[Simh] VAXstation 4000 Model 60

[Jeremy Begg]

Hi,

I am trying to set up SIMH on a new Linux server, an Intel NUC8i3BEH  with
16GB RAM and 250GB SSD running Ubuntu Server 18.04 LTS.

I've built the VAXstation 4000 Model 60 simulator on this system and I
didn't notice any errors while building.  (The build itself was very quick.)

VAXstation 4000-60 (KA46) simulator V4.0-0 Current        git commit id: 5e8f4803

I've prepared two ODS-2 VMS disk images and attached them to RZ2 and RZ3,
respectively.

When I run BOOT CPU it loads the VAXstation boot ROM from the internal copy
and starts the system self-tests, which take quite a few minutes to run --
just like the real hardware :-(

The self test results in several errors.  Here's the transcript:

  Loading boot code from internal ka46a.bin

   
   
  KA46-A V1.4-38E-V4.2
  08-00-2B-02-10-2C
  104MB
                                      
  ?? 001   3        DZ  0032
  ?? 001   4     CACHE  0768
  ?? 001   7        IT  1152
  ?? 001   8       SYS  0128
  ?? 001   9        NI  0024

  >>> show dev

    VMS/VMB      ADDR      DEVTYPE    NUMBYTES     RM/FX    WP    DEVNAM     REV
    -------      ----      -------    --------     -----    --    ------     ---
    ESA0         08-00-2B-02-10-2C
    DKA200       A/2/0     DISK         2.15GB      FX            RZ23       0A18
    DKA300       A/3/0     DISK        20.13MB      FX            RZ23       0A18
   ..HostID..    A/6       INITR



  >>> 

Why so many self-test errors?

I assume the "NUMBYTES" value for DKA300 is an artifact of the SHOW DEV
command not coping with such a large disk.

Is there anything I can do to speed up the self-test (i.e. a way to curtail
it)?  VMS itself seems to boot OK.

Here's my SIMH initialisation script:

   ; set memory size to 104MB                     
   set cpu 104m                                   
   set cpu idle=vms                               
   set cpu instructions=packed,extended,noemulated
   ; set cpu autoboot                             
   set cpu conhalt                                
   ;                                              
   ; change the 'escape' character from ^E to ^P  
   set console wru=10                             
   ;                                              
   ; Create and attach two SCSI disks             
   attach rz2 eric_SYSTEM.dsk                     
   ; set rz3 rzuser=8427936                       
   attach rz3 eric_USER.dsk                       
   ;                                              
   ; Disable remaining disk devices               
   set rz0 disable                                
   set rz1 disable                                
   set rz4 disable                                
   set rz5 disable                                
   set rz7 disable                                
   ;                                              
   boot cpu

I'm yet to attach the ethernet interface, which won't use tun/tap.

Thanks,

        Jeremy Begg

  +---------------------------------------------------------+
  |            VSM Software Services Pty. Ltd.              |
  |                 http://www.vsm.com.au/                  |
  |---------------------------------------------------------|
  | P.O.Box 402, Walkerville, |  E-Mail:  jeremy at vsm.com.au |
  | South Australia 5081      |   Phone:  +61 8 8221 5188   |
  |---------------------------|  Mobile:  0414 422 947      |
  |  A.C.N. 068 409 156       |     FAX:  +61 8 8221 7199   |
  +---------------------------------------------------------+