22 Apr
2011
22 Apr
'11
3:23 p.m.
On hu, 21 Apr 2011 21:33:22 -0700: "Zane H. Healy" <healyzh at
aracnet.com> wrote:
At 9:13 PM -0700 4/21/11, CRC wrote:
E11 has been seriously looked at in the past, but the required additions and money
constraints nixed going in that direction. Whenever time permits he has been looking at
alternates to the current hardware. However, this system which has a rack of Fuji Eagles
and a number of tape decks, has been running without much repair maintenance for the last
several decades. We recently had to work on one of the Fujis and now are in the process of
shot-gunning all the caps. We were totally amazed when one of the drives became flakey and
found that nearly all the caps were bad - luckily Earl W. Muntz didn't work for
Fuji...
However, the current problem is not transporting the applications, but contacting the
current system. Remember that RSTS is multiuser and he has no intention of also
transporting his drones that also access the computer to the cool mountains with him :)
There are also a number of customers that dial in to get access to data.
Has anyone used any of the serial port ethernet servers (aka port directors) and how well
did they work?
-> CRC
A friend desires to leave the hot desert this
summer and move to the
cool mountain and yet maintain contact with his PDP11 with which he
still runs his business. He has a rotten phone connection, but good
internet. He runs a highly modified version of RTST 5x and cannot
reasonably move his stable 30 y/o applications to later/other OS's.
I would appreciate knowing what the listers use to accomplish same.
-> CRC
I would recommend running the E11 PDP-11 emulator on a laptop.
Though based on what you describe, I think SIMH could work just as
well. Honestly I'd recommend moving it over to an emulator anyway if
he's running his business off of it. It's one thing for those of us
here to run PDP-11 hardware of that vintage as a hobby, it's another
thing to depend on it for your livelihood. What type of drives is he
using?
The following webpage desperately needs updated, but should point you
in the right direction.
http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/pdp11emu.html 
22 Apr
22 Apr
5:01 p.m.
CRC wrote:
E11 has been seriously looked at in the past, but the
required additions and money constraints nixed going in that direction. Whenever time
permits he has been looking at alternates to the current hardware. However, this system
which has a rack of Fuji Eagles and a number of tape decks, has been running without much
repair maintenance for the last several decades. We recently had to work on one of the
Fujis and now are in the process of shot-gunning all the caps. We were totally amazed when
one of the drives became flakey and found that nearly all the caps were bad - luckily Earl
W. Muntz didn't work for Fuji...
I have discussed running RSTS/E under E11 with a number
of individuals running commercial installations. The saving
in the cost of power more than pays for the system over
a few years. I core 2 duo system runs the code at about
100 times the speed of a PDP-11/93.
I don't know how internet interfaces to E11, assuming you
are using it now on the PDP-11, but Zane seems to have
solved that problem - maybe. As for serial terminals,
E11 supports multi-port hardware if RSTS/E is being
used remotely.
I agree that a commercial license is a significant portion of
the cost, but perhaps John Wilson might agree to the payment
of that purchase over a number of years if the business is on
the edge of failing otherwise.
It sounds like your disk I/O controllers (or host adapters)
use standard DEC interfaces, so the customized aspect
of RSTS/E should not be a problem in the hardware area.
However, the current problem is not transporting the
applications, but contacting the current system. Remember that RSTS is multiuser and he
has no intention of also transporting his drones that also access the computer to the cool
mountains with him :) There are also a number of customers that dial in to get access to
data.
I know that E11 supports serial ports directly,
Has anyone used any of the serial port ethernet servers
(aka port directors) and how well did they work?
Eventually, the PDP-11 hardware will cost more to maintain
than using current PC hardware. I have found with E11 a
rather good solution to running RT-11 even though I could
still use the DEC PDP-11/83 with ESDI Hitachi 600 MByte
hard drives. If I was supporting a commercial site running
RSTS/E 24 hours a day, E11 would probably provide a
good solution, as it has other sites that still run RSTS/E or
RSX-11.
Jerome Fine
6:24 p.m.
At 3:23 PM -0700 4/22/11, CRC wrote:
E11 has been seriously looked at in the past, but the
required
additions and money constraints nixed going in that direction.
Whenever time permits he has been looking at alternates to the
current hardware. However, this system which has a rack of Fuji
Eagles and a number of tape decks, has been running without much
repair maintenance for the last several decades. We recently had to
work on one of the Fujis and now are in the process of shot-gunning
all the caps. We were totally amazed when one of the drives became
flakey and found that nearly all the caps were bad - luckily Earl W.
Muntz didn't work for Fuji...
Definitely a project for a later date, and this also indicates that
the system might be of sufficient size and complexity that it might
actually be worth continuing to run on real hardware. I'm usually
the one pointing out such systems still exist in the wild, but I have
to admit the magnitude of this setup surprises me a little.
However, the current problem is not transporting the
applications,
but contacting the current system. Remember that RSTS is multiuser
and he has no intention of also transporting his drones that also
access the computer to the cool mountains with him :) There are also
a number of customers that dial in to get access to data.
Has anyone used any of the serial port ethernet servers (aka port
directors) and how well did they work?
Now that we have more details I'd say that the best solution is
either this, or else a dedicated low-end x86 PC running OpenBSD. In
either case the 'fun' part could very well be wiring the two
together. Honestly I'd recommend a PC with OpenBSD over a Serial
Port ethernet server.
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh at aracnet.com | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| | Photographer |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| My flickr Photostream |
| http://www.flickr.com/photos/33848088 at N03/ |
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