Anyone Care About RT-11

From: Jerome H. Fine <jhfinepw4z_at_compsys.to>
Date: Wed May 29 21:34:09 2002

In regard to the Freeware CDs:

Due to other priorities, I have not yet been able to finish
the verification tasks that I feel are needed to ensure that
I am producing correct images. However, eventually
I will be making some copies of the CD images from:
ftp://ftp.trailing-edge.com/pub/cd-images/
http://www.classiccmp.org/PDP-11/
http://www.classiccmp.org/PDP-11/RT-11/
http://www.classiccmp.org/PDP-11/RSX-11/
that I have downloaded and wish to offload from my hard
disk drive. I have verified each of the 2 RSX-11 and the
1 RT-11 images against the MD5 values in the file MD5SUMS
and they are the same. In addition, after I copy the image
on my hard drive to the CD, I will verify them against their
respective images in their hard drive files. To do so, I
will be using RT-11 and BINCOM (with some of my own
modifications which allows me to also verify block 65535
at the end of each RT-11 partition). Since there are a
maximum of 20 RT-11 partitions on each CD and each
BINCOM run takes me less than 30 seconds, the whole
comparison can be done in less than 10 minutes - which
will probably be about the length of time it takes to make
the CD copy in the first place.

Since there might be a number of individuals who can't
download at a reasonable speed (even with DSL it takes
about 3 hours each at about 30 KBytes per second as
compared with about 3 KBytes per second on a dial up line),
I am prepared to make additional copies (Tim Shoppa
no longer seems to have the time to do so) and make
them available at my cost of about $ US 4.00 (for media,
label, envelope and shipping carton - the media portion
is less than a third of that total) plus postage which seems
to be about $ US 1.00 to the US. A second CD will
probably be about another $ US 3.00 if requested while
all three should be about $ US 10.00 for the set. I have
yet to verify these prices to be sure that they cover my
costs, but I am 99% sure they should be adequate.

Note that the images at Tim's site are ".bz2" files while
the images at classiccmp are ".gz" images. For myself
(Windows 98 and Netscape 4.78) DOES NOT WORK,
but Carlos Murillo sent me a Windows 98 version of
wget which does work, I suppose on any file.

By the way, I tried to hold the SHIFT key down while
I was clicking my way through the download procedures
of the ".gz" files under Netscape and that did not help.

Note that the images at the classiccmp site are ".gz" files,
so they are slightly larger. Since I did my original download
from the full size images, I did not have a problem with
expanding - I used WinZip under Windows 98.

If you need help and are running Windows 98 or a
compatible OS, I can send you copies of both "bzip2.exe"
and "MD5.exe", but not for others OSs. For other OSs
(and Windows 98) for bzip2 programs, see:
http://sources.redhat.com/bzip2/
and click on either:
PC, Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP
PC, Windows 95/98/NT/2000.
for bzip2.exe - I was advised to use the second older
version and did - it worked fine under Windows 98.

For MD5 programs, see either:
ftp://ftp.cerias.purdue.edu/pub/tools/unix/crypto/md5/
http://www.fourmilab.ch/md5/
I obtained my MD5 programs at the first site, but it no
longer seems active. Hopefully, it will be back soon.

By the way, for myself, I would VERY much appreciate
being in touch with all individuals who have a copy of the
RT-11 Freeware CD V2.0 so that we might exchange
information about RT-11. Tim Shoppa felt that he might
be violating privacy concerns if he made the names, of those
who ordered the CD, available. I don't see it that way, so
if you want your name to be known along with the other
individuals (or not as the case may be - i.e. restrict that
you have a copy of the RT-11 CD to ONLY specified
individuals such as possibly just myself) so that you can
receive interesting information about new developments
in RT-11 and the status of the operating system, then
PLEASE contact me so that we can share information.
Also state if you want to be known to the entire group
of just to specified individuals such as myself.

PLUS, as for TSX-PLUS, I am going to try again to knock
at the door of S&H to see what they may consider for
hobby users.

Some of you have already expressed an interest in the CDs.
I hope that I have sent a personal copy of this post. If
I somehow missed you, please send me your request again.

For those users who receive a personal copy of this e-mail,
you are already on my list. I will send you a mailing address
when I am ready to burn the CDs. Please reply if you are
still interested.

Sincerely yours,

Jerome Fine
--
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Received on Wed May 29 2002 - 21:34:09 BST

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