[HECnet] TOPS-10 Fortran V11 patch decryption keys

[Peter Lothberg]

I donated all those tapes to the LCM with the plan that 
after sorting and cataloging them make them available to 
"bitsavers".

-P

----- Original Message -----
From: "G." <gerry77 at mail.com>
To: "hecnet" <hecnet at Update.UU.SE>
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2020 12:56:46 PM
Subject: [HECnet] TOPS-10 Fortran V11 patch decryption keys

Speaking about compilers...

TOPS-10 (and TOPS-20) TSU patches were distributed in encrypted form, the
idea being that only people having keys that were delivered with original
product tapes could decrypt them. In fact TSU tapes contain almost complete
versions of most licensed Digital products.

Unfortunately, the tape image of the Fortran-10 V11 product tape available
on both Trailing Edge and Bitsavers is truncated and lacks the saveset with
the keys. It should be the 7th saveset, but the image ends after the 4th.

Does anyone here have some idea about how to overcome this problem? Or, even
better, does anyone know if there could be another copy of the same tape
available somewhere? I've found that the Computer History Museum has a copy
(https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102773759) and I wonder
if it's the one from which the truncated image was sourced.

The tape identifier is BB-D480G-SB.

Alternatively I think it might be possible to build the TOPS-10 FORTRAN V11
compiler with the patched sources of the TOPS-20 compiler, in fact they
should share almost everything except maybe OS interfaces like SCAN, WILD,
COMND, and so on...

Thoughts? :)

G.