VTServer/etc for V6 Unix

[Ian S. King]

On Tue, Oct 18, 2016 at 5:31 PM, Noel Chiappa <jnc at mercury.lcs.mit.edu>
wrote:

> So, I'm trying to do what VTServer was invented for - load Unix into an
> actual
> PDP-11, over its serial line, when one doesn't have machine-readable Unix
> on
> any mass storage for the machine.
>
> However, all the initial code that VTServer loads ('mkfs', etc) is
> V7-specific
> (V6 has a slightly different file system format) - and I want to install
> V6.
>
> Has anyone ever tweaked the programs which VTServer loads to do V6-format
> filesystems? I did a quick Google, but didn't see anything.
>
> No biggie if not, it won't be much work to adapt them all, but I figured
> I'd
> try to avoid re-inventing the wheel...
>
>         Noel
>

I did this once upon a time and, while I've slept since then, I'll try to
dredge up some memories.  This was putting 6th Edition on a PDP-11/34,
which still runs except for the RK05 I need to fix One Of These Days.

ISTR that one can generate a 'tape' config file with whatever components
you want/need.  That was true for tools, too - I didthis with v6, so I know
there are v6-specific tools somewhere, perhaps on some machine I still have
(and I think I know which one).

I recall finding documentation for it, too, and I think I even know where
it is.  I'm hoping it might have a URL in the header/footer, which might
still be extant - if not, I can scan it.  I think it's somewhere in the
TUHS site, and not completely obvious so you have to hunt a bit.  Cheers --
Ian

-- 
Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate
The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu>
Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical
Narrative Through a Design Lens

Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org>
Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org>

University of Washington

There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."