#adventcalendar

[adafruit]

🎄💾🗓️ Day 4: Retrocomputing Advent Calendar - The DEC PDP-11! 🎄💾🗓️

Released by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1970, the PDP-11 was a 16-bit minicomputer known for its orthogonal instruction set, allowing flexible and efficient programming. It introduced a Unibus architecture, which streamlined data communication and helped revolutionize computer design, making hardware design more modular and scalable. The PDP-11 was important in developing operating systems, including the early versions of UNIX. The PDP-11 was the hardware foundation for developing the C programming language and early UNIX systems. It supported multiple operating systems like RT-11, RSX-11, and UNIX, which directly shaped modern OS design principles. With over 600,000 units sold, the PDP-11 is celebrated as one of its era's most versatile and influential "minicomputers".

Check out the wikipedia page for some great history, photos (pictured here), and more -

And here's a story from Adafruit team member, Bill!

The DEC PDP-11 was the one of the first computers I ever programmed. That program was 'written' with a soldering iron.

I was an art student at the time, but spending most of my time in the engineering labs. There was a PDP-11-34 in the automation lab connected to an X-ray spectroscopy machine. Starting up the machine required toggling in a bootstrap loader via the front panel. This was a tedious process. So we ordered a diode-array boot ROM which had enough space to program 32 sixteen bit instructions.

Each instruction in the boot sequence needed to be broken down into binary (very straightforward with the PDP-11 instruction set). For each binary '1', a diode needed to be soldered into the array. The space was left empty for each '0'. 32 sixteen bit instructions was more than sufficient to load a secondary bootstrap from the floppy disk to launch the RT-11 operating system. So now it was possible to boot the system with just the push of a button.

I worked with a number DEC PDP-11/LSI-11 systems over the years. I still keep an LSI-11-23 system around for sentimental reasons.

Have first computer memories? Post’em up in the comments, or post yours on socialz’ and tag them #firstcomputer #retrocomputing – See you back here tomorrow!

[moraglewis]

Inric is reading Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (probably in the original Japanese, but it is available in English). Nahoko Uehashi, the author, is a Professor of Ethnology, and it shows; all of her creations have fantastic worldbuilding.

[theroguequeenaniki]

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KimickaPhotoADay

December Day 2: Advent Calendar 🎅🏻🍫🗓️

We actually have 5 this year, however 2 have yet to arrive. The three here are a regular World Market chocolate one (and it's so cute it's got cats & dogs on it!), a Lindt chocolate one, and a DM Snacks salty snacks one. The ones we're waiting on are a Kinder chocolate one and a building toys (basically lego) one. ^_^

#adventcalendar #adventcalendars #chocolate #worldmarket #lindt #kinder #dmsnacks #day2 #december #december2022 #photo #photoaday #photoadaychallenge

[jaclyntan]

✨ Advent Day 5

📣 Messiah would be a descendant of Jacob. (Genesis 28:10-15, Genesis 27:27-29, Numbers 24:17)

✅ Fulfilled: Luke 3:23-38, Matthew 1:1-2, Matthew 2:1-2, Acts 3:12-16

Follow along every day this December at thefree.gift or IG atimetolove_ as I explore some of the incredible prophecies Jesus fulfilled to highlight the true meaning of Christmas —God's love, salvation, hope, faithfulness, and reliability of His Word!

[kathyvincenz]

[cln47]

Sampling compositions December 4

[minimstories]

😅Okay. I admit I may have started too early.😋😅 But I have good news: Funwhole's BIGGEST SALE EVER is officially live! Don’t miss this chance to grab your favorite building sets and make your collection shine (like the Cyberpunk Apartment used on this post). Here’s what’s waiting for you:

✨ Sitewide 25% OFF (some special deals excluded). ✨ Up to 40% OFF on select items—our best discounts yet! ✨ Spend $200 or more to receive a FREE Flower Truck 🌸🚚—just add it to your cart, and it’s yours! ✨ Members Bonus: Earn 1.3x points on every order! 🎁

📅 Sale Period: November 21, 2024 – December 2, 2024

Where? Right here: https://www.funwhole.com/?ref=hdgtpjvc

[mothyandthesquid]

Progress on the Twelve Days of Christmas mini skein sets. I have used larger, printed labels on the tags this year to help folk who might find my writing difficult to read. I’m trying to balance the hand-made aesthetic with accessibility. What do you think?

[adafruit]

🎄💾🗓️ Day 8: Retrocomputing Advent Calendar - Commodore PET 🎄💾🗓️

The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) came out in 1977 and was among the earliest personal computers - featuring an all-in-one design with a keyboard, monochrome monitor, and cassette deck - all within a single chassis. Powered by an MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at 1 MHz, it had 4 KB of RAM and was expandable up to 96 KB in later models. The PET had Commodore BASIC stored in ROM, allowing users to write and execute programs directly. Its display supported text resolutions of 40×25 or 80×25 characters, using the PETSCII character set for semigraphic capabilities. While early models did not have sound, later versions included a basic beeper. PET's all-in-one design and user-friendly interface contributed to its popularity in education and business, and it sold approximately 219,000 units before its discontinuation in 1982.

Check out the wikipedia page for some extended history and great photos -

Have first computer memories? Post’em up in the comments, or post yours on socialz’ and tag them #firstcomputer #retrocomputing – See you back here tomorrow!

[moraglewis]

Alyn is reading Guns of the Dawn, by Adrian Tchaikovsky, an excellent fantasy set in a world roughly equivalent to 18th century Europe, but with a Regency-era feel to the society ("flintlock fantasy", apparently). It's a stand-alone story, a rare thing these days! And here's the complete picture, of course.

[elsannafondue]

I may or may not be attempting to heavily edit/fix up and FINALLY FINISH my 2014 elsanna Advent calendar... but at this point I know better than to make promises haha

However, the new day 1 looks pretty good! The plot will be the same but it'll be much better written... and who knows what other changes I'll put in?

But no promises! I'm trying though

[greenleafgeek]

This is not a drill...

ADVENTure Calendar 2023 drops TOMORROW!

There are 4 options this year to suit most budgets.

Preorders run from Aug 1, 10am EST until sold out.

All calendars ship in November to ensure delivery by Dec 1. All details in the listings!

Spread the word!

[vangold]

Advent Challenge - Day 22

Here's a new brush that can generally be used to make more delicate strokes. Not the thinnest in my collection, but definitely the thinnest I've dared to use for acrylic paint so far. I felt the need to throw in something #DragonAge related for this category. I think it's a bit more difficult with the Christmas theme - correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know there is no andrastequivalent to Christmas as we have it; at most maybe the #winter solstice is celebrated somehow - so I just went a bit more into the winter theme again. Well, the song is fittingly not a specific Christmas song ;) So I started with #Wintersolstice instead - well, and the name is more or less already in there. That and somehow the song fits #Solas' person in my ears <)