[Simh] Tops-20 4.1 on simh PDP-10: trouble during install

[Tom Russo]

I'm a new simh user, and have mostly been using it to relive my youth
on PDP-11s.  But I also had played with TOPS-20 back in those misspent
days, and wanted to see if I could have my own, fully realizing that
SIMH can't run later versions of TOPS-20 because it simulates a KS10.  
Still, I am having trouble getting past the first few steps of the install.

I am starting from the install document at 
http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/dec/pdp10/TOPS20/V4.1_Feb83/AA-P346A-TM_KS_Install_4.1_Feb83.pdf

I have downloaded the install tape from 
http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/tapes/bb-d867e-bm_tops20_v41_2020_instl.tap.bz2

I use this "install.ini" file (cribbed from https://gunkies.org/wiki/Running_TOPS-20_V4.1_under_SIMH):

set cpu tops-20
d wru 006 
att tu  bb-d867e-bm_tops20_v41_2020_instl.tap
set rp rp06
att rp t20.dsk
boot tu

at which point I'm greeted with the expected MTBOOT> prompt.  I then do:


MTBOOT> /L
MTBOOT> /G143

and basically say Y to all the questions:
[FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TYPE "?" TO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.]

DO YOU WANT TO REPLACE THE FILE SYSTEM ON THE PUBLIC STRUCTURE? Y

DO YOU WANT TO DEFINE THE PUBLIC STRUCTURE? Y

HOW MANY PACKS ARE IN THIS STRUCTURE: 1

ON WHICH "CHANNEL,UNIT" IS LOGICAL PACK # 0 MOUNTED: 0,0

DO YOU WANT THE DEFAULT SWAPPING SPACE? Y

DO YOU WANT THE DEFAULT SIZE FRONT END FILE SYSTEM? Y

DO YOU WANT THE DEFAULT SIZE BOOTSTRAP AREA? Y

[STRUCTURE "PS" SUCCESSFULLY DEFINED]

[PS MOUNTED]
?PS UNIT 0 HAS NO BAT BLOCKS.
DO YOU WANT TO WRITE A SET OF PROTOTYPE BAT BLOCKS? Y

%%NO SETSPD

System restarting, wait...


At this point, the simulator just sits there for hours, never giving the 
date/time question the installation guide says I should get next.  It does
seem that the install process has at least initialized the disk image, and if
I reboot and tell it to skip all of those filesystem initialization steps,
it blasts right to the %%NO SETSPD and "System restarting" steps, whereupon
it hangs again.

I'm running simh off of today's current git master branch.  I have compiled
it both on FreeBSD and on Ubuntu 16.04 with identical results (so I am not
assuming it's just a FreeBSD incompatibility issue).


I see plenty of old references to running TOPS-20 4.1 on SIMH, and no 
such references to this apparent hanging of the simulator at a very 
early stage in installation.  Has anybody got this running?  Am I missing
something blindingly obvious somewhere?
-- 
Tom Russo    KM5VY
Tijeras, NM  

 echo "prpv_a'rfg_cnf_har_cvcr" | sed -e 's/_/ /g' | tr [a-m][n-z] [n-z][a-m]