[Simh] More VAX Simulators

[Tony Nicholson]

On Fri, May 10, 2019 at 9:44 PM <paulhardy2 at btinternet.com> wrote:

> I've been trying out the VAXstations - 3100M38, 3100M76 and 4000M60, and
> I'm not getting much success.
>
> For the M38 and the M60, if I try for a network boot to my (SimH) cluster,
> I get ?4B CTRLERR, e.g.
>

[snip]

>>> boot esa0
>
> -ESA0
> ?4B CTRLERR
> ?06 HLT INST
>     PC = 00000C66
> >>>
>
>
[snip]

Has anyone recently managed to get any of these three VAXstations doing a
> network boot?
>

Paul,

I'm using the vaxstation3100m38 emulator and the Ethernet support for MOP
booting doesn't yet work.

I've started looking at this side-by-side with my real Vaxstation 3100 M48
but my almost 32 year old hardware is showing signs of fatigue (I've just
replaced it's power supply - and it now runs with SCSI2CD disk emulation
from a microSD memory card).

The Ethernet routine in SIMH (vax_xs.c) uses some details from the
VAXstation 2000 implementation of the LANCE controller chip.  I think the
same interface is used in the VAXstation 3100 M38 being emulated - but I'd
need to see a VAXstation 3100 Technical Manual (if it was produced).  One
I've seen in my Google searches is a EK-A0525-TD manual referenced for the
3100 model 40 and 80 but no copy of it seems to be available online.

I've also got some details that I saved a long time ago about patching the
system ROM to support booting larger disks than a RZ26 (over 1.06Gb) by
Wolfgang Moeller - which leads me to think maybe there's a disaasembly of
the system ROM out there too!  (Chime in if you know of it).

I then tried booting from CDROM and installing VMS (5.5-2H4 - I want to
> replicate a particular historical system). Installing VMS and Motif went
> OK, and I can boot from DKA0 and login to VMS, but the system looks like a
> MicroVAX rather than a VAXstation. Do I need something in my ini file to
> enable the graphics? I'd assumed that because these executables say
> VAXstation, that it would be enabled by default.
>
> My ini file for the M38 looks like:
> set cpu 32m
> set cpu idle=vms
> set cpu conhalt
> attach nvr VAXstation3100M38.nvr
> set nar mac=08-00-2B-AA-BB-31
> set rz0 rz25
> attach rz0 lamps1_disk0.img
> set rz1 disable
> set rz2 disable
> set rz3 disable
> set rz4 cdrom
> attach rz4 vms552h4.iso
> set rz5 disable
> set rz7 disable
> attach xs eth0
>
> Any comments welcomed!
>

Try adding

set va capture
set cpu model=vaxstationgpx

which will enable the GPX graphics console.  (Also remember to disable
_OPA0: as the operator console to stop blast through of OPCOM messages with
a "$ define /system OPC$OPA0_ENABLE false" in SYS$STARTUP:SYLOGICALS.COM).

Tony
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