> On Aug 17, 2020, at 3:43 AM, Tom Hunter via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org>
> wrote:
>
> Has SIMH been ported to a low overhead (instant-on) platform?
>
> I ask the question because the startup time of Linux is distracting when
> powering on a PiDP-11/70 or similar clone systems based on SIMH.
>
> Thanks
> Tom Hunter
I work with some storage systems (SAN arrays) that are layered on Linux and
start in a small number of seconds. I haven't actually timed how fast, but
it's pretty quick.
NetBSD can also be made to start quite fast.
So I would think you could take your favorite Unix-style OS and trim out all
the unnecessary cruft from the startup. As an experiment, how fast does it
start in single-user mode? You should certainly be able to go that quickly.
Other options includes various RTOS. There are some supported on BeagleBone,
that might be an option.
I have wondered about running a minimal SIMH on Arduino. The newer ones use
ARM-32 cores of one kind or another. I/O would be more limited, but it would
be an interesting experiment to see if a small RT11 type system could run on a
Trinket M0. The specs suggest it might be doable: 256 kB flash, 32 kB RAM, 5
GPIO including UART capability. Not a lot but certainly more than the small
PDP-11 systems I ran RT11 V2 on.
paul
