOS, execute the following command:

make -f Makefile.macosx all

The all target builds both dtcyber (the mainframe simulator) and stk (the StorageTek 4400 automated cartridge tape system simulator). If you want to build only dtcyber, execute either of the following commands:

make -f Makefile.macosx dtcyber

make -f Makefile.macosx

To build dtcyber on Windows, open the solution file (DtCyber.sln) in Visual Studio and build the project defined by it.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for information about contributing new features, enhancements, and bug fixes to the simulator.