Hello, all,
I've been working for about the past three weeks on getting the PDP
11/34a
up and running under RSTS/E.
As a recap, the machine has 2 RX02 floppy drives, 1 RL01 drive, and 2
RK05j drives, 256Kb of
parity RAM, programmer's panel, DZ11 8-port serial mux, console serial
w/line clock, and EAE.
There were lots of fits and starts on getting all of the peripherals
working. Most of
the problems were due to my ignorance of the characteristics of the
UNIBUS. After getting
some tutorials from a number of folks on and off the list, I learned the
magic of
grant continuity and NPG jumpers.
In conjunction with lots of time with simh, and the wonderful program
vtserver, I now have
RSTS/E V7 running successfully on the machine. Right now it's only got
a single terminal,
as I have to remove an NPG jumper to install the DZ11, but the system is
SYSGENed to
recognize the DZ11 when it is installed. Learning the ins and out of
SYSGEN was
quite an experience, but in retrospect, it's an amazingly robust and
(once the concepts are
understood) relatively straightforward process.
As many indicated would occur, it's a little slow, but very usable. The
main reason for the
slowness is that I have to add extra swap on the RK05's, which aren't
the fastest drives in the world. The rack really shakes when running a
big program as the RK05's thrash.
Unfortunately, I don't have any RSTS documentation other than the HELP
system, and a few
tidbits that I've found on the web. Someone needs to scan at least the
BASIC PLUS manual
and put it up on the Web for reference.
A few questions for the knowledgable out there:
1) Are RX floppy devices not file-structured devices under RSTS? I've
tried using the standalone
utility DSKINIT program to format one, and it won't regognize DX0:. The
DX0: device shows up in the HARDWARE list. I can write a BASIC-PLUS
program that opens DX0: and can write data out to it,
but it just acts like one 'file', not a file-structured device. Is
there any way to make the floppy drives under RSTS 7 file-structured
devices?
2) I see references to BASIC-PLUS-2? What are the differences between
BASIC-PLUS and
BASIC-PLUS-2? I don't have any bits for BASIC-PLUS-2, but am curious
about it.
3) Does anyone know if there was a FOCAL run-time system ever built for
RSTS/E?
4) Can I take RT-11 (V4 or V5.3) .SAV programs and use them under the
RT-11 runtime system under RSTS/E? an MACRO be used to assemble/link
programs written for RT-11 to run in the RT11 runtime
systme under RSTS/E? I suspect not, but am not sure.
5) Is there a version of KERMIT for RSTS/E V7? Anyone know where I can
get it?
6) My 11/34a doesn't have the floating point hardware option. I had to
SYSGEN RSTS with
software-based 16-bit floating point. This certainly slows things down.
However, I've heard
that the FP11 significantly slows with the overall operation of the
11/34a. Would it be worthwhile for me to find and install an FP11, or
not?
7) I have a 16-port backpanel for the DZ11. It takes two ribbon cables,
one cable for each
of two DZ11's that can connect up to it. I've got the right ribbon
cable for connecting the
one DZ11 that I have up to the backpanel to get 8 RS-232 ports. Anyone
know the pinout for
the DB-25 EIA connectors on the backpanel? I can probably figure it out
with a breakout box,
but it someone has it, all the easier. I'm hoping to hook the 8 ports
up to a Xylogics Annex
terminal server, and be able to TELNET to it. That way I can play with
the machine (which is out in the shop) from my office in the house.
This has been a great adventure, and a lot of fun. Thanks to the CC'ers
who've helped
me out along the way!
Best to all,
Rick Bensene
http://oldcalculatormuseum.com
Received on Sun May 18 2003 - 13:10:01 BST