DEC Professional 350

From: Paul Koning <pkoning_at_equallogic.com>
Date: Mon Jun 21 09:24:06 2004

>>>>> "pavl" == pavl <pzachary_at_sasquatch.com> writes:

 pavl> You aught to be able to run any pdp-11 operating system except
 pavl> ATT V7 unix(no supported peripherals), BSD2.11(no I+D), and I
 pavl> don't think mumps will work. I'm pretty sure you can use at
 pavl> least a rd53.

Definitely not.

A PRO has a completely different (and very badly designed) bus, a
completely different set of peripheral controllers, and even a
different (bogus) interrupt system. It takes MAJOR changes to support
those machines.

P/OS is the original PRO OS. It's an RSX11-M derivative. It may be
that regular 11-M runs as well, I don't remember. A sufficiently new
RT-11 definitely works. There are Unices that work on it, some from
DEC, some not (rumor has it that BSD 2.11 works, I haven't tried
that).

RSTS will NOT work unless you get my patches, which exist in fairly
finished form for V9.6 but aren't generally available.

As for the disks, I believe there are two flavors of the hard drive
controller, and the older of the two doesn't support RD53. I can't
remember whether it goes as high as RD52, and the docs I can find
aren't enough help...

       paul

 pavl> Pavl_ On Wednesday 16 June 2004 12:43 am, you wrote:
>> Hello list, I've been recently offered a Pro350 unit, depending on
>> whether I can get past my budget and the wife. :-)
>>
>> Said unit has 256kB RAM and a 10MB disk, presumably a RD51. No
>> operating system. 4 SLU async card. VR201 monochrome monitor. F-11
>> CPU (LSI-11/23).
>>
>> Some questions I have: 1. What OS can I run on this system? (Yes,
>> I've heard the nightmares of the Piece of S* O/S). I was thinking
>> in lines of RT-11...if so possible, then where can I get RT-11 for
>> the Pro350? Is RSX-11 available for the Pro350?
>>
>> 2. Correct me if I'm wrong: Since it's the F-11 CPU, then it'll be
>> limited to 18-bit addressing, therefore maximum RAM supported is
>> 256kB, right?
>>
>> 3. Can I "upgrade" the RD51 with a RD54? Perhaps that depends of
>> the bootROM and O/S support, right?
>>
>> Thanks. /wai-sun
Received on Mon Jun 21 2004 - 09:24:06 BST