Ooh, I like the BA11VA chassis, it's quite "cute" in it's compactness.
Though, I'm more partial to the VT-103 -- which I'm still trying to
get from the person who I know has one -- mostly becuase it's a QBUS
'11 in a VT-100 with real TU58 mounted under the CRT (or at least it
was an option to have the TU58, I think; I'm not sure, I have to go
check the BitSavers documentation again).
My 11/23 is currently in a PDP-11/03L chassis (9-slot, quad-width,
Q18/CD backplane). Interms of cards in it the system, I have an 11/23
CPU (with MMU, no FPP, or CIS), 256KB RAM made by a tird-party, DLVJ-1
quad-SLU, RQDX3, M9058 distributor board for the RQDX3 and the
BDV11-YA 18-bit bootstrap/diagnotics/terminator board.
It's currently hooked up to my spare PC, which provides both the
terminal, and TU58 emulation to the system. I currently have the
system booting RT-11FB; I'd rather boot RT-11XM, but I'm having
difficulty modifying the DDX.SYS driver.
Right now I'm looking for disks and diskettes for my system... as well
as generally improving the system. (I'd like to go to Q22 serpentine,
and an 11/73 with enough RAM and disk to run 2.11 BSD; but that might
be slightly difficult given my lack of money, and in-)ability to go
and get anything.)
Your luggable 11/23 sounds pretty neat. Do you have any photos of it?
Cheers to you,
-- Christian
On 22 May 2011 18:19, allison <ajp166 at verizon.net> wrote:
On 05/22/2011 04:50 PM, Christian Gauger-Cosgrove
wrote:
Is VTSERVER a TU58 emulator? I've never actually personally used it.
But yes, an RT-11 build for the TU58 uses the DD.SYS driver. Though,
building it for an oversize TU58 image is the same, just with the
modified driver replacing the "plain, vanilla" DD.SYS. (You can get
the modified driver onto a disk image on your PC via PUTR. You can
even skip using an emulator altogether and just build images in PUTR.)
I've used PDP-11 sims for a while, mostly because I've only *JUST* got
my hands on a real PDP-11 (11/23 w/256KB RAM, DLVJ-1, and RQDX3);
though I'm relying on the oversized TU58 images as my disk media as I
have no real disks unfortunately. (So the RL02 sized TU58 images,
though slightly slow, provide me an actual usable RT-11 environment
(I've DECUS C and the RT-11 BASIC on my system "tape" while the second
TU58 is my data "tape").) I'm also negotiating for a VT-103 as well.
My collection includes a few real TU58s working. ?My fun 11 that is the most
portable one is:
BA11VA
11/23
512K ram
DLV11J
MRV21 (holds a boot for tu58)
I run RT11XM on it and the first boot cycle load the base image and then
inits
VM: and then copies the system to it and boots VM. ?After that the system is
fairly useful as most mundane tasks do not hit the tape. ?It ends up with
about
half of the 512K as virtual disk and XM running in the other half. ?I do
this ?on
the larger systems running RX02 or RX50 with 2mb ram installed and that
really
is nicer.
FYI: for those that have Qbus 11s disks are possible, you need a RQDX1/2/3,
cables
and the module from the BA123 (or BA23) to break the 50wide cable to MFM
hard
disk AND 34pin floppy (RX50, RX33). ?If you can't find a RX50 or RX33 then
hunt
down anything 5.25" 80track that can be jumpered to work like a TEAC
FD55GFR.
the preferred distribution board is the one out of the BA123 as it supports
more
of a given media and different possible media. ?the bridge baord requires
power
but if need be it can be hand wired if the backplane lacks room.
Generally RQDX controllers are easy to find but most people bemoan the lack
of
MFM hard disks. ?But for a floppy only system it can be setup for two RX50
or
two RX33s or two RX23s. ?RT11 supports MSCP controllers of all versions.
The preferred controller is the later versions of RQDX3 as the late firmware
will also
run 3.5" 800k (RX23/22) which uses bacially PC compatable 3.5" media and it
also
supports the RX33 drive at both 400K side and 1.6MB side. ?Even without the
late
firmware Most dial denity 3.5" drives are supportable at the lower density
of 400K
single sided (same as RX50). ?For that you that do this will have to use a
PC to
format media or a mVAX2000 or for those that have it X11 diagnostics.
I've taken a 11/23 (m8186), ?4 M8059 (1MB of ram total), MRV21 rom card,
DRV11J M8043, RQDX3/distribution into a 12 slot dual wide cage and with
a DEC BA11 supply (RTC, ?Bevent-L, and reset support via standard 3 switch
panel) into a finished plywood box with two RX33s as a lugable and useful
system. The terminal is laptop with minicom or a real VT320 ?It's light and
runs RTXM nicely.
Before any one gets upset with that apparent abomination it's built with
excess spares for the other six Qbus 11s from LSI11 through 11/73. ?No
Qbus 11s were executed to build it. ?Of all my Qbus-11s it's the handiest
as by PDP11 standards its very portable.
Allison
On 22 May 2011 09:06, allison<ajp166 at verizon.net> ?wrote:
>
> On 05/21/2011 06:57 PM, Chris Elmquist wrote:
>>
>> On Saturday (05/21/2011 at 03:18PM -0400), Christian Gauger-Cosgrove
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Yes, it was a typo, thanks for pointing out the obviousness (and my
>>> forgetting to manually proofread that part of the message).
>>
>> I just didn't want someone not as familiar with the OS to struggle with
>> a command that would definitely not work as intended.
>>
>>> Still, the point remains, it seems a bit easier then VTSERVER to just
>>> do it via a TU58 emulator, especially if VTSERVER ignores the bad
>>> blocks on the real media.
>>
>> Do you have a recipe for converting various non-TU58 images (such as
>> RL02) to a TU58 image so that it can be put onto the emulator and
>> then transfered to the target system?
>>
>> Many of the images floating around are RL02, RX33, or other kinds of
>> rotating media/disk images and not tape images. ?What is the right
>> way to turn them into tape images for such an emulator?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Chris
>>
> Simple with an emulator running said disk images you have the tools
> and source files to build a tape image.
>
> NOTE: Vtserver aka tu58 emulator was simply a block addressable device on
> the end of a serial line that did everything a disk could do.. just
> slower.
> That is very important as all other tapes are used and handled very
> different from TU58.
>
> So with that a Rt11 build for TU58 is exactly the same as RL02 or RX02
> save for the DD driver is used instead.
>
> I've never spent much time on sims for PDP11s as I have the real thing
> and many of them.
>
>
>
> Allison
>
>
>
>