21 Nov
2012
21 Nov
'12
11:09 a.m.
From: B. Degnan
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 6:26 PM
[quoting Rob Doyle]
> I've downloaded several ks10 instruction set
diagnostics in .SAV file
> format from trailing-edge.com.
> In a 36-bit world, I think I understand the .SAV
file format. I
> can't figure out the format that I've retrieved.
> I've even tried loading the .SAV files that
I've retrieved into SIMH
> but SIMH complains about a "Format Error".
> Any clues? Did I mung the files copying them
from the website?
The .SV file format from OS/8 (PDP 8's OS) is kind
of like .SAV...
Maybe someone renamed the file extension for some reason?
Bill,
Rob was downloading the individual binary files which Tim Shoppa had
scraped off of PDP-10 tapes on the http://pdp-10.trailing-edge.com/
web site. As Tim explained in his reply to Rob, he did not create these
files in a way that would allow them to be transferred safely (via an
8-bit interface) between PDP-10 systems, which is why they end up with
an incorrect format when anyone attempts to use them directly in a PDP-10
simulator.
As Tim pointed out, the *right* way to use any of the binaries (the text
files are just fine via HTTP) is to download the unadulterated tape
image associated with each list of files, and use PDP-10 native tools
(BACKUP on Tops-10, DUMPER on TOPS-20) to restore the files to a disk
image and *then* use them.
(As an old contributor to as well as long time user of Tim's site, I
feel justified in pointing this out.)
Rich Alderson
Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer
Vulcan, Inc.
505 5th Avenue S, Suite 900
Seattle, WA 98104
mailto:RichA at vulcan.com
mailto:RichA at LivingComputerMuseum.org
http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/