31 Dec
2017
31 Dec
'17
12:58 p.m.
I've been experimenting with the SIMH VAX simulators a lot lately. The only way I know
of to mount a tape, disk pack, CD-ROM, etc. after boot time is to halt the simulation with
^e to get to the SIMH command prompt, ATTACH the desired image, and then resume the
simulation with CONTINUE.
Is there any way to attach/detach media images in SIMH without halting the simulation?
I've tried putting the system console on a telnet port so it doesn't occupy
SIMH's controlling terminal, and I found that it's still necessary to halt the
simulation to get back to the SIMH command prompt.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
31 Dec
31 Dec
1:47 p.m.
Yes, but you were not able to attach in your startup script? That's when
to do it.
Bill Degnan
twitter: billdeg
vintagecomputer.net
On Dec 31, 2017 3:59 PM, "Mark J. Blair via cctalk" <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>
wrote:
I've been experimenting with the SIMH VAX
simulators a lot lately. The
only way I know of to mount a tape, disk pack, CD-ROM, etc. after boot time
is to halt the simulation with ^e to get to the SIMH command prompt, ATTACH
the desired image, and then resume the simulation with CONTINUE.
Is there any way to attach/detach media images in SIMH without halting the
simulation? I've tried putting the system console on a telnet port so it
doesn't occupy SIMH's controlling terminal, and I found that it's still
necessary to halt the simulation to get back to the SIMH command prompt.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
1:54 p.m.
On Dec 31, 2017, at 13:47, william degnan
<billdegnan at gmail.com> wrote:
Yes, but you were not able to attach in your startup script? That's when to do it.
It's common practice, and frequently a necessity, to mount media such as tapes without
rebooting the machine they're being mounted on.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net <mailto:nf6x at nf6x.net>>
http://www.nf6x.net/ <http://www.nf6x.net/>
1:52 p.m.
On Sunday, December 31, 2017 at 12:58, Mark J. Blair via cctalk wrote:
Is there any way to attach/detach media images in SIMH
without halting the
simulation?
See section 3.15, "Remote Console" in the SIMH User's Guide. The "SET
REMOTE TELNET" command will allow you to attach and detach while the
simulator is running.
-- Dave
2:03 p.m.
On Dec 31, 2017, at 13:52, J. David Bryan <jdbryan
at acm.org> wrote:
See section 3.15, "Remote Console" in the SIMH User's Guide. The "SET
REMOTE TELNET" command will allow you to attach and detach while the
simulator is running.
That appears to work perfectly. I don't know what I did wrong when I tried that
before. Thanks!
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
2:10 p.m.
I thought you set all devices you planned to use "online" so you could
mount them later? I don't simh vax much so thanks for the correction as to
the procedure. I mostly do pdp8 or pdp11 stuff, or esoteric hardware.
Bill Degnan
twitter: billdeg
vintagecomputer.net
On Dec 31, 2017 5:03 PM, "Mark J. Blair via cctalk" <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>
wrote:
On Dec 31, 2017, at 13:52, J. David Bryan
<jdbryan at acm.org> wrote:
See section 3.15, "Remote Console" in the SIMH User's Guide. The
"SET
REMOTE TELNET" command will allow you to attach and detach while the
simulator is running.
That appears to work perfectly. I don't know what I did wrong when I tried
that before. Thanks!
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
2:14 p.m.
Typically you need to have devices online so the OS will see them at startup. But for
removable media devices (tapes and many disks) you may want to mount the media (image
files) later on, and switch them at runtime, exactly as you would do with disk packs or
tape reels on a real computer.
paul
On Dec 31, 2017, at 5:10 PM, william degnan via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I thought you set all devices you planned to use "online" so you could
mount them later? I don't simh vax much so thanks for the correction as to
the procedure. I mostly do pdp8 or pdp11 stuff, or esoteric hardware.
Bill Degnan
2:25 p.m.
On Dec 31, 2017, at 14:10, william degnan
<billdegnan at gmail.com> wrote:
I thought you set all devices you planned to use "online" so you could mount
them later? I don't simh vax much so thanks for the correction as to the procedure.
I mostly do pdp8 or pdp11 stuff, or esoteric hardware.
That's what I'd generally do for things like fixed disks. But in normal use of,
say, a VAX running VMS, you'll want to be able to change tapes without rebooting the
whole system in order to restart SIMH with a different configuration file. Even on a
simulated PDP-11 running RT-11, you might want to swap out simulated floppies in one of
the RX02 drives, for example.
Pausing a simulated PDP-11 running RT-11 momentarily to attach a different image isn't
a big deal, because the system was probably sitting idle, anyway. But halting a VAX
that's serving as a DECnet area router or a cluster disk server just to swap a tape or
disk pack is not ideal.
Anyway, the remote console feature appears to do exactly what I want. Yay!
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net <mailto:nf6x at nf6x.net>>
http://www.nf6x.net/ <http://www.nf6x.net/>
5:07 p.m.
On Sunday, December 31, 2017 at 14:03, Mark J. Blair via cctalk wrote:
That appears to work perfectly. I don't know what
I did wrong when I tried
that before.
You mentioned that you "tried putting the system console on a telnet port,"
so you might have used the "SET CONSOLE TELNET" command (section 3.14 in
the user's guide). This separates the system console from the simulation
console, leaving the latter attached to the initiating window. But you
still have to interrupt simulation with CTRL+E (at the simulation console)
to enter the ATTACH command.
The "SET REMOTE TELNET" command, by contrast, connects a second, limited
simulation console in parallel with the original simulation console.
Commands entered at the remote console are performed internally by stopping
the simulation, executing the command, and then resuming. The simulator
still pauses to execute the command, but only for the minimum time
necessary.
Thanks!
You're welcome.
-- Dave
6:55 p.m.
On Dec 31, 2017, at 5:07 PM, J. David Bryan via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
You mentioned that you "tried putting the system console on a telnet port,"
so you might have used the "SET CONSOLE TELNET" command (section 3.14 in
the user's guide).
Ah, yes, I think that's what I did.
--
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
http://www.nf6x.net/
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