PDP-11 Freeware CD's under emulators

From: Jerome Fine <jhfine_at_idirect.com>
Date: Sun Nov 21 21:20:37 1999

>Megan wrote:

> >So for you fellows who are using the Supnik emulator with V5.3 of RT-11
> >on a PC under DOS/W95/W98, you must still rely on PUTR to legally
> >extract the DSKs at the very end of the larger ones which exceed the
> >size of an RL02 as opposed to using the hobby version of E11 with
> >V5.3 of RT-11. Also, if you have a SCSI CD-ROM drive, PUTR
> >will allow access to the last 7 partitions on the CD while you would
> >have to have the "Full" commercial version of E11 to do the same. I
> >will also investigate the use of the "Full" commercial V2.1A of E11
> >to access those partitions using an IDE based CD-ROM drive on a
> >PC and let you know the results.
> If in fact there is as much of a problem as you say (have you tried
> it yet), it certainly shouldn't be much of a problem to edit the RL
> source so that the VARSZ$ .SPFUN returns a larger size. Remember,
> the whole idea behind VARSZ$ was to remove any device-specific size
> dependencies from the RT monitor or utilities. If it reports that
> the disk is a larger size, so be it.
>
> I'd certainly try that (after simply trying it without making the
> change).

Jerome Fine replies:

Hey, that is a great idea. How about: a SET command in the RL02
device driver which can:

"SET DL: SIZE=n"

That way, it becomes very easy. But for the time being, finding the
value "20450" in octal should be easy. Then see if it works after making
the change. Naturally, I would recommend great caution like making
the file READ-ONLY, which it already is on the CD.

In E11, however, it may not work since I suspect that the emulation
is fixed to a specific file size. A smaller file is OK, but the software
to support the emulation does not allow a larger file. What about in
the Supnik emulator?

That is a great work around if the emulator supports it. Thank you Megan!

Of course, even in the hobby emulator, the free hobby V2.1 of E11
now allows a DUn: MSCP MOUNT command. So the hobby version
of E11 can still manage any file up to 65536 blocks (or whatever the
maximum number of blocks around the 65,000 mark is). But the hobby
user who does so would not being doing so in a strictly legal fashion.

Sincerely yours,

Jerome Fine
Received on Sun Nov 21 1999 - 21:20:37 GMT