22 Jul
2020
22 Jul
'20
4:09 p.m.
If written on a Series 64, 68 or 70, or on the Series 37 or it's successors,
the first file on a SYSDUMP (Backup) tape may include the Microcode from the
WCS (Writeable Control Store). Please collect such files if you have tapes
available that you can read.
Note that the first file includes a concatenation of system objects,
ending with
(optionally) the directory so that may leak data that should remain private.
It's possible that the distribution tape for MPE V Release 3P G.40 that the
HP Computer Museum has http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?sw=442 might
also include the WCS data. The bootable disc image for the Series 37 and
it's
successors will. The Museum website doesn't mention media for their 68.
Thanks as always to Al Kossow for his BitSavers work.
30140-90045_Series_64_68_70_Microcode_Manual_Oct86.pdf
has a 543 page listing of the microcode assembly output, which should
wait for
better OCR software.
SYSDUMP Format
? |-------------------------| <--- ENTRY POINT #1 (ROM BASED
? |????? CHECKSUM?????????? | 0??? MACHINES)
? |? AMIGO CHANNEL PROGRAM? |
--|??? WCS TABLE PRT??????? | 95
| |-------------------------| 127
| |--???????????????????? --|
| |--?? AMIGO???????????? --|
| |-------------------------|
->|???? WCS TABLE?????????? |
| |-------------------------|
...
G.01.00
16- 10
32033-90010_MPE_V-E_Tables_G.00.00_Sep84.pdf? 16-7? pg 127 in PDF
32033-90040_MPE_V-E_Tables_G.01.00_Jan85.pdf? 16-10 pg 133 in PDF
32033-91047_MPE_V_Tables_Manual_Oct1991.pdf?? 16-10 pg 146 in PDF
Descriptions of the WCS Table Format are in 16-13 to 16-15 of the 1991
edition
Different formats for the Series 6x/70 and the Series 37, 37XP and 37 Micro
#Capture of Co-Cam's Series 52 final full backup (SYSDUMP @. at .@) in Feb
1995.
(So no WCS table entry)
# 0 is the first file on the tape, the start of which is documented above
$ od -Ad --endian=big -tx2 0 | head - 40
0000000 e0e0 0000 0009 0813 0909 0301 0003 0000
0000016 0400 0e41 0180 0002 0501 0000 0000 fff5
0000032 0401 0001 0000 0400 0e43 0200 0000 0501
0000048 0000 0000 ffea 0300 007e 0440 8000 0200
0000064 0000 0002 0000 fff1 0407 0001 0000 4400
0000080 0e43 0302 0002 0000 0400 0e40 0200 0000
0000096 0501 0000 f38d ffd1 0000 0000 0000 0000
0000112 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
*
0000176 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0001
0000192 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
*
0000256 0000 0000 0009 0813 0909 0301 0003 0000
0000272 0400 0201 0180 0002 0401 002e 0001 8800
0000288 0204 0f07 0000 0200 0000 0501 0000 0000
0000304 ffec 0000 fff1 0401 0001 0000 0400 0203
0000320 0200 0000 0501 0000 0000 ffdf 0300 0100
0000336 0440 8000 0e40 0000 0002 0000 fff1 0407
0000352 0001 0000 4400 0203 0302 0002 0000 0400
0000368 0200 0200 0000 0501 0000 0c02 ffc6 0000
0000384 0000 002d 0000 0000 0000 002d 0000 0000
*
0000416 000a 0000 f000 000c 000b 0016 f000 0017
0000432 000b 000b f000 0022 000b 0000 f000 0000
0000448 0000 002d 0000 0000 0000 002d 0000 0000
*
0000624 0000 002d 0000 0000 0000 002d 0000 3238
0000640 3333 4120 2020 0000 1820 0000 1000 15d8
0000656 2eb4 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
0000672 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
...
$ head -20 blks/0.blks # tape block sizes in bytes
256
126
256 * 2
8192 * 6
256
8192 * 2
256
126
256
8192 * 10
256
8192 * 10
256
8192 * 10
256
96
2910
80
24
$ ls -lh 0
-r-xr-xr-x 1 rdb rdb 3.5M Dec 12? 2006 0