[Simh] DG Nova booting from another file or "device"?

[Microtech Dart]

Thanks for trying that, Dell.  It was a long shot for me, and I had no idea
what the results would be.

Is there an easy way to get the SimH emulator to do a verbose log output on
what it is doing, so that I can see what it does (or doesn't do) when it
executes this file?

Also, I'm curious.  What was the procedure you used to get the SimH Nova to
boot from the file we are discussing here?

On Tue, Nov 17, 2015 at 5:24 PM, Dell Setzer <dsetzer at panix.com> wrote:

> I'm not sure what format that binary file is in, but it doesn't seem to be
> anything RDOS can use. I tried running it in RDOS as well as booting it as
> a standalone program, but it doesn't do anything useful...
>
> ...dell
>
> On Sat, 14 Nov 2015, Microtech Dart wrote:
>
> Thank you, Dell, and Sandy Strain, both of your responses were EXTREMELY
>> helpful to me, and these all worked!
>>
>> Do either of you have any additional thoughts about how I could make what
>> I
>> believe to be a bootable file (extracted from a Microtech/Point4 QIC tape)
>> into a bootable device for the Nova?
>>
>> I'll start with the Minicom Disk To Tape Utility:
>>
>>
>> http://microtechm1.blogspot.com/2015/09/minicom-disk-to-tape-copy-utility.html
>>
>> I've attached a .zip of the binary file that I extracted from this tape
>> for
>> reference.  It's very small, so I zipped it up only so that the emailing
>> process didn't interfere with or reject it.
>>
>> Thanks, all!
>>
>> -AJ
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 14, 2015 at 7:23 AM, Dell Setzer <dsetzer at panix.com> wrote:
>>
>> It's actually pretty easy. After booting RDOS, press ^E to return to the
>>> sim> prompt. Then, attach a host file to the MTA0 unit. If you give a
>>> host
>>> filename that doesn't yet exist, SIMH will create an empty tape file and
>>> attach it to MTA0:
>>>
>>> sim> attach mta0 testtape.tap
>>> MTA: creating new file
>>> sim>
>>>
>>> Then, give the simh G command to return to RDOS and init/f the MT0 tape
>>> unit. Note that at the sim> prompt, the unit is called "MTA0" (or MTA1,
>>> MTA2, etc), while in RDOS the unit is called "MT0" (or MT1, MT2, etc):
>>>
>>> sim> g
>>> <presss return to get the RDOS prompt again>
>>> R
>>> init/f mt0
>>> CONFIRM? <press Y to confirm>
>>> R
>>>
>>> Now you can dump or copy files to the MT0 device:
>>> dump/v mt0:0 -.sr
>>>   LITMACS.SR
>>>   OSID.SR
>>>   NSID.SR
>>>   PARS.SR
>>>   ALMSPD.SR
>>>   <etc.>
>>> R
>>> dump/v mt0:1 -.sv
>>>   BURST.SV
>>>   INITIALIZE.SV
>>>   SEDIT.SV
>>>   MACXR.SV
>>>   EDIT.SV
>>>   <etc.>
>>> R
>>> release mt0
>>> R
>>>
>>> After releaseing the tape, press ^E again to get to the sim> prompt and
>>> detach the tape file:
>>> ^E
>>> sim> detach mta0
>>> sim>
>>> Now you can inspect the testtape.tap tape image.
>>>
>>> Attaching an existing tape file is similar, except that at the RDOS
>>> prompt
>>> you'd do INIT rather than INIT/F:
>>>
>>> sim> attach mta0 testtape.tap
>>> sim> g
>>> R
>>> init mt0
>>> R
>>> load/n mt0:0
>>>   LITMACS.SR            10/20/83
>>>   OSID.SR               01/10/84
>>>   NSID.SR               10/20/83
>>>   PARS.SR               01/31/85
>>>   <etc>
>>> R
>>> load/n mt0:1
>>>   BURST.SV              05/09/85
>>>   INITIALIZE.SV         05/02/85
>>>   SEDIT.SV              05/02/85
>>>   <etc>
>>> R
>>> release mt0
>>> R
>>>
>>> Hope this helps,
>>> ...dell
>>>
>>> On Sat, 14 Nov 2015, Microtech Dart wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi, I am completely new here, although I recognize the names of several
>>> who
>>>
>>>> post here.
>>>>
>>>> I am trying to resurrect an extinct Microtech machine from 1982, which
>>>> likely used the Point 4 processor, and the SimH DG Nova simulator
>>>> *should*
>>>> be compatible with the Point 4.
>>>>
>>>> I'm running the NOVA simulator now, with:
>>>>
>>>> NOVA simulator V4.0-0 Beta        git commit id: 3be5125d
>>>> sim> ATTACH DKP0 *rdos_d31.dsk*
>>>> sim> set tti dasher
>>>> sim> boot DKP0
>>>>
>>>> I'm teaching myself RDOS now with the RDOS_Command_Line_Interpreter
>>>> Manual.
>>>> <
>>>>
>>>> http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dg/software/rdos/093-000109-01_RDOS_Command_Line_Interpreter.pdf
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Would anybody here be able to suggest some methods by which I could
>>>> *create* a magnetic tape device on this SimH Nova simulator, and how I
>>>> might write some files to that?
>>>>
>>>> I think that would be an excellent experiment for me to attempt.  Then I
>>>> can inspect the binary file in a hex editor, and see what it looks like,
>>>> then compare to the binaries I've pulled off my Microtech/Point 4 tapes.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> -AJ
>>>> http://MicrotechM1.blogspot.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Thanks,
>> -AJ
>> http://MicrotechM1.blogspot.com
>>
>>


-- 

Thanks,
-AJ
http://MicrotechM1.blogspot.com
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