Nov 062021
 

Powerd on a DEC RA60 Drive and connected a VT420 to see what the embedded diagnostics can do.

To make it short, compared to a RA81 it is quite limited and does not provide much fuctions.

 

Here is the needed serial config. 300baud, 7Bits with odd parity no XOFF pinout can be found in the schematics.

 

 

Mai 192019
 

The MVII I have got in March is now fully restored and placed in the second floor.

Today I have tested the TSV05 Tape Drive under the installed VMS 5.5-1.

 

1. step: is to load an tape with trash data or an empty one. I have choosen am empty tape, have loaded it physically in the Tape Drive and have pressed the online button.

2. step: was to check that the drive is recognized and the driver is available

$ show devices/full
........
Magtape ZOID01$MSA0:, device type TSV05, is online, file-oriented device, error
logging is enabled.

Error count 0 Operations completed 0
Owner process "" Owner UIC [0,0]
Owner process ID 00000000 Dev Prot S:RWED,O:RWED,G:RWED,W:RWED
Reference count 0 Default buffer size 2048
Density 1600 Format Normal-11

Volume status: no-unload on dismount, beginning-of-tape, odd parity.
...
...

3. Step: was to initialite the empty tape.

$ init MSA0:
_Label: test
$

4. Step: was to mount the Tape.

Here we need to differenciate two possibilities.

a.) you dont know the label of the tape

$ mount/for ms0:
%MOUNT-I-MOUNTED, TEST mounted on _ZOID01$MSA0:
$

b.) you know the label of the tape

$ mount ms0:
_Label: test
_Log name:
%MOUNT-I-MOUNTED, TEST mounted on _ZOID01$MSA0:
$

Dismount it via:

$ dismount/nounload ms0:

5. Step: is to listen the content of the Tape

The tape is now monted as _ZOID01$MSA0: so we type in the following to get the files and dirctories listed.

$ dir _ZOID01$MSA0:
%DIRECT-W-NOFILES, no files found
$

We see that the tape is empty, which makes sense as we have it initialized in step 2.

 

6. Step: Now we copy over some files

$ copy/log CLUSTER_CONFIG.COM _ZOID01$MSA0:CLUSTER_CONFIG.COM
%COPY-S-COPIED, SYS$COMMON:[SYSMGR]CLUSTER_CONFIG.COM;1 copied to _ZOID01$MSA0:[
]CLUSTER_CONFIG.COM;0 (4101 records)
$

and check the contents of the tape again

$ dir _ZOID01$MSA0:
Directory _ZOID01$MSA0:[]
CLUSTER_CONFIG.COM;1 CLUSTER_CONFIG.COM;1
Total of 2 files.
$

So we see the file is now on ms0:

 

 

So now see whats on the old tapes I have got with the VAX

1. Step is to check the output of show dev

Magtape ZOID01$MSA0:, device type TSV05, is online, file-oriented device, error
logging is enabled.

Error count 0 Operations completed 211
Owner process "" Owner UIC [0,0]
Owner process ID 00000000 Dev Prot S:RWED,O:RWED,G:RWED,W:RWED
Reference count 0 Default buffer size 2048
Density 1600 Format Normal-11

Volume status: no-unload on dismount, odd parity.


2. Step mount the tape

$ mount/for ms0:
%MOUNT-I-MOUNTED, TRANS mounted on _ZOID01$MSA0:
$


3. display contents of the tape

$ dir _ZOID01$MSA0:
%DIRECT-E-OPENIN, error opening _ZOID01$MSA0:[SYSMGR]*.*;* as input
-SYSTEM-F-NOTFILEDEV, device is not file structured
$

So it looks like the content is block based?
Good Question, which I can't answer by now.

After mounting the tape the show dev output has changed to:

Magtape ZOID01$MSA0:, device type TSV05, is online, allocated, deallocate on
    dismount, mounted foreign, record-oriented device, file-oriented device,
    error logging is enabled.

    Error count                    0    Operations completed                223
    Owner process           "SYSTEM"    Owner UIC             [SYSTEST,SYSTMGR]
    Owner process ID        00000090    Dev Prot            S:RWED,O:RWED,G:,W:
    Reference count                2    Default buffer size                 512

    Volume label            "TRANS "    Relative volume no.                   0
    Record size                    0    Transaction count                     1
    Mount status             Process    Mount count                           1
    ACP process name              ""
    Density                     1600    Format                        Normal-11

  Volume status:  beginning-of-tape, odd parity.

		
Feb 152019
 

An the next programmer has arrived. A Hi-Lo All-07

Feb 152019
 

A Hi-Lo All-03 with 8Bit Isa Card has arrived.

Jun 102018
 

Today, I have build a Serial Cable, to connect the Data I/O 29b to an old PC.

(details are here: http://www.retroclinic.com/leopardcats/dio/dataioserial.htm)

Connection works via COM1 8,n,1 9600baud

Here some screenprints of the PROMlink 6.1 Software.

 

I’m now able to transfer dumps via this PC, to the Data I/O, to burn them.

Jun 092018
 

The time has come, to test the BootProms I have“burned“ with my new Data I/O 29b.

First I have configured the M9312 to boot from Socket1 and have placed there the fresh created 23-751A9 Boot Prom (RL01/02).

The M9312 Jumpers are set all to off, except 9.

Off: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10

On: 9

Afterwards I have connected a RL02 Drive, mount a installation Media, and pressed Contr. + Boot.

That’s the outcome:

Welcome to RT-11 Version 5.

You have bootstrapped the RT-11 Distribution Disk. Use this disk to
install your RT-11 system, then store it in a safe place.

RT-11 V5 provides an automatic installation procedure which will
back up your distribution disk and build a working system disk which
should be used for your work with RT-11. This working system disk
will only contain the RT-11 operating system. After the RT-11
installation is complete, follow the installation instructions
packaged with any optional languages or utility software which you
will be using.


Press the "RETURN" key when ready to continue. 
You can choose to install RT-11 manually. This procedure is
described in the RT-11 Installation Guide. 

If you are a new user of RT-11, DIGITAL highly recommends that you
use the automatic installation procedure.

Do you want to use the automatic installation procedure?
(Type YES or NO and press the "RETURN" key): yes

 

So looks like I can write BootProms. I have needed about three years, and was needed to spend hundreds of Euros to get a sufficient programmer, and a small amount of Proms.

But now I can boot my PDP’s a bit faster. 😉

Now I will configure the M9312 to boot into Console Emulation, afterwards I will boot the devices via them, so that I can choose which one to boot without changing the jumpers on the M9312.

 

Jun 082018
 

Since a long time I have searched for a way, to write BootProms for my PDP’s like the 11/34, /24 and the /44.

I had some luck, and have got 30 Bipolar Proms Signetics (82S131N) in NOS state.

This type can be written in a bigger amount of old programmers, like the Data I/O 29b with at least the Unipak2. (a Unipak2b is not needed)

One week after In was able to acquire the BProm’s I have found an Data I/O 29b in ebay UK, and was happy to be the bidder who got it.

Packaging was good, the contact and communication was more than perfect, so that the Programmer arrives here after two days on the road via DPD.

Yes DPD! And it was with about 20 Pound the cheapest possibility to get them to Germany.

A first check-up and some Cleaning later I have copied a DEC RL01/02 (23-751A9) BootProm to a NOS 82S131. The Checksum fits, and all was running good.

 

5 Minutes later, the filter filer Cap in the Power Socket has started burning, so that I was in the need to exchange them, in an manner, which keeps the programmer in an original state.

 

Some impressions here:

 

Feb 042017
 

This site is mostly for myself, to document my Hauls, Collection and all related parts.

Use the navigation bar to find the topics, … .

I’m not an English native speaker, so the stile of writing is simple and in most cases maybe wrong.