I’ve frequently been questioned as to why I collect old computers and what they actual do. This has traditionally been a hard question to answer although this is equally true of most collecting hobbies (why do people preserve Model-T fords when a modern car does the job so much better!).

However it has left me with a desire to find an interesting practical use for my machines. One of my earliest computing experiences and fondest memories was playing Essex MUD via the JANET network and so I’ve decided to write a MUD for the PDP-11 and use a mixture of terminals and micros to provide user access and to control non-player characters.

The game will be written in C under BSD 2.11 with DZ11’s providing shell access. The game itself will run as a single process, non-blocking daemon accessed via sockets. This has the advantage of providing serial and network (using telnet) access to the game.

Initially I will develop the game under SIMH, with a uPDP-11/73 with an RD54 used as the production machine. Ultimately I hope to move it all over to a UNIBUS machine, either an 11/40 or one of my 11/70s, but I’ll start simple to begin with.

Non player characters will be implemented on BBC micros in BASIC. The BBCs will interact with the PDP via serial.

I expect development to take 2-3 months of evenings and I’ll report back here regularly on how things are progressing. Once something is working I’ll put a simh version online for people to play with.