Looking for a real Fortran-66 compatible PC compiler (CP/M or DOS or at least also Windows, doesn't matter)

On 2010-12-26, Peter Dassow wrote:


> Hi,
>
> I have to compile some very old Fortran-66 programs, but I do not have
> an IBM host or a TOPS-10/VMS machine.


Hello Peter,


Do you simply need to compile the programs or do you need to actually run
them?


> So I am looking for a real compatible compiler for these old sources,
> Fortran-80 (CP/M) is one of the candidates, but there are problems with
> the data types. Are there any other PC compatible Fortran-66 compilers
> out there ?


From a little time searching the web I found a thread here:


http://lists.apple.com/archives/fortran-dev/2009/Mar/threads.html


reading through it suggests a modern compliant compiler should compile
compliant code from the old days. One of the great things about old
languages, especially old languages IBM supported, is almost everything
that used to work 50 years ago still does today.


Therefore, http://www.gfortran.org/ might be a good first stop. I don't
know if they have a Windows version but they (gcc) usually do have
somebody building Windows installers.


If you can't find a PC compiler that works then emulating an old system is
going to be one way to go although it's a big hammer when all you want to
do is compile old code. You can make a virtual VAX or PDP machine and it
will be just like the old days, only faster and it won't heat up your
room. You can find a lot of doc on http://www.bitsavers.org for old
hardware and software. They host some old software as well.


http://simh.trailing-edge.com/ is a site hosting emulator software and OS
and other kits. It has a lot of PDP stuff which should be very helpful. I
would also recommend looking for computer history sites and vintage
computing sites, for someone who might have an old CP/M or DOS
compiler. Many times the vintage sites have buy/sell sections.


I found an interesting page here but it may not be immediately relevant for
your project. Lots of good info here for FORTRAN historians.


  http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/FORTRAN/


> [It's been a long time since anyone cared about F66. You might consider
> running an old IBM system on Hercules, the freeware IBM emulator
> http://www.hercules-390.org/ -John]


This is a good suggestion if you're familiar with old IBM OS but if not, it
will be so painful it won't be worth it. The yahoo groups supporting
hercules do have very helpful guys but to go through all that just to
install a FORTRAN compiler is overkill unless you're rich and retired and
bored.


If you actually need to compile and run and work on old code you really
should get an environment for your PC and that may require you to set up a
vintage OS and compilers and use Linux to host it. Hopefully gfortran will
run on Windows or you'll find an old compiler for CP/M or DOS and you'll be
done.


I saw this link http://www.retroarchive.org/dos/lang/index.html
(retroarchive is actually linked from your z80 site so you probably checked
here already) but it looks like there is a DOS FORTRAN compiler from
IBM. Have you tried it?


If for some reason you just need (as you said) to compile but not actually
run the code, I have access to IBM F and G level FORTRAN (1974 and earlier)
which are FORTRAN IV compilers. FORTRAN IV is not exactly F66 but it should
be close enough. I'm not sure what good it will do to compile the code for
an IBM mainframe if you don't have anything to run the code on. I didn't
understand exactly what you want to do, perhaps you could explain a little
further.


How much code do you have, as in how many modules and how many lines,
approximately?


I'm interested in vintage computing and I have various old/ancient
compilers installed. A great site for IBM fans is


http://www.jaymoseley.com/hercules/


Jay has done a tremendous amount of work rounding up old compilers and
tools and packaging them for MVS3.8J or later systems. You will need some
MVS sysprog experience or a couple of sixpacks and a pretty good buddy.


Hope this helps. I follow the list watching vintage computing and language
discussions with interest.

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