v0.1.0-alpha2

yaPDP v0.1.0-alpha2 — Release Notes

• Release date: 2026-08-24
• Baseline: v0.1.0-alpha1 (2026-08-19)
• Full diff: releases/v0.1.0-alpha1...v0.1.0-alpha2

yaPDP — Yet Another PDP-11/70 web emulator with an authentic front panel,
a Model 33 ASR teletype, DECscope VT52 terminals and a DEC LP11 line printer.
This alpha focuses on making the peripherals look and behave like the real
DEC hardware.

Highlights

• The console teletype is now an authentic Model 33 ASR: redrawn cabinet,
  flat-top keycaps, paper tape punch/reader, rotary CCU switch, sticky
  CTRL/SHIFT latch and BREAK support.
• The DEC LP11 line printer gets a full DEC-style cabinet with a rising
  paper page, a hood, an indicator panel and a working ON LINE key.
• The DECscope VT52 gets a faithful cabinet (slanted beige monoblock,
  dark grey-green glass, scanline tuning), the authentic fritzm/vt52 bitmap
  font and the missing escape sequences (IRM insert mode, ESC L/M).
• The front panel is now controllable by clicking the OFF/POWER/LOCK
  position labels, and a bootstrap sticky note adds "Help Me!"/"Bootstrap
  now!" assistance with a power-off guard.
• The Model 33 ASR and the front panel scale proportionally to fit the
  window, so the machine stays usable on narrow screens.
• New click sounds for panel switches, punch buttons and teletype keys.
• Every navigation sidebar button gets a tooltip, and the PANEL button
  shows live machine state (power lamp and a pause/play run indicator).

What's New

Model 33 ASR console

• Authentic redraw of the console teletype and cabinet.
• Real ASR-33 paper tape with punch controls, four-position TAPE READER
  switch and latching REL.
• Full keyboard with special keys, BREAK support, sticky CTRL/SHIFT latch,
  dual-legend keys and echo punch for dropped control codes.
• Rotary CCU switch (replaces the LOCAL/LINE buttons) and the Teletype
  Corporation logo on the front panel.

DEC LP11 printer

• DEC-style cabinet with rising paper that grows to the top of the window.
• Hood, indicator panel and a working ON LINE key.
• Sidebar output-activity lamps with historical DONE/ERROR semantics.

DECscope VT52

• Authentic cabinet with proportional window scaling and scanline tuning.
• Real fritzm/vt52 bitmap display font and the DEC 'digital' wordmark.
• IRM insert mode, ESC L/M and other previously missing escape sequences.
• New VT52 text mode option (with the shared PasteUtil paste helper).

Front panel & machine

• Machine power/auto-boot configuration options and a power lamp on the
  Panel nav button.
• Bootstrap sticky note with "Help Me!"/"Bootstrap now!" controls and a
  power-off guard.
• Click OFF/POWER/LOCK position labels to control the switch.
• Global reboot and quick-boot buttons; panel controls reset on reboot.
• New "Power on & Bootstrap" and "Apply & Leave" dialog buttons.
• PANEL nav button shows live status indicators: a power lamp and a
  pause/play icon reflecting the machine run state.

Scale & layout

• The Model 33 ASR rig scales proportionally to fit the window; paper and
  tape max-heights are divided by the scale and subpixel punchtape seams
  are fixed.
• The front panel (with the Help Me! sticker) scales proportionally to fit
  narrow windows.

UI & configuration

• Global mute button for all sounds.
• Click sounds for panel switches, punch buttons and teletype keys.
• Tooltips for every navigation sidebar button.
• CONFIG: "Look and sound" and new "Development" tabs; Equipment devices
  grouped with their parameters (no layout shift for inapplicable fields).
• Storage: mounted image count indicator next to Unmount.
• Quick Boot now always shows the terminal type and printer state; BSD 2.11
  waits for the boot prompt.
• Info page uses the animated front-panel GIF.

Improvements & Polish

• Model 33 ASR: cabinet restyle, flat-top keycaps, slimmer printer/keyboard,
  sans-serif grotesk keycap legends, punch-above-reader 2x2 layout and
  finer punch geometry.
• LP11 cabinet scaled to fit the window like the VT52 console.
• Autoloading balloon moved to the top of the window; teletype tear/save
  buttons centered on screen.
• Config page clarifies which settings require Apply and which take effect
  immediately.
• Landing page: Project Page CTA link; DIGITAL logo removed from the sidebar.
• Image load interrupted dialog: the "Got it" button now comes before
  "Open Storage".

Bug Fixes

• VT52 bell (BEL) now reaches the terminal and always rings/flashes.
• VT52 no longer renders bold/underline attributes in VT52 mode.
• Authentic 4:3 aspect ratio restored on the VT52 tube.
• VT52 cabinet side panel no longer overflows on Windows 10.
• Tear sound only plays when paper/tape is actually torn off.
• POWER LOCK key click restored alongside the position labels.
• POWER LOCK key stays pointing at the selected LOCK position.
• LP11 whirr sound is no longer aborted by a play/pause race in the
  renderer.
• REBOOT description fixed: the default loader boots only when Auto-boot is
  enabled.

Documentation

• New user manual page linked from the landing page, illustrated with
  emulator screenshots (config tabs, dialogs, Lunar Lander boot).
• Every Config page option documented in the user manual.
• Guest-OS screenshot generator and a landing-page OS carousel, including a
  new XXDP+ diagnostics screenshot.
• Instructions page cleanup (author contact added).
• README toolchain installation section for the desktop build.

Installation & Usage

Follow the standard workflow from the repository root:

npm install
npm test          # run the test suite
npm run serve     # run the web emulator locally
npm run stage     # stage the frontend for the desktop build
npm run desktop:full   # build the full Tauri desktop app

Feedback

This is an alpha release — expect rough edges. Report issues and suggestions
via the yaPDP repository.