[COFF] Bell Labs MAC-8 Processor User's Manual Scanned

[COFF] Bell Labs MAC-8 Processor User's Manual Scanned

[segaloco via COFF]

Passing along word that I've just scanned and uploaded the Bell
Laboratories MAC-8 Processor User's Manual:

https://archive.org/details/mac-8-processor-users-manual

This CPU is an 8-bit microprocessor designed at Bell Laboratories for
telecom applications.  The canonical development environment was
PWB/UNIX running a MAC-8 oriented SGS along with hardware debugging
provided by the MAC Tutor single-board computer and PLAID debugger.
Applications include the PROETEL microcomputer used within AT&T for
e-telemetry applications.

- Matt G.

[COFF] Re: Bell Labs MAC-8 Processor User's Manual Scanned

[Clem Cole via COFF]

below

On Thu, Feb 19, 2026 at 10:31 PM segaloco via COFF <coff@tuhs.org> wrote:

> Passing along word that I've just scanned and uploaded the Bell
> Laboratories MAC-8 Processor User's Manual:
>
> https://archive.org/details/mac-8-processor-users-manual

Matt, this is awesome news.  Thank you.  Do you know if any of the tools
survived, so we can put them in the TUHS archives?

[COFF] Re: Bell Labs MAC-8 Processor User's Manual Scanned

[segaloco via COFF]

On Friday, February 20th, 2026 at 11:07, Clem Cole via COFF <coff@tuhs.org> wrote:

> below
> 
> On Thu, Feb 19, 2026 at 10:31 PM segaloco via COFF <coff@tuhs.org> wrote:
> 
> > Passing along word that I've just scanned and uploaded the Bell
> > Laboratories MAC-8 Processor User's Manual:
> >
> > https://archive.org/details/mac-8-processor-users-manual
> 
> Matt, this is awesome news.  Thank you.  Do you know if any of the tools
> survived, so we can put them in the TUHS archives?
> 

The tools themselves have not unfortunately, but their descriptions are in the BTL UNIX manuals I'm restoring on my GitLab.  I plan on doing another round of those this weekend to complement this document scan.  In the long run I intend to reimplement several MAC-8 tools from this, other documents, and experiments with the MAC Tutor, until such time as any tooling might be found.  For instance, one of the USG Library papers[1] concerns "SIM", a language that to me looks like a Bell-flavored Verilog, but from 1976.  The paper concludes with a partial SIM implementation of the MAC-8, which should prove useful for both MAC-8 SGS resurrection as well as trying to recreate SIM itself.  The language looks lex/yacc-ish in that it uses a similar %-based delimiter scheme and separate blocks for definitions vs. rules vs. user routines.

- Matt G.

[1] - https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/TechReports/USG_Library/1097_SIM_A_Language_for_Simulating_Computers.pdf