This talk will look at the application of emulation frameworks, both for interest and as a serious solution
Agenda
18:00 Refreshments and networking
18:30 Start
19:30 Questions and networking
20:30 End
Synopsis
This talk looks at the increasing interest in computers that have long since been declared obsolete. It is interesting (and instructive) to see how much of what was done has affected modern systems.
More importantly, it may be necessary somehow to keep an older system running in some way, for commercial or regulatory reasons; this may apply even when the original hardware has, at least metaphorically, crumbled to dust.
Software emulation of the original hardware is both accessible and cheap, and can be augmented by fancy replical control panels, although this is not essential.
This talk will look at three such systems, all of which the speaker has built. Other systems are on the horizon. These systems are powered by Raspberry Pi boards of various levels, which are perfectly adequate for this application.
The speaker will also look at the emulation framework in more detail, discussing the more challenging aspects of the software. As an example, they will look at their current project, an emulation of early ICL 2900 mainframe systems.
About the speaker
Bob Eager graduated in Electronics from the University of Kent in 1973, followed by a Master’s in Computer Studies at the University of Essex. He was then invited back to Kent to do research in the area of operating systems portability, followed by appointment as a lecturer in 1978, He was rapidly seconded to help evaluate the Edinburgh Multi-Access System as a replacement for the unreliable VME/K system.
He oversaw it for the next eight years, with some challenging technical issues along the way. He subsequently managed the University's VAXcluster for six years before moving on.
Throughout this time he was teaching, mainly operating systems and compiling techniques. He retired in 2015. In retirement, he has indulged his interest in historical computing, particularly in the areas of simulators and replicas. One of his recent projects was the resurrection of the Cambridge TRIPOS system on the PDP-11, from incomplete and internally incompatible pieces of source code.
His long suffering wife allows him to keep a lot of ‘junk’ (her words) in the house, a shed, and a large storage unit. His current project is the resurrection of the Edinburgh Multi-Access System, via an emulator which he is currently developing. This has involved writing a compiler and an assembler on the way!
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