[Simh] Older Model VAX simulators, what can you do with them and how do they work?

[Mark Pizzolato]

Hi Ray,

The instructions you’re following start by deposit a set of 11/780 specific program which will read a tape record into memory:

    sim> D 50000 20009FDE
    sim> D 50004 D0512001
    sim> D 50008 3204A101
    sim> D 5000C C113C08F
    sim> D 50010 A1D40424
    sim> D 50014 008FD00C
    sim> D 50018 C1800000
    sim> D 5001C 8F320800
    sim> D 50020 10A1FE00
    sim> D 50024 00C139D0
    sim> D 50028 04c1d004
    sim> D 5002C 07e15004
    sim> D 50030 0000f750
    sim> e -m 50000:50031
    50000:  MOVAL @#20012000,R1
    50007:  MOVL #1,4(R1)
    5000B:  CVTWL #13C0,424(R1)
    50012:  CLRL C(R1)
    50015:  MOVL #80000000,800(R1)
    5001E:  CVTWL #FE00,10(R1)
    50024:  MOVL #39,400(R1)
    50029:  MOVL 404(R1),R0
    5002E:  BBC #7,R0,50029
    sim>

On the 780 simulator this make sense since the system configuration looks something like:

VAX 11/780 simulator configuration

    VAX 11/780 simulator configuration

    CPU     idle disabled, model=VAX 11/780
    TLB     2 units
    SBI
    MCTL0   nexus=1, address=20002000
    MCTL1   nexus=2, address=20004000
    UBA     nexus=3, address=20006000, autoconfiguration enabled
    MBA0    nexus=8, address=20010000
    MBA1    nexus=9, address=20012000

Notice MBA1 (where the tape is connected to the system) has address 20012000.

On the VAX 11/750, the system configuration is:

    VAX 11/750 simulator configuration

    CPU     idle disabled, model=VAX 11/750, bootdev=A
    TLB     2 units
    CMI
    MCTL    nexus=0, address=F20000
    UBA     nexus=8, address=F30000, autoconfiguration enabled
    MBA0    nexus=4, address=F28000
    MBA1    nexus=5, address=F2A000

Trying to do an OS install (especially a non DEC one) using instructions for a VAX 11/780 on a VAX 11/750 is pretty much guaranteed not to work.  My first suggestion would be to try and dig up the original instructions for installing that particular OS on a real VAX 11/750.  This may not have even been an OS that ran on a 11/750.   If you can find how to install this OS on real hardware, then those original instructions will map to a simulator pretty easily.

Have fun.


-          Mark

From: Simh [mailto:simh-bounces at trailing-edge.com] On Behalf Of Ray Jewhurst
Sent: Sunday, October 9, 2016 7:40 AM
To: simh <simH at trailing-edge.com>
Subject: [Simh] Older Model VAX simulators, what can you do with them and how do they work?

Hello everyone,
I have use the VAX 11/780-5 simulator for quite some time now and feel pretty comfortable with them so I thought I would play around with the other pre-MicroVAX simulators and have had no luck with them.  I tried using the "recipes: from gunkies.org<http://gunkies.org> to set up some configurations and nothing works.  (I know the 11/730 has some hardware differences, so that one is the least of my concerns.)  Attempting to install 3BSD onto the 11/750 gives me a "0000010 HALT" and with the 8600 I can get all the way to the initial boot and I get a kernel panic.  Now I will admit I haven't tried different deposits and frankly I don't understand very well how they work but I would really like to "try" these machines. Also on a similar note I think that we should either help to revive gunkies.org<http://gunkies.org> or find a new place to share our system "recipes" and configurations.  For example, in the text file that comes with DOS-11 there  are instructions that don't apply to that version of DOS and I would love to share a revised version of said instructions.
Thanks,
Ray
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