20 Dec
2006
20 Dec
'06
8:49 a.m.
Rick wrote....
Z999 was also an interesting account --- it was the
"system overhead"
account.
I'm not so sure about this (and I have the source). There are no
"default"
accounts present when a 2000/Access system is loaded. There isn't even an
A000 account. All accounts must be manually created and none are supplied on
initial distribution tapes. There were general conventions put forth like
some accounts were not to be created because they were reserved for HP
products, but that wasn't coded into the OS anywhere that I am aware of. I
have never heard of a "system overhead" account. If there is, I've certainly
learned something new. I will go back and dig for confirmation on this. Off
the top of my head, I think the Z999 account was reserved for containing the
text files of the source of the operating system (if you had purchased the
source), or maybe for the BASIC system diagnostics (initial system
confidence test). Of course, I'm much more familiar with 2000/Access than
2000F, so perhaps this is something that only existed on F and no others. I
dunno. Wierd.
In TSB, data files had to be pre-allocated to a given
size, and all of
the blocks were "claimed" as part of the creation process. For example,
doing a "CRE-FILE,10000" would create a 10,000 block file.
Generally
true, but that depends on the file type ;)
Normal user accounts were limited to perhaps 100 to
200 blocks of storage.
"Normal" user accounts were limited to whatever the
system administrator
typed in as the account block limit when creating the account in question.
It could be anything. The limit you could specify for each account had a
maximum of 65535 blocks. You could not issue a CRE command for a file larger
than that as a result.
I sure loved these systems.
Me too :)
I'm really happy that Jay has managed to find the
various special bits (microcode and mux hardware) that makes it possible
to have an operational HP Timeshared BASIC system running as "the real
thing".
You can pretty much forget trying to get up 2000A or 2000B. They
required
fixed head disks which just aren't to be found.
For 2000E, you need just one cpu, paper tape reader, and 7900 disc drive.
Neither firmware nor mag tape required. Need that 12920/21 mux though.
For 2000/Access, you need two cpus, 7900/7905/7906/7920 drive, 7970 tape,
firmware, and 12920/21 mux. If your cpus are 2100's, then you also must have
a paper tape reader.
The IOP firmware has been located for 2100, 21MX/M, and 21MX/E. These can be
copied, so that isn't the huge deal it used to be. The 12920 muxes are still
hard to find, the 7900's are somewhat hard to find. The rest is fairly
easily obtainable these days.
Jay