[pups] Advice on which PDP-11 processor handbook to buy

[Johnny Billquist]

If you want to understand the PDP-11 assembly language, any of them will do.

If you want to understand the MMU and some esoteric stuff, it might be a 
good idea to get one of the books that actually cover the exact 
processor you're interested in.

The basic instruction set is the same on all of the processors. There 
are some very minor differences, but those are not even properly 
documented in most of these books, and relate to how condition codes are 
affected for some odd cases that you normally don't care about.

The major groupings you can do with the PDP-11 systems are otherwise if 
they have split I/D space, supervisor mode, unibus map and 22-bit 
addressing, floating point (none/FIS/FPP) and EIS.
Rougly, you can say:

11/34: EIS. Optional FPP.
11/40: None of that. Optional EIS and FIS.
11/44: All of it. Optional FPP.
11/45: split I/D, supervisor, EIS. Optional FPP.
11/60: EIS. Optional FPP.
11/70: All of it. Optional FPP.

	Johnny

Ross Tucker skrev:
> Hello all-
> I'm a n00b on this list, so please forgive me my sins as I forgive
> those who.... uh, never mind. Anyway, I am looking to get a "PDP-11
> Processor Handbook" from Amazon or eBay (so I can understand the Lions
> book) and there are so many different editions and versions... Lions
> writes about the 11/40, but supposedly, that's not too different from
> the /45 or /70. My simh boot images for v6 are for the /45 (though
> supposedly I'm supposed to be able to modify them to run on the
> others, right?).
> 
> What I'm asking is your advice on which Handbook to buy. Here is a
> synopsis on the editions and prices from amazon:
> /04/34A/44/60/70  (1979) $10
> /04/34/45/55/60  (1978) $40
> /70 (1975) $16
> /04, 24, 34A, 70 (Jun 1981) $16
> /04/05/10/35/40/45 (1975) $45
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> Thanks for your time,
> Ross
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