[Simh] PDP-10 simulation: TENEX
Al Kossow
aek at bitsavers.org
Wed Jan 4 16:59:33 EST 2017
I've attached my lot evaluation I did when Stanford transferred the SRI tape collection to CHM
On 1/4/17 1:49 PM, Al Kossow wrote:
> From when he was at SRI. They were part of a huge collection that
> Henry saved when SRI was going to toss them.
>
> On 1/4/17 1:48 PM, Al Kossow wrote:
>> CHM has most of KLH's tapes.
>
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Collection Evaluation 200912 aek
Stanford lot # M0968 1999-007
The Augmentation Research Center (ARC) used several computer systems
over its lifetime, software artifacts from many of them exist in this
collection.
Prior to ARC leasing a DEC KA-10 to run TENEX, they had leased an
SDS-940. The 940 system was in operation until 1972 (exact date?).
When it went off lease, it was donated to the Community Memory Project in
Berkeley. CHM holds software artifacts from the system's use by CM as
well.
Boxes 189, 190 are software tapes for the 940, along with some CDC
software from the work done on the CDC computers ARC used before getting
the 940.
Tapes 101 -> 788 (possibly higher) are file archive tapes from the DEC
KA-10 system running TENEX which appears to have been used until 1977.
There appear to be only archival backups and no full system backups in
this series. Harvey Lehtman (who was at ARC staring in 1969) suggested
I talk to Smokey Wallace about the archiving procedures for this system.
One of the questions that is still yet to be answered is if the 101-788
series holds the machine-readable versions of the ARC Journal files. The
paper copies that have survived start near the switch from the SDS-940 to
the TENEX system, so in theory they SHOULD be on these archive tapes. The
mystery is the policy they used to decide when to write files to tape. If
only files what were not referenced were copied, what should happen is the
Journal files should all have trickled out to the archive tapes as they
reached the time when no one had looked at them in a while. The problem
with this is if the polcy was NEVER to copy to the archive if the file
were being referenced, there would not be a copy of some of the files on
ANY of the backups. I would also not be surprised to find the details of
the backup procedures in the ARC journal files.
The previous paragraph assumes that machine-readable copies of the Journal
files were actually maintained on the system. Since storage space was so
tight on early systems, they may, in fact, have not saved them in machine
readable form. Another question for Smokey..
All tapes 1000 and higher appear to be from the "Office" systems at
Tymshare which appear to be a mix of computers built by DEC and Tymshare.
I am guessing the "Cxxx" serial number systems were Foonlys.
The dates on the tapes seem to correspond with when SRI sold the rights
for NLS to Tymshare (1977).
These later tapes appear to be organized with the system number as the
most significant digit of the tape number. 1xxx is OF-1, 2xxx is OF-2,
etc. The tape numbers from OF-1 appear to correspond to archive index
listings that Jake Feinler had on some archive directory reports from
1981, which I've scanned and have added to the tape image archive under
_SRI_19810418_ARCHIV
Based on my current understanding of the backup system for OF-1 based on
looking at the Feinler listings, files appear to have been written to
two tapes, generally sequentially numbered. Descriptions of the backup format
for the Office tapes existed on paper in the SRI archive at CHM. I made a first
pass at understanding their format on the first 'evaluation' box we were given
which turns out to be part of the backup set for the "OFFICE-8" system at
Tymshare, circa 1988.
The OFFICE systems appear to have been shut down in 1988-89, since there appear
to have been full dumps of the systems made at that time.
The exact meaning of the 'for' box on the original tape labels is still not
yet fully understood.
'a' probaly are these reduntant offline file archives,
'i' is probably a system incremental dump, 'd' seems to
be a mix of things, including software distribution tapes, but not
always. I think I remember Phil Gust mentioning that the person responsible
for the tape archiving at Tymshare could still be contacted. Perhaps this was
the person who helped box the collection and created the labels.
Daily backups were not done often after 1987
The last full backups were in fall, 1988
The tapes appear to have been boxed and inventoried in Dec, 1992
Collection Plan
---------------
My current selection critera are:
- All tapes for the systems used by ARC at SRI (101-788...)
- Tapes for the OFFICE-1 system probably through the mid-80's. I need to find
out more about the relationship of the OFFICE-1 system to the SRI-NIC system
since Jake still appears to have files on OFFICE through 1981 when the archive
listings were created. SRI was running a separate PDP-10 computer for the Network
Information Center (NIC) independent of ARC. I need to determine the exact date
when that system was brought up. CHM holds backup archive tapes from Jake or ???
for the NIC system from 1984 and the final system backup from 1991 which have been
read and archived under X3578.2006_SRI-NIC_Backups
- Final system dump tapes from the OFFICE systems (circa 1988/89)
One question that has come up is what, exactly, do we hope to find/preserve on
these tapes?
Recovery Plan
-------------
The late 80's dump tapes are 6250 9 track and should be able to be processed
using the same methods as the DEC LCG and Princeton collections.
Tapes in the 1000 series are probably 800 bpi 9 track and may have to wait to be processed
using 7 track methodologies since I do not currently have a reliable method for reading
these tapes
7 Track tapes (101 - 788)
Require recovery using custom hardware and software being developed at CHM.
In theory, they could be sent offsite to someone like John Bordynuik, but the cost
probably wouldn't be justified other than sending a sample set sent to John for
condition evaluation.
========================================================================
What CHM Has By Visit
---------------------
a - archive
d - full disk dump
i - incremental dump
evaluation
stan# eng# host date for comments read density
----- ---- ---- ---- --- -------- ---- -------
xx xx x x x OF-8 8280-8309 Y 9-track
200807 (8 boxes)
stan# eng# host date for comments
----- ---- ---- ---- --- --------
167 077 1 1980 a 1158-1184 Y 9-track
180 160 1 1972 a 131-160
185 unlabeled box system tapes Y 9-track
198 103 0.4 1978-88 mix PDP-10 system tapes Y 9-track
246 064 1 1988 d OF-8 C1643 Y 9-track
293 128 6 1976 a 673-694
298 041 1 1972-74 a 281-290 500-519
303 038 1 1977 a 610-639
20090303 (12 boxes)
stan# eng# host date for comments
----- ---- ---- ---- --- --------
169 050 1 a 221-250
174 032 1 1972 a 161-190
175 060 1 1976-77 a 760-788
176 141 1 1976-77 a 700-729
181 048 1 a 520-549
183 049 1 a 190-220
189 106 0 1966-67 mix SDS 940 / CDC 3100
190 1?? 0 1967+ mix SDS 940 / CDC 3100
193 020 4/1 9/1988 d vms system tapes VAX Softw Distribs
195 148 11 1988 d OF-5
196 099 1 1988 d vms system tapes VAX Softw Distribs
197 159 4 1988 d vms system tapes VAX Softw Distribs
20090505 (12 boxes)
stan# eng# host date for comments
----- ---- ---- ---- --- --------
200 024 - - - ARC JOURNAL BINDERS
201 006 1 1972-73 a 101-130
202 112 4 1988 i OF-4
204 028 1 1975 a 580-609
205 073 1 1978-79 a 1000-1026
207 079 1 1981 a 1211-1236
209 089 1 1982-83 a 1290-1315
210 081 1 1981-82 a 1237-1262
212 147 1 1987 i OF-1 1087
213 063 1 1980-81 a 1185-1210
219 066 5 1988 d OF-4
230 114 4 1988 d OF-2 C1643
233 085 2 1980-81 a 2160-2189
20090707 (20 boxes)
stan# eng# host date for comments
----- ---- ---- ---- --- --------
240 126 2 79-80 a 2041-2070 03428777
242 134 2 80 a 2071-2100 03428779
244 111 - - - Mixed daily bkups 03428781
247 67 4 - d OF-4 03428784 S1
248 137 vax vms floppies 03428785 VAX Softw Distribs
250 - 4 - d OF-4 03428787 S6
254 144 8 88 d OF-8 03428791 S3,1-20 S11,1-11 OF4 S6,33-34
255 121 4 - d OF-4 03428792 S12
259 116 8 88 d OF-8 4 03428796 S9,1-18 S10,1-14
264 125 vax backup 03428801 VAX MAGNUM Tymshare
275 13 vax backup 03428812 VAX MAGNUM Tymshare
290 33 1 77 a 789-818 03428827
291 127 1 76 a 730-759 03428828
297 109 1 78-79 a 1027-1052 03428834
301 40 1 72 a 251-280 03428838
302 37 1 75-76 a 640-669 03428839
304 31 1,4 87-88 i OF-1 OF-4 incr 03428841
306 23 1 77 a 819-848 03428843
307 138 0 ? a 550-579 03428844
313 93 1 80 a 1106-1131 01829637
========================================================================
What systems they are from:
series date system sn? Comments
------ ---- ----- --- --------
101-130 1972-73 KA-10 7-track
131-160 1972 KA-10
161-190 1972 KA-10
190-220 KA-10
221-250 KA-10
251-280 KA-10
281-290 500-519 1972-74 KA-10
520-549 KA-10
550-579 KA-10
580-609 1975 KA-10
610-639 1977 KA-10
640-669 KA-10
673-694 1976 KA-10
xxx-xxx
700-729 1976-77 KA-10
730-759 KA-10
760-788 1976-77 KA-10
789-818 KA-10
819-848 KA-10
=============================================
1000-1026 1978-79 OF-1 C212 7-track 800 bpi
1027-1052 OF-1 C212
xxxx-xxxx
1106-1131 OF-1 C212
xxxx-xxxx
1158-1184 1980 OF-1 C212
1185-1210 1980-81 OF-1 C212
1211-1236 1981 OF-1 C212
1237-1262 1981-82 OF-1 C212
xxxx-xxxx
1290-1315 1982-83 OF-1 C212
=============================================
xxxx-xxxx OF-1 1088
Daily Bkups 1-21 OF-1 1088
=============================================
2041-2070 OF-2 C216
2071-2100 OF-2 C216
xxxx-xxxx
2160-2189 1980-81 OF-2 C216 F4
=============================================
xxxx-xxxx OF-3 C236 F3
=============================================
xxxx-xxxx OF-4 1087
6-25-88 Full Bkup Set 1 1-20 OF-4 1087
9-03-88 Full Bkup Set 6 2-29 OF-4 1087
6-11-88 Full Bkup Set 12 3-31 OF-4 1087
Daily Bkups 1-14, 28-31 OF-4
=============================================
xxxx-xxxx OF-5 C185
1-26-88 Full 2 Final 1-20 OF-5
=============================================
xxxx-xxxx OF-6 C896
=============================================
8280-8309 1988 OF-8 C1643 F4 6250 bpi 9-track
7-16-88 Full Bkup Set 12 1-17 OF-8
7-02-88 Full Bkup Set 11 1-19 OF-8
6-18-88 Full Bkup Set 10 1-19 OF-8
6-04-88 Full Bkup Set 9 11-18 OF-8
9-24-88 Full Bkup Set 5 11-16 OF-8
9-10-88 Full Bkup Set 4 1-19 OF-8
Daily Bkups 1-19,21-23,26-28 OF-2? C1643
=============================================
xxxx-xxxx OF-12 C1311
=============================================
xxxx-xxxx OF-13 C895
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