> >> There's a binary V6 system in the PUPS Unix archives that will run on a 11/23
> >> with 64K and attached RL02 drives. I rescued it from a pile at a UBC SERF sale
> >> about 4 years ago.
> >>
> >> Note that the "Standard" V6 system doesn't support RL02's; the exact
> >> lineage of this find hasn't been completely researched yet - and it may
> >> never be, as the sources haven't been found.
>
> >I might be able to help you a little bit on this. In the late 1970s
> >and early 1980s a number of Canadian universities built V6 systems
> >for PDP 11/23 based systems. These systems were relatively cheap
> >and were great for teaching and some research. At the University of
> >Toronto we build at least three systems for the undergraduate
> >database course, and when I moved to McMaster University I built two
> >for project courses. With some modifications to the kernel an 11/23
> >could support 6 or 7 students working on programming projects.
> >
> >I suspect the UBC system that you picked up served a similar purpose.
>
> Any idea who might have a copy of the modifications to the V6 source to
> support RL02's? It'd be wonderful to put that into the PUPS archive.
I might still have the source for the drivers. I'm in the process
of moving to a new office, and all my stuff is packed in boxes
so it might be difficult to find, if I still have it. At one point
I had a 9 track tape with a V6 file system that should have the souce
for the drivers. I also had it online here at one point, and it
still might be around somewhere.
The brief history of my version is that it started as a RL01
driver at the University of Toronto. I modified it to support
RL02 drives, overlapped seeks, and a better scheduling algorithm
for seeks. The modification for RL02 drives was fairly easy, I
just needed to change a few statements, the other modifications
were a bit more complex.
>
> This particular V6 system is indeed a very nice environment for someone
> with a "small" 11/23 and RL02 drives.
>
> That particular 11/23 system from UBC was used in the biology department,
> judging by the non-system files found on the "user" disk.
>
The base system may have started out at UBC's CS department, or it
may have come from Zoology at UofT. Henry Spencer would definitely
know about the V6 mods we made at UofT (he may even have been
involved, but my memory isn't that good anymore).
--
Dr. Mark Green mark_at_cs.ualberta.ca
McCalla Professor (780) 492-4584
Department of Computing Science (780) 492-1071 (FAX)
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2H1, Canada
Received on Wed Aug 09 2000 - 11:50:55 BST