Talk:Installing SITS on SIMH

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MB11

Noel, have you ever heard about an MB11 device? It's described like this in SITS:

;MB11 MAR AND HISTORY REGISTER
MBCSR=170000+0       ;CONTROL AND STATUS
MBXHGH=MBCSR+2       ;HIGH BITS OF X REGISTER
MBXLOW=MBCSR+4       ;LOW BITS OF X REGISTER
MBYHGH=MBCSR+6       ;HIGH BITS OF Y REGISTER
MBYLOW=MBCSR+10      ;LOW BITS OF Y REGISTER
MBHHGH=MBCSR+12      ;HIGH BITS OF HISTORY REGISTER
MBHLOW=MBCSR+14      ;LOW BITS OF HISTORY REGISTER
MBHCNT=MBCSR+16      ;HISTORY MEMORY COUNTER
;BREAK VECTOR
MBBRV=374

I have not found any documentation, e.g. on Bitsavers. Larsbrinkhoff (talk) 11:37, 11 October 2022 (CEST)

I have never heard of it. I have a near-complete set of PDP-11 fiche, which contains all sorts of unusual things which are not available online, and it doesn't have it, in any section, either. I did a Web search on 'MB11 PDP-11' (and similar things), with no results there either.
Mx1[01] in DEC naming usually refers to memory of some kind (MA10, ME11, etc), but the registers you show there don't look like ordinary memory.
So I'd guess it's some MIT home-rolled peripheral; given the X-Y 'MAR' (usually means 'memory address register), maybe some kind of graphical thing?
Probably your best bet is to contact a SITS hacker and see if they remember. Radia is still with us; who else worked on SITS? Oh, you might try looking at AI Lab publications on SITS, to see if they mention an MB11; as a hand-rolled peripheral, it should have been mentioned. Jnc (talk) 14:54, 11 October 2022 (CEST)
Thanks it's good to know it probably wasn't a DEC device. I have the impression Ron Lebel was the head Logo programmer. I have been in touch with him and Radia, but understandably they don't remember much. There was also Bruce E Edwards, who I have not been able to track down. Larsbrinkhoff (talk) 15:39, 11 October 2022 (CEST)
BEE was there later, I remember him. His INQUIR entry hasn't been updated in a long time, though. Maybe someone in the ITS community will know where he is now? Jnc (talk) 16:40, 11 October 2022 (CEST)