6 May
2019
6 May
'19
6:20 p.m.
I have installed an RQDX3 and the M9058 distribution board in my 11/23+.
Since I don't have a 5.25" drive yet, I hooked up a 3.5" HD (1.44 MB) drive
from an old PC.
After a struggle (which I
documented on VCFED's DEC forum), I managed to get
all the jumpers and cables set correctly, and now my XXDP diagnostics
(ZRQA?? ... ZRQF??) recognize the drive as an RX33 (DU0:, logical drive 0
since no hard disks are attached). It passes all the tests, and I can INIT,
DIR, and copy files to it using the limited OS with the XXDP suite. The LED
on the RQDX3 blinks once when the drive is accessed. So far so good.
But, when I boot the system (with RT-11SJ V5.01), it can't see the drive at
all. Attempts to access it result in the command hanging indefinitely, the
drive does not select, and the RQDX3 lamp flashes rapidly. SHOW DEV:DU does
say that the handler is installed for the correct 172150, 154 location.
However, SHOW DEV:DUn where n=[0..3] displays two blank lines then back to
the dot prompt.
Is my version of RT-11 just too old to recognize an RX-33? If so, what do I
need to fix this? Presumably a later DU.SYS?
Thanks for any help. Most of my experience is with PDP-8's so this is slow
going...
-Charles
6 May
6 May
6:38 p.m.
The release notes on bitsavers indicate that the RX33 was not supported until RT-11
V5.04.
John.
On May 6, 2019, at 6:20 PM, Charles via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I have installed an RQDX3 and the M9058 distribution board in my 11/23+. Since I
don't have a 5.25" drive yet, I hooked up a 3.5" HD (1.44 MB) drive from an
old PC.
After a struggle (which I documented on VCFED's DEC forum), I managed to get all the
jumpers and cables set correctly, and now my XXDP diagnostics (ZRQA?? ... ZRQF??)
recognize the drive as an RX33 (DU0:, logical drive 0 since no hard disks are attached).
It passes all the tests, and I can INIT, DIR, and copy files to it using the limited OS
with the XXDP suite. The LED on the RQDX3 blinks once when the drive is accessed. So far
so good.
But, when I boot the system (with RT-11SJ V5.01), it can't see the drive at all.
Attempts to access it result in the command hanging indefinitely, the drive does not
select, and the RQDX3 lamp flashes rapidly. SHOW DEV:DU does say that the handler is
installed for the correct 172150, 154 location. However, SHOW DEV:DUn where n=[0..3]
displays two blank lines then back to the dot prompt.
Is my version of RT-11 just too old to recognize an RX-33? If so, what do I need to fix
this? Presumably a later DU.SYS?
Thanks for any help. Most of my experience is with PDP-8's so this is slow going...
-Charles
8:21 p.m.
Thanks... I have an RT-11XM pack with version 5.04, booted the system from
that - and it does recognize the floppy!
Except that whoever built it didn't bother to include DU.SYS, just DUX.SYS.
Grrr.
Now I just have to figure out how to update the old RT11SJ 5.01 that my TSX+
runs on top of, to a later version, without clobbering all my work building
it :)
Guess I get to learn how to make an RT-11 bootable disk!
-----Original Message-----
From: John Forecast
Sent: Monday, May 06, 2019 5:38 PM
To: Charles ; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: RT-11 doesn't recognize my 3.5" floppy
The release notes on bitsavers indicate that the RX33 was not supported
until RT-11 V5.04.
John.
On May 6, 2019, at 6:20 PM, Charles via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:
I have installed an RQDX3 and the M9058 distribution board in my 11/23+.
Since I don't have a 5.25" drive yet, I hooked up a 3.5" HD (1.44 MB)
drive from an old PC.
After a struggle (which I documented on VCFED's DEC forum), I managed to
get all the jumpers and cables set correctly, and now my XXDP diagnostics
(ZRQA?? ... ZRQF??) recognize the drive as an RX33 (DU0:, logical drive 0
since no hard disks are attached). It passes all the tests, and I can
INIT, DIR, and copy files to it using the limited OS with the XXDP suite.
The LED on the RQDX3 blinks once when the drive is accessed. So far so
good.
But, when I boot the system (with RT-11SJ V5.01), it can't see the drive
at all. Attempts to access it result in the command hanging indefinitely,
the drive does not select, and the RQDX3 lamp flashes rapidly. SHOW DEV:DU
does say that the handler is installed for the correct 172150, 154
location. However, SHOW DEV:DUn where n=[0..3] displays two blank lines
then back to the dot prompt.
Is my version of RT-11 just too old to recognize an RX-33? If so, what do
I need to fix this? Presumably a later DU.SYS?
Thanks for any help. Most of my experience is with PDP-8's so this is slow
going...
-Charles
7 May
7 May
1:03 p.m.
On 06/05/2019 23:38, John Forecast via cctalk wrote:
The release notes on bitsavers indicate that the RX33
was not supported until RT-11 V5.04.
> On May 6, 2019, at 6:20 PM, Charles via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> I have installed an RQDX3
> But, when I boot the system (with RT-11SJ V5.01),
it can't see the drive at all.
Not only was the RX33 not supported until 5.04, there's a bug in the
MSCP DU driver that wasn't fixed until 5.03 (IIRC) or maybe 5.04, which
means nothing on an RQDX3 can be guaranteed to work properly before
that. It caused me a lot of grief, way back in 1994.
See the files at http://www.dunnington.info/public/RQDX/ and
particularly http://www.dunnington.info/public/RQDX/DUX.TXT if you're
interested.
--
Pete
Pete Turnbull
11:15 a.m.
Very interesting , now that you got it to work, what can you use it for?
Will it be an exchange media with PUTR?
Doug
On 5/6/2019 6:20 PM, Charles via cctalk wrote:
I have installed an RQDX3 and the M9058 distribution
board in my
11/23+. Since I don't have a 5.25" drive yet, I hooked up a 3.5" HD
(1.44 MB) drive from an old PC.
After a struggle (which I documented on VCFED's DEC forum), I managed
to get all the jumpers and cables set correctly, and now my XXDP
diagnostics (ZRQA?? ... ZRQF??) recognize the drive as an RX33 (DU0:,
logical drive 0 since no hard disks are attached). It passes all the
tests, and I can INIT, DIR, and copy files to it using the limited OS
with the XXDP suite. The LED on the RQDX3 blinks once when the drive
is accessed. So far so good.
But, when I boot the system (with RT-11SJ V5.01), it can't see the
drive at all. Attempts to access it result in the command hanging
indefinitely, the drive does not select, and the RQDX3 lamp flashes
rapidly. SHOW DEV:DU does say that the handler is installed for the
correct 172150, 154 location. However, SHOW DEV:DUn where n=[0..3]
displays two blank lines then back to the dot prompt.
Is my version of RT-11 just too old to recognize an RX-33? If so, what
do I need to fix this? Presumably a later DU.SYS?
Thanks for any help. Most of my experience is with PDP-8's so this is
slow going...
-Charles
11:59 a.m.
On 05/07/2019 11:15 AM, Douglas Taylor via cctalk wrote:
RT11V5 works for me using RQDX3 and the distribution board in the BA23
box assembled as a MicroPDP-11 with RX33
and RD52 (Quantum 31mb).? Never thought much about it other than to make
sure the RX33 was jumpers were correct
and making a dummy panel for the smaller than RX50 drive.
The 11/73 system has the RQDX3 and the signal distribution board (m8058)
out of BA123 to hook up
RD52, RX33, RX23 and never had issues due to addressing devices under RT11.
Is it possible you have a interrupt grant gap between the various boards
and the RQDX?? That would cause a hang.
If you successful it makes using PUTR easier though RX50 works for that
too just smaller.
Allison
Very interesting , now that you got it to work, what
can you use it for?
Will it be an exchange media with PUTR?
Doug
On 5/6/2019 6:20 PM, Charles via cctalk wrote:
> I have installed an RQDX3 and the M9058 distribution board in my
> 11/23+. Since I don't have a 5.25" drive yet, I hooked up a 3.5" HD
> (1.44 MB) drive from an old PC.
> After a struggle (which I documented on VCFED's DEC forum), I managed
> to get all the jumpers and cables set correctly, and now my XXDP
> diagnostics (ZRQA?? ... ZRQF??) recognize the drive as an RX33 (DU0:,
> logical drive 0 since no hard disks are attached). It passes all the
> tests, and I can INIT, DIR, and copy files to it using the limited OS
> with the XXDP suite. The LED on the RQDX3 blinks once when the drive
> is accessed. So far so good.
>
Did you actually test the drive by formatting, reading and writing?
But, when I
boot the system (with RT-11SJ V5.01), it can't see the
drive at all. Attempts to access it result in the command hanging
indefinitely, the drive does not select, and the RQDX3 lamp flashes
rapidly. SHOW DEV:DU does say that the handler is installed for the
correct 172150, 154 location. However, SHOW DEV:DUn where n=[0..3]
displays two blank lines then back to the dot prompt.
Is my version of RT-11 just too old to recognize an RX-33? If so,
what do I need to fix this? Presumably a later DU.SYS?
Thanks for any help. Most of my experience is with PDP-8's so this is
slow going...
-Charles
1904
days inactive
1905
days old
5 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
allisonportable＠gmail.com -
charlesmorris800＠centurytel.net -
dj.taylor4＠comcast.net -
john＠forecast.name -
pete＠dunnington.plus.com