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retro-software
B5500-software
BASIC2018–2018
retro-software / B5500-software

B5500-software

Common source code repository for emulators of the Burroughs B5500 computer system.

3Distinct people
5Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
25GitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Common source code repository for emulators of the Burroughs B5500 computer system.

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use has been verified yet.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by week5 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2018-06-22 07:49:31 UTC to 2018-09-05 19:56:09 UTC. Weeks start Monday, UTC.

012342018-06-18 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-06-25 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 4 mentions; 0 submissions, 4 commentsJun 182018-06-25 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-07-02 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-07-02 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-07-09 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-07-09 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-07-16 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-07-16 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-07-23 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-07-23 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-07-30 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 commentsJul 232018-07-30 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-08-06 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-08-06 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-08-13 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-08-13 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-08-20 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-08-20 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-08-27 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-08-27 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-09-03 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-09-03 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-09-10 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 commentsSep 3

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
Jun 182018-06-18 00:00:00 UTC2018-06-25 00:00:00 UTC404
Jun 252018-06-25 00:00:00 UTC2018-07-02 00:00:00 UTC000
Jul 22018-07-02 00:00:00 UTC2018-07-09 00:00:00 UTC000
Jul 92018-07-09 00:00:00 UTC2018-07-16 00:00:00 UTC000
Jul 162018-07-16 00:00:00 UTC2018-07-23 00:00:00 UTC000
Jul 232018-07-23 00:00:00 UTC2018-07-30 00:00:00 UTC000
Jul 302018-07-30 00:00:00 UTC2018-08-06 00:00:00 UTC000
Aug 62018-08-06 00:00:00 UTC2018-08-13 00:00:00 UTC000
Aug 132018-08-13 00:00:00 UTC2018-08-20 00:00:00 UTC000
Aug 202018-08-20 00:00:00 UTC2018-08-27 00:00:00 UTC000
Aug 272018-08-27 00:00:00 UTC2018-09-03 00:00:00 UTC000
Sep 32018-09-03 00:00:00 UTC2018-09-10 00:00:00 UTC101

What Hacker News says

5 sources
Thanks, wow, there are really some new news: https://github.com/retro-software/B5500-software/tree/master... "Tapes for version 13 of the library were acquired several years ago by Jim Haynes from the B5500 site at the University of California at Santa Cruz and donated to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. The CHM was finally able to read these tapes in May 2018, producing binary images in .tap (taput) format. For information on the .tap format, see..."
In 1971 B5500 Eliza clone written in Lispified Algol
GTL does indeed run in the retro-b5500 emulator, although I have not yet tried to compile and run Eliza with it. The emulator runs in a standard web browser. It requires some setup. The easiest way to get started is to run the emulator from the project's hosting site: http://www.phkimpel.us/B5500/ First, follow the link to the Getting Started wiki page, which explains what you need to do in detail. There is a link on the page above to a forum if you have questions or need assistance. GTL is written in B5500 Extended Algol and is based on the compiler for that dialect. The source we found on the CUBE tape does not compile with the standard Mark XIII Algol compiler. We think that may be due to some local Algol patches in use at Georgia Tech. I have posted a compile deck with patches that works for me: https://github.com/retro-software/B5500
Read the rest
-software/blob/master... After running this, you will need to do a "MC GTL/NEW" command on the SPO (console teletype).
In 1971 B5500 Eliza clone written in Lispified Algol
Now who will write something that allows that GTL source (or the equivalent) to run? It looks quite nice conceptually as the "program" is nicely separated from the "knowledge" and the program is just 360 lines: https://github.com/retro-software/B5500-software/blob/master... The documentation for the language is here: http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/georgiaTech/GTL_Programmers_Ref... as http://retro-b5500.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-cube-library-tap... report: "GTL -- Georgia Tech Language. Another clone of Extended Algol by Martin Alexander at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. This compiler has significant extensions for strings, records, complex arithmetic, list processing, plex processing, and extended I/O features. Documentation is also available on bitsavers.org." I see also: https://github.com/pkimpel/retro-b5500 "We
Read the rest
b-based emulator and operating environment for the Burroughs B5500 computer system."
In 1971 B5500 Eliza clone written in Lispified Algol

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