Here are a few mpeg clips of the Real Console in action. If you click on the picture, your viewer for mepgs is started.

Stand-Alone pattern #2	Stand-Alone pattern #3	Stand-Alone pattern #4	Boot / run RT-11
walking light, 6 LEDs from left to right, starting again at the left side. Some switches are ON, so they are "echoed" on the ADDRESS LEDs.	walking light, 1 to 6 LEDs starting with 1 LED from left and right side, moving to the center, bouncing and moving back to the sides where an extra LED is added.	walking light, 5 to 1 LEDs starting with 5 LEDs at the left side, moving to the right, bouncing and moving back to the other side where one LED is turned off.	° start in Stand-Alone mode ° initialising console ° booting RT-11 ° halting RT-11 via console ° Step a few instructions ° "HALT", -> "ENABLE"     and then "CONT" ° activity during .DIR command ° "HALT" again.

The clips "pattern #3", pattern #4", and "running" all start just after the Real Console is reset. You can see the power-up sequence:

1. after reset, all LEDs are turned off.
2. The software reads the position of the switches 2, 1, and 0.
   The position of these 3 switches is used to determine which Stand-Alone pattern will start.
3. The position of the switches 2, 1, and 0 is displayed on the ADDRESS LEDs.
   Regardless of the position of all other switches, the ADDRESS LEDs 17 - 3 remain off.
4. The Real Console starts the selected Stand-Alone pattern on the DATA LEDs.
5. The position of all switches 17 - 0 is shown on the ADDRESS LEDs.
   The FUNCTION switches/toggles are "echoed" to the STATUS LEDs.

x0 x2 x4 x6 001000 012701 174400 012761 000013 001010 000004 012711 000004 105711 001020 100376 005061 000002 005061 001030 000004 012761 177400 000006 001040 012711 000014 105711 100376 001050 005007       Bootstrap code for RL02

I started SIMH with the command line "pdp11  RT11cons.ini" in a 'CMD' box. The "RT11cons.ini" file has the following lines: SET CPU URH11 SET RL0 RL02 ATTACH RL0 C:\Apps\simh_rt11\RT11work.dsk REALCONS 1 10 I used the Real Console to load the bootstrap program in memory. Set the switches to 001000. Push the "LOAD ADRS" toggle. Set the switches to the data listed in the table, and use the "DEP" toggle to deposit the data. Set the switches to 001000, and push "LOAD ADRS". Finally, push the "START" toggle. On the console you will see the following lines: PDP-11 simulator V3.2-0 Disabling XQ sim>   RT-11XM (S) V05.03   . _

You could simply enter "boot rl0" at the sim> prompt, instead of using the Real Console to boot RT-11,
but where is the fun in that?   Why build a Real Console ...?

• 36 cm long
• 12.5 cm high

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