File Transfer between PDP11 and Windows

[hdwatson]

Hi,

This is my first post on any forum so please bear with me. I have worked with PDP11's for 25 years and I admit that I do not love these machines. That said, I do believe they are very dependable and it is fascinating to see what they can accomplish. My latest job is using an emulated PDP11-53 running on a Windows PC (XP Pro). The system uses Strobe Data's OSPREY card. We don't have any documentation for the PDP11 and the overall setup is quite different from what I am used to. The editor on the PDP11 system is extremely painful so we are looking for a way to transfer text files back and forth so we can use Windows apps to create/modify the text files and then transfer them back to the PDP11.

We have kermit 95 on a laptop and there is a Kermit.PRG file on the PDP11, but we don't know how we are supposed to set up the PDP11 kermit to get it talking to the laptop kermit.

Does anyone have any ideas, please? And if you need more info, we will try to find it.

Thank you.

 

[ahm]

We have kermit 95 on a laptop and there is a Kermit.PRG file on the PDP11, but we don't know how we are supposed to set up the PDP11 kermit to get it talking to the laptop kermit.

Often, there is a cable involved.

 

[Doug G]

I used a serial rs232 to transfer text files from some PDP-11 to at the time DOS machines. I didn't use kermit or any other wrapper, just hooked up a serial null modem cable, started a listener on the receiving computer, then dumped the file from the PDP to the serial line. If you have binary files you probably do need to use some wrapper like kermit to make sure your data doesn't get mangled by the transfer. Also I didn't worry about any flow control or handshaking, I went on the assumption that a hardwired line wouldn't have any error problems like a modem/telco connection would have. I didn't have any data problems btw.

Also, most of the DEC's I worked on would probably max out at 9600 baud, so if your files have any size be prepared to spend lots of time with the transfer. If I recall right, it took me most of the day to get 10 or 20 MB transferred.

 

[RSX11M+]

May we know what Operating System is running on the PDP-11?