Cambridge Modula2 compiler? Peter Robinson or Qudos Ltd?

[gtoal]

From a combination of files previously located, files I've recovered from my own old floppies, and an almost complete backup that Jules Richardson received from Dave Walker, we now have almost complete source code for Acorn's 32016 system, Panos. The only things I can see as still missing are the Modula2 compiler and the linker. I do have a paper listing scan of the linker as a last resort option ( https://gtoal.com/history.dcs.ed.ac.uk/ ... %20linker/ ).

We may be able to get the compiler from the original author:

I found this info at http://computer-programming-forum.com/2 ... e7d1ed.htm

Code: Select all

(i) Cambridge University Modula-2
        (a) Cambridge University
        (b) Peter Robinson
            Computer Laboratory
        (c) Cambridge University
            New Museums Site
            Pembroke Street
            Cambridge CB2 3QG
            Great Britain
        (d) VAX, MC68000, NS32016
        (e) Various Unixes and others
        (g) First Edition system, entirely new local libraries
        Note:
         "We have now put the distribution of all our Modula-2 systems
          (for VAX, 68000, and 32016) in the hands of a local company.
          Please contact them for further information:
                Qudos Limited
                Cambridge Science Park
                Milton Road
                Cambridge CB4 4FD
                Great Britain
                Telephone: +44 223 420033
                Facsimile: +44 223 420946
                Telex: 818114
          They are not interested in offering support for the language, but
          should be willing to provide you with a binary kit or sources.",
          Peter Robinson, 8 March 1989

This is the same compiler which we used on the Vax and 32016 at Acorn, and which
Mick Jordan later developed into an ARM version and Modula3. We *might* be able
to get a version of the 32016 compiler if we can contact Peter Robinson or anyone
who was at Qudos. (I'm assuming Peter Robinson is retired and Qudos no longer exists.)

Is anyone in this group from the UK still in contact with him or know where he is now?

Or has anyone here squirrelled away a copy of the modula 2 compiler sources for the 32016?

I think we have the library, it's just the actual compiler that's missing. There are other modula2
compilers to be found but none I'm aware of with the 32016 code generator. A last resort option
would be a modula2 to c translator and a 32016 C compiler but the Panos sources make big
assumptions about the generated code when interfacing with asm code.

G

[RobC]

Do you know the names of the missing compiler binaries?

I don't have access to my Beeb stuff at the moment but, browsing through my hard drive image, I installed m2c-rif and m2l-rif (almost certainly from some of the disks Boydie uploaded). Other -rif files in the same folder are m2db, m2decsym, m2dep, m2make and m2whereis.

There's also m2c-cmd and m2archive-cmd (obviously in the -cmd folder).

I'm not sure if I tested the compiler successfully. I have a vague recollection of getting something to run and producing something that I thought might have indicated at least partial success but can't remember the details.

I can post an ADFS disk image with the bits I've got if you think they're of use?

[gtoal]

I have all the binaries. It's the sources I was looking for.

[RobC]

I have all the binaries. It's the sources I was looking for.

Ah - sorry, I read the post as looking for the compiler executable and the bit about the obtaining the sources as a way of building the compiler.

This seems to be Peter Robinson's email address: pr10@cam.ac.uk

[gtoal]

Thanks, I'll try dropping a line to that address.

[gtoal]

I heard back from Peter Robinson today and he will be able to check on an old file server at Cambridge University in a few weeks as to whether they kept an archive of the Modula2 compiler. If they did, he expects it will be OK to release to us.

I also heard from him the news (to me) that Mick Jordan passed away five years ago. I wasn't aware. Obit at https://www.tributearchive.com/obituari ... ick-Jordan

Graham

[paulb]

I heard back from Peter Robinson today and he will be able to check on an old file server at Cambridge University in a few weeks as to whether they kept an archive of the Modula2 compiler. If they did, he expects it will be OK to release to us.

I also heard from him the news (to me) that Mick Jordan passed away five years ago. I wasn't aware. Obit at https://www.tributearchive.com/obituari ... ick-Jordan

I was saddened to discover his passing when doing a bit of low-intensity research around Acorn Research Centre (ARC) people. I found the news on a different site with much the same content. I don't know any of you Acorn people personally - any connections of my own to Acorn proper were via friends and fellow students doing work with companies associated with the company - but it seems to me that the legacy of those people who worked at ARC isn't really appreciated or even understood. It would seem that quite a few people including Mick Jordan went on to have illustrious and, in some cases, influential careers at companies like DEC and Sun. I think it is sad that those people don't seem to get the recognition they deserve within the context of their work at Acorn, not least because successful and rewarding careers are generally built on something, but we have no real idea (another than arguably dismissive anecdotes) about what that something was or is.

[RobC]

Sorry to hear of Mick Jordan's passing.

Hope Peter is able to find an archive of the compiler source code.

[james]

I heard back from Peter Robinson today and he will be able to check on an old file server at Cambridge University in a few weeks as to whether they kept an archive of the Modula2 compiler. If they did, he expects it will be OK to release to us.

Were the modula 2 compiler sources found?

No use to me, just idle curiosity.