Dumb OS/8 question

[AteEm]

Up front, I plead ignorance and laziness

My PDP8a came with a single RL01 drive and one cartridge with OS8.
Since I'm going to try and run the RL01 on my PDP8m I decided to pick up another cartridge on Ebay and not risk wiping out my OS8 disk.
So, the 'new' disk cartridge arrived today and it still has the original DEC software label showing it originally contained RSX11M V3.2
Now, odds are that was long ago written over, but....you never know.
My question is, since I only have a single drive, once I boot OS8 can I spin down the drive, remove the cartridge with OS8 and then mount the new disk pack so I can see what, if anything, is on it? Or, does OS8 require the system disk to be present at all times? Having never run OS8 I have no idea whether it's completely resident once booted, or if it needs to swap to disk.

Thanks!

Mike

 

[NeXT]

I wouldn't see why you couldn't operate the machine with one removable disk. I think it just involves configuring OS/8 to operate with the system pack offline.

 

[Lou - N2MIY]

AteEm,

Have you put 12KW or more in the 8/m? Remember that the OS/8 RL handlers are two page handlers. Please answer this.

The OS/8 filesystem on an RL is unreadable on any 11 and vice-versa. If your new pack has any 11 filesystem on it, you will not be able to read it on your 8/m. You can however reformat that pack to use under OS/8.

OS/8 does a lot of swapping from disk. If you boot from a pack, you cannot pull that pack out and put a different pack and expect it to work unless the systems files are in exactly the same place on the disk.

Lou (who has built OS/8 RL packs from scratch, reformatting pdp-11 packs)

 

[Lou - N2MIY]

With more thinking, you can swap packs in and out of that single RL drive, so long as the system files reside elsewhere.

If you have an RX01 or RX02, then build an RX01 or RX02 system disk, including a non-system RL hander. Then the system files can be happily and reliably read from the RX (that you are not swapping), and you can look at and swap in and out RL packs.

If you have not done so already, study how BUILD works.

Lou

PS. I soon intend to set up my 8/a in the house with an RX02/RX8E (set for RX01) and Reinhard's RL emulator/RL8A. I am looking forward to building OS/8 bootable pack images with the emulator.

 

[AteEm]

AteEm,

Have you put 12KW or more in the 8/m? Remember that the OS/8 RL handlers are two page handlers. Please answer this.

Nope. I've been keeping my eyes open for another 4K, or 8K, board set, but nothing, so far. My vocation is EE, so building up a memory board as you suggested would be no trouble. However, my goal is to have an all 'vintage' hardware system. I'm already 'upset' that I'm kludging an RL01 to, hopefully, run TSS8 as it originally, as I understand, only ran on DF32 or RF08s.

I purchased the spare RL01 pack only so that I can test the RL01 on the 8/m without risking the OS8 system.
I really only wanted to boot OS8 on the 8/m to check out all the hardware.

The OS/8 filesystem on an RL is unreadable on any 11 and vice-versa.

Aw, now I feel really dumb. I should have been able to figure out the file structures/formats wouldn't even be compatible!

If your new pack has any 11 filesystem on it, you will not be able to read it on your 8/m. You can however reformat that pack to use under OS/8.

Hmm, again ignorance is getting me...my goal is to run TSS8 on my 8m with the RL01 as the system disk. Assuming I don't care to actually read what's on the disk, how would I go about formatting given I have only one RL01 drive?
I.e., is there a stand-alone formatting utility that I can load onto my 8a and use to re-format the disk pack?

OS/8 does a lot of swapping from disk. If you boot from a pack, you cannot pull that pack out and put a different pack and expect it to work unless the systems files are in exactly the same place on the disk.

Yep, that's pretty much what I was afraid of.

Thanks for your responses!

 

[Marty]

Hi All;
AteEM, IF LOU would be willing, maybe You Could Send Him the Disk Pack You got on Ebay, He Could read it and then see If there is Anything worth keeping, and after possibly saving anything worth keeping, them Make a Copy of the 8 OS and Put it on there for You..
I realize that This might be asking alot of Lou, before actually checking with Him..
But, its an Idea..
THANK YOU Marty

 

[AteEm]

With more thinking, you can swap packs in and out of that single RL drive, so long as the system files reside elsewhere.

If you have an RX01 or RX02, then build an RX01 or RX02 system disk, including a non-system RL handler. Then the system files can be happily and reliably read from the RX (that you are not swapping), and you can look at and swap in and out RL packs.

Hah, the ONLY disk that I have, of any kind, is the SINGLE RL01

If you have not done so already, study how BUILD works.

Egads, you mean actually STUDY?!?!
It's lots easier to ask you experts! :D

 

[AteEm]

Hi All;
AteEM, IF LOU would be willing, maybe You Could Send Him the Disk Pack You got on Ebay, He Could read it and then see If there is Anything worth keeping, and after possibly saving anything worth keeping, them Make a Copy of the 8 OS and Put it on there for You..
I realize that This might be asking alot of Lou, before actually checking with Him..
But, its an Idea..
THANK YOU Marty

I really don't have any foreseeable need for RSX11M (assuming it's even still on the disk), but I have no idea how hard to come by the system might be today for anyone with a PDP11. So, while I really don't want to box up the disk pack and ship it anywhere, if someone in the southern California area is has the ability to copy the pack I could be willing to drive it over.
I'm still waiting on my power supply caps to get my 8m up and running again. Therefore, this would have to happen in the next week or two. After that, I'll be trying to write to the disk.
PM me if interested.

 

[Marty]

Hi All;
AteEM, Sorry, I didn't know You were on the West Coast, where as Lou is on the East Coast..
I don't have a working anything at the present, no any Disk Drive for that matter..
THANK YOU Marty