[Simh] [Enhancement Request] Consistency in device information displayed by show command.

[J. David Bryan]

On Tuesday, January 22, 2019 at 22:55, Robert W.Mills wrote:

>     DS0 7575KW, not attached, 7905
>         heads unloaded, format disabled, unprotected
> 
>     MS0 not attached, 7970E, unlimited capacity
>         offline, write ring, SIMH format
> 
>     Just for interest, what does the 7575KW in the DS0 indicate?

The capacity of the disc drive in kilowords (7575KW = 15.15 MB).


>     And if I do a 'set DS0 7925' it changes to 60MW. What does that
>     indicate?

That the capacity of a 7925 is 60 megawords (= 120 MB).


>     Is it needed?

Not for the HP simulators, but the display is provided by the SIMH 
framework and is outside of the simulator author's control.


> The show command for the LP device is quite different.
> 
> For example:
> 
>     LP  fast timing, printer mode, DEVNO=14, INTMASK=E
>         INTPRI=18, SRNO=11, Standard VFU
>         not attached, 2617, offline
>         expanded output
> 
> Is it possible to get the same look-and-feel?

Not really, if I understand your request correctly.  They look different 
because the line printer is a single-unit device, whereas the disc and tape 
devices each support multiple units.  If you do a SHOW DS, you'll see:

  DS      fast timing, override disabled, DEVNO=4
          INTMASK=E, INTPRI=4, 8 units
    DS0   7575KW, not attached, 7905
          heads unloaded, format disabled, unprotected
    DS1   [...]

...and so on for each of the eight disc units.  Multiple-unit devices 
separate the information pertaining to the device (e.g., timing mode, 
DEVNO, etc.) from that pertaining to each unit (drive type, attachment 
status, etc.).  Single-unit devices combine that by listing the device 
information followed directly by the unit information.

The simulator author can decide what information to display (well, mostly), 
but the layout of that information is done by the SIMH framework and is 
common to all simulators.

                                      -- Dave