[kw-pm] Commodore SuperPET Demo Thursday 18 July, 11am-12

Daniel Allen daniel at coder.com
Wed Jul 17 15:12:44 PDT 2013


No idea- I only know what the poster says. I can find out at the demo and
report back whether it was recorded.


On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 5:49 PM, Patrick Wong <patrick_8 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Would it be recorded and posted to the web (you tube)?
> Thx,
> Patrick
>
> Sent from iPhone
>
> On 2013-07-17, at 5:38 PM, Daniel Allen <daniel at coder.com> wrote:
>
> I just saw a poster for this; it hasn't been very well advertised, but for
> those interested in old computers, this might be of interest tomorrow, on
> the University of Waterloo Campus (in Davis Centre).
>
> http://computermuseum.uwaterloo.ca/exhibits/show/events/superpet-hostcmSuperPET/HOSTCM
> Demonstration Thursday July 18 | 11am-12 | DC 1304
>
> *Go back in history to 1983! Learn how the Commodore SuperPET worked and
> how undergraduates learned to program in the 1980s with the Waterloo micro
> languages.*
>
> *Demonstration by Robert Ferguson (B.Math/1986)*
>
> In the late 1970s, the University of Waterloo's Computer Systems Group
> (CSG) began experimenting with microcomputers for use in teaching
> undergraduates how to program. Until that point, students submitted their
> programs and jobs on punch cards or via terminal to be compiled and run on
> a large mainframe or minicomputer. Microcomputers, often described as
> "personal computers," would represent a new paradigm, being cheaper and
> smaller. Several microcomputers were tested, but all were found wanting,
> lacking the necessary features to create a suitable environment for
> beginner programmers who would be expected to transition easily to writing
> code for the larger minicomputers and mainframes.
>
> Having found no suitable microcomputer, CSG opted to build their own.
> Known as the MicroWAT, it had a Motorola 6809 CPU and, critically, the
> necessary serial port to upload or download code and data to and from a
> mainframe. A communications protocol known as HOSTCM was also developed to
> manage the flow of information. The MicroWAT did not come with a keyboard
> or screen, but relied on a Volker-Craig terminal for input and output.
> Finally, it could also run a full suite of special "micro" Waterloo
> languages intended for novice programmers: Waterloo BASIC, FORTRAN, Pascal,
> APL, COBOL, and Assembler. Jerry Krist of CSG founded a local spin-off,
> Northern Digital, to manufacture the MicroWAT around the same time as
> another spin-off, WATCOM (for Waterloo Communications) was founded to sell
> the Waterloo languages.
>
> However, the MicroWAT hardware was soon replaced by the SuperPET, which
> was a modified version of a Commodore 8032 PET manufactured under licence
> from Commodore by BMB CompuScience of Milton Ontario. Inspired by the
> MicroWAT, the SuperPET included the stock Commodore PET MOS Technology 6502
> CPU and a Motorola 6809. It was possible to switch between the 6502 to run
> standard PET software and the 6809 to run the Waterloo languages and
> communicate via HOSTCM to the mainframe. Students could test their programs
> on the microcomputer, then upload (or download) the exact same programs to
> or from the mainframe, with the expectation that their code would run
> seamlessly or with minimal modification.
>
> Today, there are many SuperPETs still in the hands of enthusiasts and
> collectors, and many are still working. Robert Ferguson (UW B.Math/86) is
> one of those enthusiasts. He himself had used the SuperPET in a computer
> lab as an undergraduate in the early 1980s. In more recent years, however,
> he developed an itch that he had to scratch. In particular, while tinkering
> with his SuperPET he was having trouble getting programs and data on and
> off the computer and realized that HOSTCM might do the trick. Unfortunately
> for him, the HOSTCM protocol had fallen into disuse, but fortunately for
> us, he reverse engineered it to the point that it now works much as it did
> before (with a standard PC of today replacing the mainframe) and we can
> see, for the first time in decades, what it was like to learn to program on
> a Commodore SuperPET.
>
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