<div dir="ltr">Thank you, Dell, and Sandy Strain, both of your responses were EXTREMELY helpful to me, and these all worked!<div><br></div><div><div>Do either of you have any additional thoughts about how I could make what I believe to be a bootable file (extracted from a Microtech/Point4 QIC tape) into a bootable device for the Nova?<br></div></div><div><br></div><div>I'll start with the Minicom Disk To Tape Utility:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://microtechm1.blogspot.com/2015/09/minicom-disk-to-tape-copy-utility.html">http://microtechm1.blogspot.com/2015/09/minicom-disk-to-tape-copy-utility.html</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>I've attached a .zip of the binary file that I extracted from this tape for reference. It's very small, so I zipped it up only so that the emailing process didn't interfere with or reject it.</div><div><br></div><div>Thanks, all!</div><div><br></div><div>-AJ</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Nov 14, 2015 at 7:23 AM, Dell Setzer <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dsetzer@panix.com" target="_blank">dsetzer@panix.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">It's actually pretty easy. After booting RDOS, press ^E to return to the sim> prompt. Then, attach a host file to the MTA0 unit. If you give a host filename that doesn't yet exist, SIMH will create an empty tape file and attach it to MTA0:<br>
<br>
sim> attach mta0 testtape.tap<br>
MTA: creating new file<br>
sim><br>
<br>
Then, give the simh G command to return to RDOS and init/f the MT0 tape unit. Note that at the sim> prompt, the unit is called "MTA0" (or MTA1, MTA2, etc), while in RDOS the unit is called "MT0" (or MT1, MT2, etc):<br>
<br>
sim> g<br>
<presss return to get the RDOS prompt again><br>
R<br>
init/f mt0<br>
CONFIRM? <press Y to confirm><br>
R<br>
<br>
Now you can dump or copy files to the MT0 device:<br>
dump/v mt0:0 -.sr<br>
<a href="http://LITMACS.SR" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">LITMACS.SR</a><br>
<a href="http://OSID.SR" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">OSID.SR</a><br>
<a href="http://NSID.SR" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">NSID.SR</a><br>
<a href="http://PARS.SR" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">PARS.SR</a><br>
<a href="http://ALMSPD.SR" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">ALMSPD.SR</a><br>
<etc.><br>
R<br>
dump/v mt0:1 -.sv<br>
<a href="http://BURST.SV" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">BURST.SV</a><br>
<a href="http://INITIALIZE.SV" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">INITIALIZE.SV</a><br>
<a href="http://SEDIT.SV" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">SEDIT.SV</a><br>
<a href="http://MACXR.SV" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">MACXR.SV</a><br>
<a href="http://EDIT.SV" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">EDIT.SV</a><br>
<etc.><br>
R<br>
release mt0<br>
R<br>
<br>
After releaseing the tape, press ^E again to get to the sim> prompt and detach the tape file:<br>
^E<br>
sim> detach mta0<br>
sim><br>
Now you can inspect the testtape.tap tape image.<br>
<br>
Attaching an existing tape file is similar, except that at the RDOS prompt you'd do INIT rather than INIT/F:<br>
<br>
sim> attach mta0 testtape.tap<br>
sim> g<br>
R<br>
init mt0<br>
R<br>
load/n mt0:0<br>
<a href="http://LITMACS.SR" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">LITMACS.SR</a> 10/20/83<br>
<a href="http://OSID.SR" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">OSID.SR</a> 01/10/84<br>
<a href="http://NSID.SR" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">NSID.SR</a> 10/20/83<br>
<a href="http://PARS.SR" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">PARS.SR</a> 01/31/85<br>
<etc><br>
R<br>
load/n mt0:1<br>
<a href="http://BURST.SV" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">BURST.SV</a> 05/09/85<br>
<a href="http://INITIALIZE.SV" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">INITIALIZE.SV</a> 05/02/85<br>
<a href="http://SEDIT.SV" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">SEDIT.SV</a> 05/02/85<br>
<etc><br>
R<br>
release mt0<br>
R<br>
<br>
Hope this helps,<br>
...dell<br>
<br>
On Sat, 14 Nov 2015, Microtech Dart wrote:<br>
<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Hi, I am completely new here, although I recognize the names of several who<br>
post here.<br>
<br>
I am trying to resurrect an extinct Microtech machine from 1982, which<br>
likely used the Point 4 processor, and the SimH DG Nova simulator *should*<br>
be compatible with the Point 4.<br>
<br>
I'm running the NOVA simulator now, with:<br>
<br>
NOVA simulator V4.0-0 Beta git commit id: 3be5125d<br>
sim> ATTACH DKP0 *rdos_d31.dsk*<br>
sim> set tti dasher<br>
sim> boot DKP0<br>
<br>
I'm teaching myself RDOS now with the RDOS_Command_Line_Interpreter Manual.<br>
<<a href="http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dg/software/rdos/093-000109-01_RDOS_Command_Line_Interpreter.pdf" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dg/software/rdos/093-000109-01_RDOS_Command_Line_Interpreter.pdf</a>><br>
<br>
Would anybody here be able to suggest some methods by which I could<br>
*create* a magnetic tape device on this SimH Nova simulator, and how I<br>
might write some files to that?<br>
<br>
I think that would be an excellent experiment for me to attempt. Then I<br>
can inspect the binary file in a hex editor, and see what it looks like,<br>
then compare to the binaries I've pulled off my Microtech/Point 4 tapes.<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
<br>
-- <br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
-AJ<br>
<a href="http://MicrotechM1.blogspot.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://MicrotechM1.blogspot.com</a><br>
<br>
</font></span></blockquote>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><br><div>Thanks,</div><div>-AJ</div><div><a href="http://MicrotechM1.blogspot.com" target="_blank">http://MicrotechM1.blogspot.com</a></div></div></div>
</div>