On Feb 16, 2019, at 9:10 AM, Lyle Bickley via
cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
 Bill,
 On Sat, 16 Feb 2019 13:55:10 +0000
 Bill Gunshannon via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
  So, I used SIMH to do an install of a complete OS
on
 an RA81 disk.  I would like to  move this to a real disk
 and try it on a real PDP-11.  Is there a way to do this
 using dd on a BSD machine?  I tried but it created a
 non bootable system.  Well, actually, it starts to boot
 but then fails very early in the startup process.  I used
 "dd if=filename of=raw-device bs=1024".  Could it be that
 the block size needs to be something else?
 I know that VTServer and PDPGUI can move disk images but
 it would take a week at 9600 baud and I think very little
 likelihood of it ever completing successfully.
 bill 
 In order to do this easily, I have SCSI controllers (and disks) on my
 two primary PDP-11 systems (11/34 and 11/83).
 1. I copy the image file I want on a "native" drive using a PC w/SCSI
 and Linux to a SCSI disk (or removable media) using "dd".
 2. I move that drive/media to the SCSI "chain" on a PDP-11.
 3. I use RT-11 to move the image from the SCSI drive/media to the
 "native" HDD.
 Its a bit cumbersome, but I used this method for years and it hasn't
 failed me yet ;) 
 Like Lyle I have SCSI controllers on my PDP-11/73, and my PDP-11/44.  I?ve actually
installed RT-11 and RSX-11M+ from CD-R.  There is another option, and I?ve used this with
RL01?s and RL02?s.  With those, I?ve used a MicroVAX II or MicroVAX 3 and VAX/VMS.  I used
to have a  dedicated MicroVAX 3 setup with RA73 drives for this.  I still have the
hardware, but it hasn?t been used since 2000.  If you have a way to hook the RA81 up to a
VAX, I think that would be an option as well.