f1fe18dab3
1. Move project from Google Code to GitHub (https://github.com/pkimpel/retro-b5500/). Update links and help pages; convert wiki pages to GitHub's MarkDown format. 2. Implement emulator-hosted memory dump to a tape image that can be saved and input into the B5500 DUMP/ANALYZE utility for analysis. Activated by clicking the NOT READY button on the Console. 3. Fix bad assignments to Processor X register in arithmetic ops (affected only SyllableDebugger script). 4. Remove IndexedDB.openDatabase() version parameter so the B5500ColdLoader and tools/ scripts will work in non-Firefox browsers. 5. Add a "?db" query string parameter to the tools/scripts so these scripts can open disk subsystems other than B5500DiskUnit. 6. Correct pre-allocated file locations and ESU card in tools/COLDSTART-XIII.card. 7. Implement new double-click mechanism to copy and clear the contents of card punch, datacom terminal, and line-printer output areas to a temporary window for subsequent copying or saving. 8. Correct handling of Ctrl-B (break), Ctrl-D (disconnect request), Ctrl-E (WRU), Ctrl-L (clear input buffer), and Ctrl-Q (alternate end-of-message) in B5500DatacomUnit. 9. Implement reporting of Model IB (slow, bulk) disk in B5500DiskUnit readInterrogate. 10. Implement detection of browser IndexedDB quota-exceeded errors in B5500DiskUnit (primarily to handle the fixed 2GB limit for off-line storage in Firefox). 11. Correct problem when line printer exhausted paper and FORM FEED triple-click did not clear the condition. 12. Eliminate BOT marker sensed in result for tape drive Write Interrogate operation -- Mark XIII and XV MCPs treat this as an error and will not purge blank tapes because of it. 13. Fix double-click of SPO INPUT REQUEST button either sending a duplicate interrupt to the system or the second click moving focus from the SPO input box. 14. Further tuning of delay-deviation adjustment mechanism in B5500SetCallback.js. 15. Reinstate ability of SPO to wrap long outputs to additional lines (apparently lost with new SPO input mechanism in 1.00). 16. Commit preliminary COOLSTART-XIII.card and MCPTAPEDISK-XIII.card decks.
The Burroughs B5500 was an innovative computer system. Released first as the B5000 in 1962 and then, with minor improvements and a new disk subsystem, re-released as the B5500 in 1964, its design was a radical departure from other commercial systems of the day. Many of the concepts that it embodied were being worked on and implemented by others around the same time, but it is difficult to think of another system that pulled so many concepts together and made them work so well in a commercially-successful product:
* Multi-programming (multiple tasks sharing the same processor)
* Multi-processing (multiple physical processors sharing common memory and I/O)
* Automatic memory address relocation
* Automatic memory segment overlay (what we now call virtual memory)
* Variable-length memory segments
* Hardware bounds checking
* Stack- and descriptor-oriented instruction set
* Unified integer/floating-point numeric format
* Management by a sophisticated operating system, the Master Control Program, or **MCP**
* Designed for and programmed exclusively in higher-level languages
The B5500 was the foundation for the Burroughs B6000/7000/A Series, which are still produced and sold today as Unisys ClearPath MCP systems.
The main goal of this project is creation of a web browser-based emulator for the B5500. A second goal is reconstruction of the source and object code for the system.
A complete software release (Mark XIII, 1971) is presently available from the hosting site below under liberal terms of a Unisys educational/hobbyist license.
The contents of this project are licensed under the MIT License.
| Related Sites | URL |
|---|---|
| Getting Started | http://www.phkimpel.us/B5500/webSite/HelpMenu.html |
| Project Blog | http://retro-b5500.blogspot.com/ |
| Emulator hosting site | http://www.phkimpel.us/B5500/ |
| Burroughs Mark XIII Software Release | http://www.phkimpel.us/B5500/webSite/SoftwareRequest.html |
| B5500 at retroComputingTasmania | http://www.retrocomputingtasmania.com/home/projects/burroughs-b5500 |
| Documents at bitsavers.org | http://bitsavers.org/pdf/burroughs/B5000_5500_5700/ |
| Release Downloads | https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BxqKm7v4xBswM29qUkxPTkVfYzg&usp=sharing |
| Web/email Forum | http://groups.google.com/group/retro-b5500 |
This project was originally hosted on Google Code at https://code.google.com/p/retro-b5500 and moved to GitHub in June 2015.