[Simh] 5 Questions (3 Questions Sire) About RSTS/E and Command Line.

[Johnny Billquist]

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On 2017-10-06 21:29, Brett Bump wrote:
> 
> This is mostly for Tim and Paul, but I figured to cross-post in case any
> one might have seen this before (before I lob thy Holy Hand Grenade).
> 
> 1.  In cleaning up some of my old paperwork, I stumbled across a fanfold
> .   paper copy of "RSTS/E System Programmer's Notebook" page 3 (no 1-2)
> .   followed by Chapters 1-5 and Appendix A, B pages 1-5.  The bottom of
> .   the Preface reads:
> .
> .   "What follows is a sermon, it is not a Gospel."
> .
> .   A section on the first page of Appendix A has a paragraph that says:
> .
> .   CAUTION
> .   The PPEK sequences described in this     (sic. I presume PEEK)
> .   document are not a part of the supported
> .   functionality of RSTS/E V6C as described
> .   in the RSTS/E Software Product Description.
> .
> Has anyone seen/read this before, know who wrote it, have a digital copy
> that could be distributed out, or am I destined to type it back in so all
> can read (it is good material on old yellowed crackly fanfold paper)???

I'm deferring this to Paul, who really is the best person to answer. (I 
saw that he did say something on the subject as well.)

> 2.  I lost a very good friend (coworker) this week to MI (he was 66).  We
> .   were coteaching a class online Tuesday night and Wednesday morning he
> .   was gone. :(  I have inherited 2 of his classes and wish to do the
> .   best job I can for his students, honor his legacy, and live up to the
> .   praise and respect he gave me that he disclosed to his students.
> .
> One of these classes is on command line and the text is linux specific.
> While I love my linux machines, there has always been a natural flow when
> typing commands on pretty much any DEC OS (a person kind of has to acquire
> a little bit of tourette's tics to be competent with *nix).  Can someone
> in the group provide me with a few accounts to connect to so his students
> can see something other than linux???  I think I used to have an account
> on CHIMPY, but that has been a while back.

Sorry about the loss.
There are a guest account on both MIM:: and MAGICA::
MIM:: is an emulated PDP-11/74, while MAGICA:: is a real PDP-11/70. Both 
are running RSX-11M-PLUS V4.6, and the guest account have name GUEST and 
password GUEST. They drop you into DCL, so it shouldn't be too hard. 
They are also accessible from the internet as Mim.Update.UU.SE and 
Magica.Update.UU.SE, with telnet access.

One difference that might be relevant is that in RSX, when you connect 
you are not automatically thrown the login prompt. You are at a command 
prompt in logged out mode, where you can both get help, as well as log in.

> 3.  Does anyone have a current HECnet map, so that said students could
> .   see how HECnet is set up and navigate a couple of different machines?

As far as I know, there is no current map. There have been a couple of 
attempts in the past, but it was a while since I last saw any, and they 
have never been very complete.
The best "picture" is by going to http://mim.update.uu.se/nodedb, which 
is served from MIM (obviously) using Datatrieve, and the source of the 
nodename database, with some additional information. However, one have 
to be away that many machines in the last is not online most of the time.

To explore a bit more, one can play with NCP and find out which areas 
are online, and at least some subset of which machines are online. But 
it becomes a question of knowing how to use NCP, how DECnet works, and 
some patience.

	Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol