Written by: Administrator
Parent Category: Projects
Category: DECbox

As an offspring to the "BlinkenBone" Project, this idea for a cool computer museum exhibit was borne:

Install an embedded Linux system into an original DEC VT100 terminal and let it simulate a selection of vintage DEC computers.


decbox vt100

This installation is called the "DECbox". It is dressed up as a fictive DEC product (so named like "DECnet" or "DECtape" or "DECserver").

The embedded Linux system is a BeagleBone

beaglebone top

The simulations are made with the Bob Supniks "SimH" ... a former name for the "DECbox" was indeed "embedded SimH" or "eSimH". With SimH, you can run a lot of old operating systems ... and have fun!

decbox simh rt11 advent

Technically, DECbox is a quite obvious idea: since several years micro controllers and embedded systems are strong enough to simulate vintage computers. Many people have ported simulators - especially SimH - to those systems. So I simply add my project to all these, with some special flavor.

Show it!

When presented in a museum, the DECbox has several unique advantages over other exhibits:

 

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decbox logo