19 Feb
2022
19 Feb
'22
9:06 a.m.
Speaking of which, what does the console rom "DO"? Is it like the
interactive boot from a pdp11/23+ or better where you can type in the
device name, run little memory diagnostics and such?
I recall that with the real boot chips on a unibus 11/34 you could just
jump to the location of the ROM and the CPU would start right up
unprompted.
C
On 2/19/2022 3:29 AM, Bill Degnan via cctalk wrote:
You need some way to initialize the system to the
peripheral that contains
the.OS media. The m9312 is a general purpose co ntroller for that
purpose. There are roms that install on the 9312 for almost any drive
hardware. When you get a system that comes with an M9312, it will have the
appropriate peripheral Rom and console ROM installed from the factory. The
M9312 also had a console ROM monitor to allow a person to attach a terminal
to enter bootstrap commands.
But yes the *function* provided by the m9312 is necessary.
Alternatively you can key in the bootstrap that tells your system how to
boot your OS and communicate with your boot device.
The m9312 is less useful without at least a console ROM
Where are you located? Maybe someone nearby has in you could borrow just
to see what you need.
Bill.
On Sat, Feb 19, 2022, 2:12 AM Rob Jarratt via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:
> I have a PDP-11/24. I have never got very far with it because of power
> supply problems which I am hopeful will be resolved soon. Looking at the
> technical manual, it describes an M9312 bootstrap/terminator module. The
> machine did not come with one of these.
>
>
>
> I am not sure how the machine could have been useful without it. It did
> work
> briefly before the PSU failed and I remember getting a console prompt. So,
> is the M9312 essential to ever get this machine to boot up an operating
> system?
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
> Rob
>
>