retroprom / docker

[Project] Retrocomputing in Docker

Docker images for retrocomputing

This is set of recipes for building retrocomputing emulators as Docker images.

The goal is to make retro systems easy to run and composable.

Emulators

A full build will provide you with the following emulators.

Image name	Emulator	Description
retroprom/craysim	cray-sim	Cray PVP supercomputer simulator
retroprom/dosemu	dosemu2	Modernized DOS emulator
retroprom/dynamips	Dynamips	Cisco router emulator for running Cisco IOS
retroprom/es40	ES40	DEC Alpha emulator named after the DS40
retroprom/gxemul	GXemul	Gavare's eXperimental Emulator
retroprom/hercules	Hercules	IBM mainframe emulator for S/360 through z/Arch
retroprom/klh10	KLH-10	DEC PDP-10 emulator, originally by Ken L. Harenstien
retroprom/mame	MAME	Multi-purpose emulation framework - including some SGIs
retroprom/simh	Open-SIMH	Simulator for DEC and other historic systems

Systems

We also provide scripts for building some system images.

Image name	Emulator	Machine	System	Distribution
retroprom/hercules-dosvs-5pk	Hercules	IBM S/370	DOS/VS	5-pack
retroprom/hercules-mvs-ce	Hercules	IBM S/370	MVS 3.8J	MVS/CE
retroprom/hercules-mvs-tk3	Hercules	IBM S/370	MVS 3.8J	TK3
retroprom/hercules-mvs-tk4	Hercules	IBM S/370	MVS 3.8J	TK4-
retroprom/hercules-mvs-tk5	Hercules	IBM S/370	MVS 3.8J	TK5
retroprom/hercules-vm370-ce	Hercules	IBM S/370	VM/370	VM/370 CE
retroprom/its-klh10	KLH-10 (custom)	DEC PDP-10	MIT ITS	ITS project
retroprom/its-simh	SIMH (custom)	DEC PDP-10	MIT ITS	ITS project
retroprom/klh10-panda	KLH-10	DEC PDP-10	TOPS-20	PANDA project
retroprom/simh-id32-os32	SIMH	Interdata 8/32	OS/32	simh-os32
retroprom/simh-id32-unix-v6	SIMH	Interdata 7/32	UNIX V6	SIMH kit
retroprom/simh-id32-unix-v7	SIMH	Interdata 7/32	UNIX V7	SIMH kit
retroprom/simh-pdp8-dms	SIMH	DEC PDP-8	DMS	SIMH kit
retroprom/simh-pdp8-focal	SIMH	DEC PDP-8	FOCAL	SIMH kit
retroprom/simh-pdp8-os8	SIMH	DEC PDP-8	OS/8	SIMH kit
retroprom/simh-pdp8-tss8	SIMH	DEC PDP-8	TSS/8	SIMH kit
retroprom/simh-pdp11-rsts-v7	SIMH	DEC PDP-11/73	RSTS/E V7	SIMH kit
retroprom/simh-pdp11-rt11-v4	SIMH	DEC PDP-11/23	RT-11 V4	SIMH kit
retroprom/simh-pdp11-rt11-v5	SIMH	DEC PDP-11/23	RT-11 V5	SIMH kit
retroprom/simh-pdp11-unix-v5	SIMH	DEC PDP-11/45	UNIX V5	SIMH kit
retroprom/simh-pdp11-unix-v6	SIMH	DEC PDP-11/45	UNIX V6	SIMH kit
retroprom/simh-pdp11-unix-v7	SIMH	DEC PDP-11/45	UNIX V7	SIMH kit

Toolchains

At a low priority, we package some cross toolchains for retro development.

Quickstart

The build is simple. It requires Internet access and may fail on occasion tue do upstream issues:

$ ./build-emulators.sh
$ ./build-systems.sh

Once you have some images, most of them will give you an instant shell:

$ docker run --rm -ti retroprom/simh-pdp11-unix-v7

PDP-11 simulator Open SIMH V4.1-0 Current        git commit id: 09f67aa0
Disabling XQ
@boot
     New Boot, known devices are hp ht rk rl rp tm vt
: rl(0,0)rl2unix
mem = 177856
# Restricted rights: Use, duplication, or disclosure
is subject to restrictions stated in your contract with
Western Electric Company, Inc.
Thu Sep 22 05:47:36 EDT 1988

login: root
Password:
You have mail.
#

IBM mainframe images will launch TMUX and Hercules. Terminal attach must be done manually - for now.

Technical Notes

Feel free to send patches or ask questions.

This is obviously a hobby project.

Images are currently based on Debian (release 12/bookworm).

The images use a build container to minimize image size.

A simulator user called 'sim' is usually provided.

Emulators are installed in /usr/local when possible.

Other simulator files are located in /sim.

Images should be set up to start the emulator using dumb-init.

System images usually start in the foreground and require a terminal.

The Docker console and 'sim' user get full control over the simulator.

Console sessions are logged in with admin privileges for convenience.

Legal

This package is - for the moment at least - in the public domain.

In legislatures without a public domain, CC0 may be applied instead.

This software is provided without any warranty - express or implied.

It is intended for hobby, research and training use only.

Images built will contain licensed materials owned by third parties.

Many of the systems provided are limited to non-commercial use.

This package itself contains no licensed material from third parties.

All users are advised to carefully analyze the legal situation.