MAINDECs passed by the PDP-8/E Simulator

Most of the MAINDEC hardware diagnostic programs do not depend on exact timing and can be run successfully on slow Macintoshs or with the simulated PDP-8/E running as fast as possible. In case of doubt, the MAINDEC passes with the PDP-8/E and the I/O devices set to run with real time speed running on a sufficiently fast Macintosh (140 MHz Power Mac or better).

KE8-E CPU

MAINDEC-8E-D0AB-D Instruction Test Part 1 (Documentation)

MAINDEC-8E-D0BB-PB Instruction Test Part 2 (Binary)

MAINDEC-8E-D0BB-D Instruction Test Part 2 (Documentation)

MAINDEC-8E-D0CC-PB Adder Test (Binary)

MAINDEC-8E-D0CC-D Adder Test (Documentation)

From a note of Bob Supnik: Start at 0200 with SR=0000. Runs about 35 minutes without any output until the very end (unless error). Then prints as an acceptance indicator on the console:

SIMAD
SIMROT
FCT
RANDOM

MAINDEC-8E-D0DB-PB Random AND Test (Binary)

MAINDEC-8E-D0DB-D Random AND Test (Documentation)

MAINDEC-8E-D0EB-PB Random TAD Test (Binary)

MAINDEC-8E-D0EB-D Random TAD Test (Documentation)

MAINDEC-8E-D0FC-PB Random ISZ Test (Binary)

MAINDEC-8E-D0FC-D Random ISZ Test (Documentation)

MAINDEC-8E-D0GC-PB Random DCA Test (Binary)

MAINDEC-8E-D0GC-D Random DCA Test (Documentation)

MAINDEC-8E-D0HC-PB Random JMP Test (Binary)

MAINDEC-8E-D0HC-D Random JMP Test (Documentation)

MAINDEC-8E-D0IB-PB Basic JMP-JMS Test (Binary)

MAINDEC-8E-D0IB-D Basic JMP-JMS Test (Documentation)

MAINDEC-8E-D0JC-PB Random JMP-JMS Test (Binary)

MAINDEC-8E-D0JC-D Random JMP-JMS Test (Documentation)

MAINDEC-8E-D1GB-PB PDP-8/E Memory Power On/Off Test (Binary)

MAINDEC-8E-D1GB-D PDP-8/E Memory Power On/Off Test (Documentation)

The PDP-8/E Simulator version 1.3 (or later) passes this test “better” than a hardware PDP-8/E. After turning off the PDP-8/E with the power key of the KC8-EA Console, the simulator quits. After restarting the simulator, you only must operate the continue key of the console, you need not to load restart address 0201 because the simulator not only preserves the memory content, but the register content, too. (With older versions of the simulator, you must save the configuration explicitly because they do not save the current PDP-8/E state in the preferences file of the simulator automatically.)

KM8-E Memory Extension

MAINDEC-8E-D1HA-D PDP-8/E Memory Extension and Timeshare Test (Documentation)

Thanks to Willem van der Mark for the scan of his original documentation.

KE8-E Extended Arithmetic Element

MAINDEC-08-DHKEA-A-D KE8-E EAE Extended Memory Exerciser (Documentation)

MAINDEC-8E-D0LB-PB KE8-E EAE Instruction Test Part 1 (Binary)

MAINDEC-8E-D0LB-D KE8-E EAE Instruction Test Part 1 (Documentation)

MAINDEC-8E-D0MB-PB KE8-E EAE Instruction Test Part 2 (Binary)

MAINDEC-8E-D0MB-D KE8-E EAE Instruction Test Part 2 (Documentation)

RK8-E Disk Cartridge System

MAINDEC-08-DHRKA-B-PB RK8-E Diskless Control Test (Binary)

MAINDEC-08-DHRKA-E-D RK8-E Diskless Control Test (Documentation)

A table for translating the addresses from the listing of the E version documentation to the B version binary.

MAINDEC-08-DHRKB-E-PB RK8-E Disk Drive Control Test (Binary)

MAINDEC-08-DHRKB-G-D RK8-E Disk Drive Control Test (Documentation)

When the simulator runs with PDP-8/E real time speed, this MAINDEC sometimes halts with a STATUS REGISTER ERROR at PC:2054 in TST28, the consecutive sector timing test, or at PC:2132 in TST29, the non-consecutive sector timing test. The tests use a 2.5 ms resp. 40 ms delay loop to check if the READ ALL and WRITE ALL commands are able to act on two consecutive sectors and to check if the READ and WRITE commands need a complete disk revolution (that takes 40 ms) to access consecutive sectors. The internal timing of the simulator is not precise enough to always meet this conditions. The faster the Mac is, the more likely these tests pass.

A table for translating the addresses from the listing of the G version documentation to the E version binary.

MAINDEC-08-DHRKC-H-PB RK8-E/RK8-L Data Reliability Program (Binary)

MAINDEC-08-DHRKC-H-D RK8-E/RK8-L Data Reliability Program (Documentation)

This MAINDEC runs about 20 hours for an RK8-E with four RK05 drives.

MAINDEC-08-DHRKD-A-PB RK8-E/RK8-L Disk Formatter Program (Binary)

MAINDEC-08-DHRKD-D-D RK8-E/RK8-L Disk Formatter Program (Documentation)

DK8-EA and DK8-EC Real Time Clock

MAINDEC-8E-D8AC-D DK8-E Clocks Diagnostics (Documentation)

For all kinds of real time clocks, this MAINDEC halts at various tests because the timing resolution of the simulator is not precise enough to match the clock frequencies.