March 12 - The PDP-11 and the roots of Linux
2026-02-19Topic: The PDP-11 and the roots of Linux
Presenter: Dwain Sims
When: Thursday, 12 March 2026 - 7:00 to 9:00pm
Where: North Carolina College of Textiles, room 2207 at 1020 Main Campus Drive, Raleigh NC, 27606
Parking: There is an underground parking deck next to the College at the Monteith Engineering Parking Deck. Parking is free after 5 PM. Detailed parking instructions can be found at https://trilug.org/meetings/
Map: Google Maps
Video: Not Recorded Yet
Summary:
Let's explore UNIX on the Digital PDP-11/70 and the Emulator simh. We will mimic the original hardware using the PiDP-11 kit at about 1/10 the size, 1/50 the weight and 100x the capability. At probably way less than 1% of the price. We will take a look:
* The original PDP-11
* UNIX on the PDP-11
* Building a PDP-11 emulator with the PiDP-11
* Open Source simh
* Serial Terminals and other fun things.
Dwain Sims has been attending TriLug since 2008. He became a Triangle resident in August 2000, relocating with his wife and 3 (now 4) kids from the Bay Area in California. Dwain has a Master's Degree in Computer Science from West Virginia University, and has worked for so many companies that it's getting hard to count them. Among these were Lockheed, Sun Microsystems, SteelEye Technology, Fusion-io, and SanDisk. He started work at SUSE in March 2018. Dwain likes working in the garden and tending the family's massive poultry flock (3 hens) when he's not messing with some techy thing.
As usual, pizza and beverages will be provided and the meeting will be held at the North Carolina College of Textiles, room 2207, 1020 Main Campus
Drive, Raleigh NC, 27606 at 7:00 PM.
Please sign up using the Meetup link so that an accurate headcount can be gathered for pizza and drinks. That link is: TriLUG Meetup
There is an underground parking deck next to the College at the Monteith
Engineering Parking Deck. Parking is free after 5 PM.
Call for speakers and topics
We are always looking for potential speakers! If you or someone you know would like to present on a topic please let us know. Contact the TriLUG Steering Committee by email at mabkar124@gmail.com

