Building and Using the PiDP-11 Emulator Kit

VOLUME WARNING - The music is much louder than the dialog. Sorry. I didn’t realize how much louder it was at the time.

I bought a PiDP-11 kit that allows you to recreate the PDP-11 experience using a Raspberry Pi 3 or 4. Watch me solder the components onto the board, assemble the computer, and use it via terminal software running on my TRS-80 Model 12. Believe it or not, I didn't make any soldering mistakes...though I did make some mistakes during case assembly, as-noted in the video.

I left more of the build footage in than originally planned, as this was a ton of work. Even at 3000% speed-up, it's a substantial portion of the video, and I thought it good to show how much work goes into these kits.

Links:
PiDP-11 web site: https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obso...

Music: Disco Knights by Quincas Moreira
(Taken from the YouTube Audio Library)

Music: The Jam by Slynk & Mr Stabalina
(Taken from the YouTube Audio Library)

If you like to jump around, here's the index:
Intro (0:00)
Unboxing (0:57)
Painter's tape and the unpacking the components (3:17)
Sorting the components (4:09)
Soldering: Diodes (4:27)
Soldering: Resistors (4:59)
Soldering: Interface connector (5:52)
LEDs: Mounting and soldering (6:16)
Pushknobs: Mounting and soldering (7:58)
First test (8:10)
Keyswitch header, and MAX232 overview (9:59)
Keyswitch header, MAX232 and capacitors: mount and solder (10:51)
Ready for switches (11:16)
Switches: mounting and soldering(11:42)
The finished board (12:41)
Keyswitch and case assembly; soldering MAX232 TTL lines (13:19)
Connecting to the PiDP-11 via serial port (14:28)
Starting PiDP software and choosing an OS (16:50)
Booting BSD 2.11 and looking around (17:46)
BSD Network: PING and the HTTP server (21:41)
Booting Unix System V (23:12)
Playing Hangman and Monopoly...kind of... (24:57)
Shutdown and Outro (27:03)

I do these videos unscripted, so I apologize if the in-the-moment descriptions of things are a bit all-over-the-place. If you have any questions/comments about this video, you can find me in any of these fine locations:

The CoCoTALK! Discord Server
The TRS-80 Color Computer (CoCo) group on Facebook
The CoCo Crew Podcast group on Facebook
On the Vintage Computer Forums (vcfed.org)
The TRS-80 Models I-4/4P Group on Facebook
Tandy / Radio Shack Model II /12 / 16 / 16B / 6000 Owner's Group on Facebook

Thanks for watching!