[Simh] State of the 940

[Bob Supnik]

Mark,

Dave Bryan and I are trying to work out the kinks in the 'erase' 
function on the 940, which is needed to make the tape file system work. 
Dave has implemented precise in-place erase for records, but we'll need 
a precise erase for file marks too. And then the whole thing has to be 
tested.

I'll keep you posted on progress.

/Bob

On 10/24/2016 12:00 PM, simh-request at trailing-edge.com wrote:
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2016 10:48:44 -0500
> From: Mark Emmer<markemmer at SNOBOL4.com>
> To:simh at trailing-edge.com
> Subject: Re: [Simh] Operating Systems with Sources
> Message-ID:<4c6e802c-49a7-0680-c8e1-d0253b0d104f at SNOBOL4.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
>
> Sorry Al, but I've been pedal-to-the-metal for the past 15 months on
> another project and haven't been able to get back to the 940 timesharing
> system.  I think the last status I reported was that it was running in
> the original build configuration of mag tape and drum, with the ability
> to re-assemble, link and run a new O/S from source files.  File I/O to
> the drum worked, but the tape-based file system (including
> overwrite-in-place) is a disaster that I'm avoiding.  I can't even get
> it to recognize when I think is a properly labeled tape, and the new
> tape utility is absent.  Best hope is to get the Data Products or Bryant
> disk driver working and build a proper disk-based system.
> Unfortunately, the Oper utility to layout a disk with file directories
> and boot images is missing, so I'm going to have to cobble up something
> in C to replicate it.
>
> I do intend to work on it again when programming becomes fun again.
>
> Mark