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<div class=Section1><pre><font size=2 face="Courier New"><span lang=EN-CA
style='font-size:10.0pt'>>><i><span style='font-style:italic'> How can I attach a tape virtual file to the TQ0 simulated device in simh <o:p></o:p></span></i></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt'>>><i><span
style='font-style:italic'> without stopping simulation with CTRL-E ?<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt'>>You can't, but you do have 20 seconds to do it before the system(s) will <o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt'>>crash with a CLUEXIT bugcheck. When I was doing some experiments, I was <o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt'>>able to unload and load tapes in the SIMH console within the 20 second <o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt'>>period.<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt'>>You can also change the SYSGEN parameter RECNXINTERVAL to have a larger <o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>timeout.<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></pre><pre><font
size=2 face="Courier New"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>>--Marc<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Marc, you are great!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>I knew i had a bit of time to do the job before the
crash happens. This 20s time frame is about the<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>same also about disks that are being
attached/detached in SIMH while stopping simh. The major drawback is that it
implies<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>a human has to mount the tape file, and that human
has a limited amount of time before the crash will happen.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>In the place where I work, where we still have
computer operators, I would prefer an automated attach<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>process… <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>I will try the solution of modifying RECNXINTERVAL anyway
to increase it’s time. Thanks for your suggestion.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>I am also inclined of checking if I can get simh by
changing source code to automatically always<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>attach itself to a given file name, but when it
detaches itself, to make it rename the virtual tape file,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>so the tape file does not get overwritten.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>In pseudo-code, this would be my idea:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Let’s say tape.tap is the virtual tape file. And
let’s create a simh variable say sim_auto_attach wich could<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>be TRUE (tape will always have a virtual file in it)
or FALSE (actual behaviour).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>In sim_detach(),<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Run function as usual, detach tape metafile from tape
device.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>If simh parameter sim_auto_attach == TRUE, then <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Rename tape.tap to tape#.tap where # is a unique
number (date and time?)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>call sim_attach() with the tape.tap file as the
target file argument.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Return()<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>It could also be possible to create a parameter with
the auto-attach file name, instead of the tape.tap constant.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>A little auto-critic on my above solution is that
this is good for WRITING backup savesets to the tape.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>It is not usable for restoring. Another virtual tape
drive has to stay manually controllable to attach/detach<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>the virtual tape file. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Brian Knittel also makes a very interesting solution,
to have at long time intervals (ie .1sec) the simh check<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>for the existence of a command file that contains
commands to attach/detach files. This command file could be written<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>With the same syntax as vax.ini for example, and it
contents be executed by the do_cmd() function from simh.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>This would be a great solution to my RESTORATION
process, when one would need to have a tape attached<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>for reading purposes. Brian’s solution is more
universally applicable, but might need more human interventions,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>than the auto_attach modification.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Thanks again, Marc and Brian, I value your inputs
very much!<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Best regards,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:PersonName ProductID="Francois Boucher" w:st="on"><font
size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Francois
Boucher</span></font></st1:PersonName><font size=2 face=Arial><span
lang=EN-CA style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> ing.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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