Ultrix on an 11/730?

From: Michael Sokolov <msokolov_at_ivan.Harhan.ORG>
Date: Thu Jan 29 13:13:44 2004

Brad Parker <brad_at_heeltoe.com> wrote:

> Excellent. I didn't realize that. I think I got confused looking at
> NetBSD (which says it won't boot on a 730).

Please don't confuse BSD and NetBSD. It may help to realise that "net" is
Russian for "no", so NetBSD really means "not BSD". I strongly encourage you to
run 4.3BSD on your VAX. A Classic Computer should run a Classic OS!

> It looks like it has an RL02, an "R80" and some sort
> of 9-track. It's two racks wide. We'll see :-)

Standard 730 config. But the good part is that you have a tape drive, that's
the most important and most often overlooked part.

> I understand there were microcode issues on the 730 which made booting
> painful.

Yup.

> I didn't realize there was a "fix" to the microcode.

Yes, I'm pretty sure it was fixed, although since I have never actually had a
730 in my hacky hands I have never been able to see and verify it for myself.
Ultrix V2.00 source contains the following comment (in /sys/stand/Makefile):

 # 9 Dec 83 --jmcg
 # Deleted special references to old 730 bug. There is no longer a
 # distinction between versions for 780, 750, and 730. Distribution
 # media, however, contain `boot_justask' as `boot' to avoid attempts
 # to boot prematurely.

This comment makes me fairly assured that this bug was indeed fixed, and from
the comment date apparently quite early.

I have a copy of VAX-11/730 console and microcode cassette with microcode
version 58, which almost certainly has this bug fixed. Unfortunately it is not
a virgin copy but a mutilated one. It was copied under Vampirist Mediocre
System (VMS) which did not do a true block-for-block copy like UNIX dd, but
parsed the original RT-11 filesystem and copied only the files, constructing a
new RT-11 filesystem on the copy, so the files are not necessarily in their
original locations, the dates on the files are wrong (the date of VMS copying,
not the original date), etc. Since this cassette image is mutilated, it is not
on my FTP site, but I can send it to you if you need it. I am still looking for
a virgin block-for-block 730 TU58 image.

MS
Received on Thu Jan 29 2004 - 13:13:44 GMT