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ND-500 Applications

Real Norsk Data ND-500 programs reserved with every file needed to run them in the nd500x emulator, plus a user guide per program.

Each program lives in its own folder:

ND500-APPS/
  README.md              <- this index + shared install/run/usage conventions
  _shared/               <- runtime libraries + linker auto-jobs used by several apps
    files/               <- NC-LIB, CAT-LIB, USLIB3, PLANC-LIB, LINKER-AUTO-*.JOB, ...
  <PROGRAM>/
    userguide.md         <- what it does, requirements, invocation, options, status
    files/               <- the actual runtime files (DOM, PSEG/DSEG, HELP, INIT, ...)
    analysis/            <- disassembly (.asm) and RE notes (reference, not needed to run)

Full absolute path of this folder: E:\Dev\Ronny\NDInsight\SINTRAN\ND500-APPS\

Program index

Program Folder What it is Run status in nd500x
NC-A06 NC-A06/ Norsk Data C compiler (A06, 1989) Compiles end-to-end (CHECK+GENERATE-CODE)
LINKER-B01 LINKER-B01/ ND Linkage editor / domain linker Links C DOMs (see FORTRAN-auto-job note)
FILE-COMPARE FILE-COMPARE/ Text/file diff tool (ND-10603B) Verified: real compare + diff output
CPU-STAT CPU-STAT/ Prints CPU type / microcode / system info Verified: runs clean to exit
CONVERT-DOM-A03 CONVERT-DOM-A03/ Domain-file format converter Loads, has HELP + INIT
PLANC-500-G00 PLANC-500-G00/ PLANC compiler (G00) Loads, reaches prompt
LED-FORTRAN-A01 LED-FORTRAN-A01/ FORTRAN compiler (LED-based) Loads
LED-NEW LED-NEW/ LED screen editor Loads
AUTOMAKE-500-C00 AUTOMAKE-500-C00/ Build/dependency driver (make-like) Loads, reaches prompt
CODE-COVERAGE CODE-COVERAGE/ Code-coverage instrumentation tool Loads, reaches prompt
TEST-REAL TEST-REAL/ Interactive real-number parse/echo loop Loads
CAT-CAT5-B06 CAT-CAT5-B06/ CAT compiler back-end (used by NC) Runs (driven by NC)
BM-FILERE-B02 BM-FILERE-B02/ Backup Manager file-restore component Runs to its UI; then needs XMSG (513B)

Status reflects the nd500x C emulator (WSL ~/repos/nd500x) as of 2026-07-31.

Installing a program into the emulator

The emulator's SINTRAN file system is a host directory tree (the "sintran-root"), by convention ~/ND500USERS/ with SYSTEM/, GUEST/, SCRATCH/ beneath it. A domain is just a NAME.DOM file placed under a user directory.

  1. Copy the program's files/* into the sintran-root:
    • system-wide programs -> ~/ND500USERS/SYSTEM/
    • a user's own programs -> ~/ND500USERS/<USER>/
    • the shared libraries + linker auto-jobs (_shared/files/*) -> ~/ND500USERS/SYSTEM/
  2. File names are UPPER-CASE with a .DOM extension on the host (e.g. NC-A06.DOM). PSEG/DSEG/HELP/INIT/JOB files keep their upper-case names.

That is the whole install: no registration step, no catalogue. The shell finds a domain by looking for <sintran-root>/<user>/<NAME>.DOM, then SYSTEM/<NAME>.DOM.

Running a program

Start the SINTRAN shell and type the program's NAME:

cd ~/repos/nd500x
./build/bin/nd500x --monitor --user GUEST --sintran-root ~/ND500USERS

At the @ prompt type the bare domain name (the @ IS the prompt - do NOT type it yourself):

@NC-A06            <- you type: NC-A06
  • Arguments after the name go to the program's command buffer (e.g. NC TEST).
  • Batch: MODE <file> runs a .MODE script (lines are @-prefixed inside the file).
  • A program ends with MON 0B LEAVE ("program terminated").

Scripted (non-interactive) drive, feeding stdin:

printf 'LOGIN GUEST\nCPU-STAT\nEXIT\n' | ./build/bin/nd500x --monitor \
    --user GUEST --sintran-root ~/ND500USERS

Requirements model (what a program needs to run / link)

  • To RUN a DOM: just the .DOM file. Some carry data in separate PSEG/DSEG files (e.g. LED); keep them alongside the DOM.
  • To COMPILE + LINK your own program: the language's runtime libraries and the linker's language auto-job:
    • C: NC-LIB, CAT-LIB, USLIB3 + LINKER-AUTO-C.JOB
    • PLANC: PLANC-LIB + LINKER-AUTO-PLNC.JOB
    • all in _shared/files/.
  • Known gap: FORTRAN-LIB and EXCEPT-LIB are not present on any available media, so FORTRAN linking (and the linker's default FORTRAN trap auto-job) cannot resolve its exception handlers. The C toolchain works around this by using the self-contained LINKER-AUTO-C.JOB. See the memory note nc-link-fortran-autojob-missing-libs and each tool's userguide.

Gotchas when driving the compilers (NC, PLANC)

Verified 2026-07-31 driving NC-A06 and PLANC-500-G00:

  • Source files need CR (0x0D) line terminators, not LF. A host file written with Unix LF is read as ONE giant line - PLANC-500 reported "1 LINES COMPILED" and wrote an empty NRF. Converting to CR (tr '\n' '\r') gave "11 LINES COMPILED" and a real NRF. (NC tolerated LF only because the test source was a single line.)
  • CREATE-FILE the output files before COMPILE. The compilers OPEN their list/object outputs for write without creating them; if absent, COMPILE fails with SINTRAN ERROR 56B (no such file). The NC COMPILE-HELLO.MODE does this; for PLANC do CREATE-FILE X:LIST + CREATE-FILE X:NRF first.
  • PLANC-500 compile (verified): CREATE-FILE X:LIST / CREATE-FILE X:NRF, then PLANC-500-G00, then COMPILE X:PLNC,X:LIST,X:NRF -> real X.NRF. Linking a PLANC DOM hits the same FORTRAN-auto-job / missing-lib issue as C (below) and needs PLANC-LIB + a PLANC trap setup - not yet driven.

How to discover a program's own commands/options

  1. Built-in HELP - most tools accept a HELP (or help) command at their prompt; some read a NAME.HELP file (LINKER-B01, CONVERT-DOM ship one - see the program's files/).
  2. The .HELP / .INIT files in files/ - the vendor help text and the startup command script the program runs on entry.
  3. The disassembly in analysis/*.asm and the RE notes (*.md) - the authoritative source when the manual is missing. Mark anything derived from disassembly as such; do not present a guess as fact.
  • Emulator: ~/repos/nd500x (WSL) - --monitor SINTRAN shell.
  • ND-500 monitor-call analysis: ../ND500/ and ../../Developer/MON/calls/.
  • Skill: nd500-apps (install + usage-discovery workflow for this folder).