[Simh] TOPS-20 on SIMH?

[Rich Alderson]

> Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:38:14 -0800
> From: "Zane H. Healy" <healyzh at aracnet.com>

> At 10:46 AM +0000 1/15/09, Kay Dekker wrote:

>> Does anyone have up-to-date instructions on installing TOPS-20 for SIMH? I
>> know where to find tape images, but I can't find instructions on how to
>> install them.

You need to take a look at the TOPS-20 Software Installation Guide at
bitsavers.org.  I can't get there right now, so I can't point at the exact URL.
It will be under the PDP-10 directory under the DEC PDFs.

The basic notion is that the 8080 boot code is supplied by SimH.  Attach the
install tape to tape drive 0 and boot from there, then follow the SIG.

>> Also, is it still true that SIMH can't support any version of TOPS-20 later
>> than V4.1? I should really like to use a more up-to-date version, but the
>> machine on which I wish to host it is a Windows XP box, and it seems rather
>> peculiar to have to run VMware with Linux on top so that I could run KLH-10
>> and Mark Crispin's PANDA distribution.

That's actually MRC's recommendation for Windows boxes, since he does not have
the time or financial resources to do the port to Windows.  It's how I run
KLH10 for both Tops-10 and TOPS-20 at my desk.

> To the best of my knowledge no one has run TOPS-20 on SIMH.  I like 
> SIMH for TOPS-10, but for TOPS-20 the only recommended platform is 
> KLH10.

I have run TOPS-20 v4.1 on SimH, mostly for the experience.  I was not a
Tops-10 user, much less administrator, until 2003, so I wanted to get
experience with SimH before I started experimenting with a new-to-me OS.

TOPS-20 v4.1 was a major improvement when it was introduced.  However, the
further improvements in subsequent versions (and those made by non-DEC
programmers at places like Stanford and CMU) make it only of academic interest.

                                                                Rich