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Skeezics Boondoggle<p>Time to cast a wider net, but I'm not a fan of the "throw 58 hashtags at it to see what sticks" shotgun approach, so I'll just ask the handful of <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/PERQ" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PERQ</span></a> nuts still around to look to their left, look to their right, and point out the person who might have the PNX sources or documentation I seek. (If it's neither of them, maybe it's YOU! Go get that dusty old box of 8" floppies from the back of that shelf and bust out the Catweasel.)</p><p>Because surely someone, somewhere, remembers SERC, the 1980s, Chilton, RAL, ICL Dalkieth, PNX, etc. -- and squirreled away some docs, or diskettes, or even a whole PERQ with *some* information about the "C-Codes" instruction set and virtual C machine architecture of PNX. NMOC? Bletchley Park? Beuller? Anyone? There can't possibly still be concerns about throwing a copy of the sources over the transom 40 years on for research and preservation.</p><p>In the meantime, reverse engineering the kernel's microcode debugger is arduous and painstaking. Here's where we're at after a floppy or hard disk boot: both halt in a similar manner, somewhere at or before attempting to tekload the updated Z80 firmware. I'll get there, eventually, through sheer doggedness. But PNX kernel hackers of yore, lurking in <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/vintagecomputing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>vintagecomputing</span></a>, long free of ICL's closed-source bloody-mindedness, chime in anytime. :-)</p>
Tom Stepleton<p><a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/Smalltalk" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Smalltalk</span></a> -80 on <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/PERQ" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PERQ</span></a> --- <a href="https://www.wolczko.com/st80/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Mario Wolczko's implementation</a> running with maybe some gremlins still to sort out. attn <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://oldbytes.space/@skeezicsb" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">@<span>skeezicsb</span></a></span> as usual 🙂</p>
Tom Stepleton<p>About a month ago I fixed the mouse on my circa-1983 <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/PERQ" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PERQ</span></a> 2T2 computer: a key feature for an early graphical workstation. It was a wild troubleshooting journey --- in the end, there was nothing wrong with the mouse itself. You might not believe what it was...</p>
Tom Stepleton<p><a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/RetroChallenge" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>RetroChallenge</span></a> <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/PERQ" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PERQ</span></a> status: troubleshooting floppy booting, managed by this <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/z80" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>z80</span></a> --- the system's I/O processor. Simple: just trace the Z80's execution, right? Well, some PERQ whizkid decided the right way to I/O was a <a href="https://github.com/skeezicsb/PERQemu/blob/experiments/PERQemu/PROM/eioz80.lst" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">homebrew Z80 RTOS with cooperative multitasking and a prioritised round-robin scheduler</a>. Not so simple after all!</p>
Tom Stepleton<p>Newly arrived HDDs with maybe the only extant installations of RSRE's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flex_machine" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Flex</a> capability-based OS for <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/PERQ" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PERQ</span></a>. AFAIK Flex is one of the few large ALGOL 68 projects. The MFM drives likely have perished rubber stops inside; the 8" beast has a bespoke interface. I think I'll need to make a filtered-air glove box for invasive surgery.</p>
Skeezics Boondoggle<p><a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/introduction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>introduction</span></a><br> <br>The OG <a href="https://oldbytes.space/tags/PERQ" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PERQ</span></a> Fanatic. Everyone has their kink; mine's an obscure and quirky pile of TTL and broken dreams from the early 1980s. The fantastic plastic RasterOp workstation warped my young brain; 40 years on I'm still enthralled: <a href="https://github.com/skeezicsb/PERQemu" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">github.com/skeezicsb/PERQemu</span><span class="invisible"></span></a> </p><p>Background? Sysadmin and hacker from the time_t when mastodons roamed the earth. Office Space is the unofficial biography of my life and career.</p><p>From dotcom optionnaire to aggressively unemployed, I just can't take this world seriously anymore. Here as long as the coffee holds out, still slowly sliding naked down the dull rusty razor of life. Yawp!</p>