[Simh] Getting rsxs to run on the pdp11 emulator

[Rhialto]

On Tue 03 Mar 2015 at 07:39:05 +0000, Vorländer, Martin wrote:
> 
> > Am 03.03.2015 um 04:29 schrieb Bill Cunningham <billcun at suddenlink.net>:
> > 
> >    Is there an instruction sheet anywhere for simh to load the rsx OS I
> > think it's rsx-11m to use with the pdp11 simh emulator?
> 
> I once found http://home.earthlink.net/~n1be/pdp11/PDP11.html
> but haven?t yet had the time to try and follow the instructions.

That isn't the latest Y2k-clean version unfortunately.

The tape images on trailing edge for rsx-11m plus 4.6 are seemingly
unusable. One can boot them but then restoring them to a disk fails.
I wonder if these are still corruped by the wrong tape reading, as I
read about in the pdp11 newsgroup.

These are the corrupted tape files. BRU doesn't seem to like either of
them.

BB-J0830-01.M01_RSX11M+_V4.6_1999.tap
BB-J0830-01.L01_RSX11M+_V4.6_BRU_1999.tap
from
http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/bits/DEC/pdp11/magtapes/rsx11mplus/

At ftp://ftp.trailing-edge.com/pub/rsxdists/rsx11mplus_4_6_bl87_dsk.zip
is a disk image but
http://www.retrocmp.com/how-tos/getting-rsx11m-running-on-simh/203-rsx11m-on-simh-a-quest-for-the-unique-blinking-lights-of-rsx
(and the few next blog entries) describe how to fix that one for actual
use.

I did that, a bit modified. Also, the disk image has been sysgenned
already once, so the autoconfiguration doesn't work.

These are my modifications to to the procedure described in "RSX11M+ on
SIMH - The Problem With RSX File Headers".

The author creates a target disk image, to copy all the files from the
original one. It's the rsx11mpbl_mxf.dsk file. However for this he uses
a copy of the original disk image. While that works, and gets you a file
of the correct size, it seems a bit messy to me. I used a zero-filled
target disk image. Or even a non-existent one; simh will just create it
when starting.

Another change is that I chose a 11/94 as model, instead of 11/93. That
fit better with the config file I had around: it has a Unibus so you can
attach some more disk types.

Now if you want to run sysgen on your shiny new RSX, you'll discover it
won't offer autoconfiguration of your hardware. That is a sore lack,
since typing in all the details is a pain and can easily go wrong if
you're not practiced in it yet. However I discovered that the problem is
that the disk image has had a sysgen operation already. The resulting
multi-user system file won't allow autoconfiguration any more (which is
actually explained in the sysgen documentation, once you find it).
Fortunately the original system file is still on the disk (initially it
boots with system files in a different directory than what you
overwrite). So you can do the following just before sysgenning:

>dir [*]rsx11m.sys

Directory DU0:[001054]
17-JAN-15 02:30

RSX11M.SYS;1        1026.   C  03-NOV-99 18:01

Total of 1026./1026. blocks in 1. file


Directory DU0:[002054]
17-JAN-15 02:30

RSX11M.SYS;1        498.    C  18-DEC-98 02:47

Total of 498./498. blocks in 1. file

Grand total of 1524./1524. blocks in 2. files in 2. directories
>boot  DU0:[002054]RSX11M.SYS


RSX-11M-PLUS V4.6  BL87   1920.KW  System:"Baseline"
>RED DU:=SY:
>RED DU:=LB:
>RED DU:=SP:
>MOU DU0:"RSX11MPBL87"
>@[2,54]BASTART.CMD
>SET /CRASHDEV=MM0:
SET -- Crash device MM000: has been successfully loaded
...etc...

When running sysgen you should then get this
(instead of what's shown in Appendix F at http://retrocmp.com/how-tos/getting-rsx11m-running-on-simh/207-rsx11m-on-simh-a-sample-sysgen-session )

M>* SU090   Enter the name of the disk drive containing your
>*         target system disk [ddnn:] [S R:2-5]: du0:
>;
>ASN DU0:=IN:
>ASN DU0:=OU:
>ASN DU0:=LB:
>ASN DU0:=WK:
>ASN DU0:=TK:
>ASN DU0:=BC:
>ASN DU0:=LI:
>ASN DU0:=OB:
>ASN DU0:=EX:
>ASN DU0:=MP:
>;
>; The Autoconfigure procedure will attempt to determine your peripheral
>; configuration by examining the device registers contained in the I/O
>; page.  Autoconfigure will print a table of those devices which it
>; finds.  You can either use the Autoconfigure results directly, or
>; you can override them.
>;
>; If you answer Yes to the following question, SYSGEN will run
>; Autoconfigure.  If no results are printed within a few minutes,
>; Autoconfigure has failed and you should reboot your system and
>; restart the SYSGEN.  Next time do not use Autoconfigure.
>;
>; Note:  If you have already run a PREPGEN or SYSGEN during which you
>; ran Autoconfigure, and you are using the saved answer files from that
>; GEN, it is not necessary to run Autoconfigure again.
>;
>* SU100   Do you want to run Autoconfigure on the host system
>*         hardware? [Y/N D:N]: y
>;
>; Running Autoconfigure:
>;
>ACF
>ACO SHOW
Processor Type:  11/70          Memory Size:  1920. Kw

Options:

        Floating Point Processor (FP11)
        Extended Instruction Set (EIS)
        Extended (22-Bit) Addressing
        Switch Register (SWR)
        Display Register
        Cache Memory
        Parity Memory

Name    Vector     CSR      Unit    Type      Remark
RHA      204      172040                     
                             0      RS04     
RHB      224      172440                     
                             0_0    TE16      TM03
                             0_1    TE16      TM03
                             0_2    TE16      TM03
                             0_3    TE16      TM03
RHC      254      176700                     
                             0      RM05     
                             1      RM05     
                             2      RM05     
                             3      RM05     
DMA      210      177440                     
                             0      RK06     
                             1      RK06     
DUA      154      172150                     
                             0      RD54     
                             1      RD54     
                             2      RD54     
                             3      RX50     
LPA      200      177514                     
YLA      060      177560                     
YVA      300      160440                     
YVB      310      160460                     
YVC      320      160500                     
YVD      330      160520                     

>ACO SYSGEN
>;
>; If you choose to override the Autoconfigure results, SYSGEN asks all
>; the peripheral configuration questions using the Autoconfigure
>; results as defaults for the questions.  This allows you to examine
>; and change the Autoconfigure results.
>;
>; If you do not choose to override the Autoconfigure results, SYSGEN
>; uses the Autoconfigure results as the responses to the appropriate
>; questions, and does not ask you those questions.
>;
>* SU110   Do you want to override the Autoconfigure results? [Y/N D:N]: n

Cheers,
-Olaf.
-- 
___ Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert  -- The Doctor: No, 'eureka' is Greek for
\X/ rhialto/at/xs4all.nl    -- 'this bath is too hot.'
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