resurrecting a PDP-11/10

From: pavl <pzachary_at_sasquatch.com>
Date: Tue Feb 25 20:30:01 2003

Ethan Dicks wrote:
>
> --- pavl <pzachary_at_sasquatch.com> wrote:
> > I would strongly recommend using TU58.exe on a host pc to emulate a
> > serial tape drive on your second serial port (you DO have a second slu?)
>
> On a machine that old? Unlikely. Machines of the era before the DZ-11,
> and especially machines that were not destined for timesharing, tended
> to have few serial ports, - a console and probably nothing else. It was
> a boon that a low-end Qbus machine commonly came with a DLV11J with a
> port for the console, a port for a TU58 and two more ports for DECwriters
> or machine-to-machine communication or whatever.

the later console/SLU is common and adds a handy clock, but an awful lot
of the machines I've met had two, or in one recent case I saw a
11/45(very early) with about six... even my pdp-8/L has addidional
serial ports.
>
> It's easy enough to _add_ a second SLU card, (DL-11something), _if_
> you have one lying around (which I expect he doesn't).
>
> > to boot RT11 off virtual tape so you can poke around and build a system
> > from there.
>
> As a place to put RT-11, a virtual TU58 isn't a bad idea. Hopefully
> wharever emulator you have can emulate both units - the TU58 is kinda
> small, even compared with 8" floppies.
>
> > VTserver is really amazingly great, but you may not have enough ram and
> > booting RT or XXDP from a slu will give you better diagnostics to assess
> > your RK05,etc
>
> How much RAM does VTserver require? Older versions of RT-11 (those
> contemporary with the 11/10) are usable at aroun 8KW, IIRC. Of course
> the full 28KW is nice, especially if you want to run large apps like
> ADVENT, but the CUSPS should all run with minimal RAM.
>
> -ethan
ISTR vtserver wants something 30kw?
the problem here is finding RT11 (see mentec,licence,endless moral
posts), esp. one that is old and small, even then, old RT11 has some
problems so you don't want to if you don't have a good reason (I'd love
to have something that would run on my 8KW 11/20) so V5 wants 16KW just
to say hi, V4 is only slightly smaller.

Pavl_
Received on Tue Feb 25 2003 - 20:30:01 GMT