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From: alanj@nevermore.WV.TEK.COM (Alan Jeddeloh;685-2991;61-201;292-9740;orca)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Bootstrapping (was Re: Unix and C)
Message-ID: <9508@orca.wv.tek.com>
Date: 12 Nov 90 23:13:19 GMT
References: <4458@mint39.UUCP> <fraser.658038441@bilby> <403@bally.Bally.COM> <1990Nov9.174222.18666@Think.COM>
Sender: news@orca.wv.tek.com
Reply-To: alanj@nevermore.WV.TEK.COM (Alan Jeddeloh)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Wilsonville, OR
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In article <1990Nov9.174222.18666@Think.COM> barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin) writes:
>Ah, how soon they forget: front panels!
>
> <description of booting the PDP-8>

And don't forget the back panels.  Anyone remember the venerable CDC 6000 ?

The mainframe had a matrix of N (12 <= N <= 32)(?) X 12 toggle switches.  Big
ones -- the whole array being about 18 inches X 24 inches.  Each rom was one
12-bit Peripheral Processor instruction.  Into those switches you entered
the bootstrap code for the first PP.  What I would call a bootstrap MWROM
-- Manually-Writable Read-Only Memory!

    -Alan Jeddeloh      (503) 685-2991
    Tektronix Network (Yes, we're still here) Displays
    D/S 60-180; PO Box 1000; Wilsonville, OR 97070
    alanj@nevermore.wv.tek.com       Quoth the printer, "Nevermore!"