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MXV11 CA M8047 small system build CMD CQD and SCSI2SD

PG31

Veteran Member
Joined
May 31, 2011
Messages
505
Location
Sefton, Meresyside, England
I have purchased an MXV11 CA, I plan to use this as part of a small system along with a CPU and a CMD CQD 220TM. My question is, is there an operating system that I can run using only the memory on the MXV11 without adding an extra memory card? My MXV11 CA didn't come with any boot ROM's either but I'm hoping to use the bootloader on the CQD card with possibly a SCSI2SD card. Will I be able to power the SCSI2SD from the CQD card or will I also need to use the power connector?
For those using the SCSI2SD card what version are you using?
Thanks, Paul.
 
Paul,

You should be able to run RT-11 in 16KW quite well (the single job variant at any rate).

BTW I have sent you a PM.

Dave
 
Thanks Dave, I've replied to your PM.

I've put an 11/02 CPU (M7270) in with the MXV11. Its baud rate for the console is wired to 300 baud at the moment, Ill increase the speed further into the project. I get an ODT prompt so it has some life at least. so I have two slots in the backplane left, my plan is to put a CMD CQD in next, leaving me one slot for either more memory or a DELQA, I doubt I'll get TCP/IP working with 16KW so more likely an M8044. Ill move the CMD CQD to the last slot.
 
Will I be able to power the SCSI2SD from the CQD card or will I also need to use the power connector?
For those using the SCSI2SD card what version are you using?
Thanks, Paul.

Hi Paul, I'm using the scsi2sd card with a CQD-200TM and it powers it without having to use the power connector so I suspect that the 220TM will too.
I got my scsi2sd card from amiga-kit. It's a very good price from there and works great. >>> Click Here <<<

Cheers

Dave
 
Thanks TasKiNG, is it a v5 or v6 card?

PG31,
I don't have any direct experience with the CMD CQD card, but I do have a good bit of experience with the Emulex UC07 in PDP-11a, MicroVAXes and SCSI2SD cards. I have 12 SCSI2SD cards in various systems with various versions of the SCSI2SD cards starting with the V3 and V4 cards through the V5 and V6 cards. The V5 cards are the best in my opinion for PDP-11s and VAX. I bought two V6 cards, one of which has never worked properly in anything. The second V6 card works ok in a a PDP-11/73, but fails in a VAX when you load it hard. The performance between the V5 and V6 cards as far as I have seen so far is not significant. The one thing performance is affected by is the quality of the microSD cards. I've seen differences as much as 300% between different SD cards. I do like the concept is the V6 card that a USB front panel would be possible, but the reliability will need to improve in some future update (I'm using the Jan. 2018 update in the V6 card. Also, I like the fact that the V6 card stores the disk format on the SD card in the upper most block. Switching between cards with different formats would be very handy. However for the most part I use two V5 SCSI2SD cards on each system with multiple identical drives on each. I do backups regularly from one card to another and that has saved me from some big problems in the past. On my critical machines, I use a high quality (expensive) SwissBit card that is used in industrial systems.

As far as boot roms, on a MINC I use a BDV11 with EPROMs I programmed from a PDP-11/23+ firmware. That works on 11/03 and 11/23 CPUs. On J-11 CPUs with the UC07 no external boot roms are needed. I suspect that the firmware on the CQD card will work fine. So my advice would be to buy 2 V5 cards so you have a hot backup at all times which costs about the same as 1 V6 card. I also like to hook up external LEDs and watching the interplay of the drives doing a backup is helpful. Either SDcard is bootable and having two peripheral devices is always helpful when debugging a problem or benchmarking SDcard performance etc.

Good Luck,
Mark
 
Thanks Matlock, I'll go with V5 cards. Ill order them tomorrow.
At present my config is CPU, MXV11 and CMD CQD. I keyed in the two lines from the CMD CQD manual in ODT and I get the SCSI utility on my screen YEh!!:D It's really slow output because my MXV11 is strapped at 300 Baud. I'll need to make the next task while I wait for the SCSI2SD cards to rewire this for 19,200 I think.
 
SCSI2SD Versions

SCSI2SD Versions

When I run scsi2sd-monitor.exe it says it's 4.7.1

V4.7.1 is the latest software revision (May 1, 2017) for all SCSI2SD cards except for the HARDWARE V6 cards.

In the V6 hardware cards the latest software revision is V6.1.3 released Jan 31, 2018. The software between V6 cards and all earlier cards is not compatible.

By the way, in regard to mounting SCSI2SD cards there are some 3D printed mounts that work pretty well.

IMG_1516.JPGIMG_1518.JPG

I got the white 3D printed mount from Inertial Computing who sells SCSI2SD cards and some accessory items. Their white mount was put in a cheap black plastic 5 1/4 to 3 1/2 inch bay adapter. At first I thought about spray painting it all the same color but I don't think it's worth the effort.

Mark
 
I have received the SCSI2SD V5 card and connected it to my CMD CQD card, I'm running the inbuilt qualify drive test on my SCSI2SD with a 4GB SD card installed and it appears to be running ok. . I've been looking at how I get RT-11 installed on the card and I'm a little confused. I found some instructions by 8008guy. Do I copy the image with the SD card installed in my Windows PC? Any tips and advice is greatly appreciated.
 
I have received the SCSI2SD V5 card and connected it to my CMD CQD card, I'm running the inbuilt qualify drive test on my SCSI2SD with a 4GB SD card installed and it appears to be running ok. . I've been looking at how I get RT-11 installed on the card and I'm a little confused. I found some instructions by 8008guy. Do I copy the image with the SD card installed in my Windows PC? Any tips and advice is greatly appreciated.


The basics are as follows:

1) RT11 disk image with an MSCP Disk Handler (DU.SYS)
2) Configure the disk image to boot off DU. SIMH is a good way to check or set this up. Example: COPY/BOOT DU0:RT11SJ.SYS DU0: Then test to make sure it boots. If you have a image that is configured for another device such as RTV5RL.DSK (RL02 ), that won't work with this controller.
3) Copy the disk image to the SD directly using a utility that allows you to put the disk image at the same block boundary you have set up the card scsi devices for.
Typically this means the first scsi drive starts at block 0 on the microSD card and is loaded with block 0 of the disk image. For windows you may need need to locate a utility that does the same as "dd" on unix/linux systems.
4) Try to boot. During the bootstrap block 0 from the disk image should be loaded starting at address 0. The octal value 240 should be at address 0.
 
Thanks Wa2flq, it appears all of my images are for RL02 including what I can find on interweb. I did find one for RK so I suspect this may not work? I'm thinking I could use unetbootin for Windows. I have configured my SD card as two RD54 drives of 256MB (I think anyway!) as devices 1 and 2.
 
Last edited:
Use simh to create a disk image for DU. Attach the diskimages of DL and DU to simh and boot from the DL image.

Code:
powermac:simh peter$ ./BIN/pdp11 
Mar 30 21:17:02  pdp11[12140] <Warning>: CGSConnectionByID: 0 is not a valid connection ID.
Mar 30 21:17:02  pdp11[12140] <Warning>: Invalid Connection ID 0
2018-03-30 21:17:02.802 pdp11[12140:308452] 21:17:02.802 WARNING:  140: This application, or a library it uses, is using the deprecated Carbon Component Manager for hosting Audio Units. Support for this will be removed in a future release. Also, this makes the host incompatible with version 3 audio units. Please transition to the API's in AudioComponent.h.


PDP-11 simulator V4.0-0 Current        git commit id: 2051422e
sim> 
sim> set rl rl02
sim> set rq0 rd54
sim> attach rl0 rl057.dsk 
sim> attach rq0 du057.dsk
RQ0: creating new file
sim> boot rl0

RT-11FB  V05.07  

.TYPE V5USER.TXT

                                   RT-11 V5.7

    Installation  of  RT-11  Version  5.7 is complete and you are now running
    RT-11 from your system volume.  

    Your  system volume is your working volume if you have used the Automatic
    Installation (AI) procedure.  If you  have  installed  RT-11  using  that
    procedure,  Mentec  recommends  you verify the  correct operation of your
    system's software using the VERIFY verification procedure.  You can  only
    perform  VERIFY  on  the  valid target (output) media you used for the AI
    procedure.  Run VERIFY before you run CONFIG.  To run VERIFY,  enter  the
    command:  
                                   IND VERIFY

    Mentec  recommends  you  read the file V5NOTE.TXT,  which you can TYPE or
    PRINT.  Also, read the Introduction to RT-11, rewritten for  V5.7,  which
    contains much of the information you need to use RT-11 Version 5.7.


.R MSCPCK
?MSCPCK-I-MU0-TK50  FW Rev Level is 005/HW Rev Level is 001 
?MSCPCK-W-TQK50 controller below FW Rev 4/HW Rev 6

.dir         

.ini du:
DU0:/Initialize; Are you sure? Y

.copy/system dl: du:
 Files copied:
DL:STRTAI.COM  to DU:STRTAI.COM
DL:STRTFB.COM  to DU:STRTFB.COM
DL:STRTSB.COM  to DU:STRTSB.COM
DL:STRTXM.COM  to DU:STRTXM.COM
DL:STRTXB.COM  to DU:STRTXB.COM
DL:STRTZM.COM  to DU:STRTZM.COM
DL:STRTZB.COM  to DU:STRTZB.COM
DL:PIP.SAV     to DU:PIP.SAV
DL:DUP.SAV     to DU:DUP.SAV
DL:DIR.SAV     to DU:DIR.SAV
DL:IND.SAV     to DU:IND.SAV
DL:RESORC.SAV  to DU:RESORC.SAV
DL:EDIT.SAV    to DU:EDIT.SAV
DL:KED.SAV     to DU:KED.SAV
DL:KEX.SAV     to DU:KEX.SAV
DL:MACRO.SAV   to DU:MACRO.SAV
DL:CREF.SAV    to DU:CREF.SAV
DL:LINK.SAV    to DU:LINK.SAV
DL:MONMRG.SAV  to DU:MONMRG.SAV
DL:LIBR.SAV    to DU:LIBR.SAV
DL:FILEX.SAV   to DU:FILEX.SAV
DL:SRCCOM.SAV  to DU:SRCCOM.SAV
DL:BINCOM.SAV  to DU:BINCOM.SAV
DL:SLP.SAV     to DU:SLP.SAV
DL:DUMP.SAV    to DU:DUMP.SAV
DL:SIPP.SAV    to DU:SIPP.SAV
DL:BUP.SAV     to DU:BUP.SAV
DL:PAT.SAV     to DU:PAT.SAV
DL:HELP.SAV    to DU:HELP.SAV
DL:SYSMAC.SML  to DU:SYSMAC.SML
DL:SYSLIB.OBJ  to DU:SYSLIB.OBJ
DL:BATCH.SAV   to DU:BATCH.SAV
DL:QUEMAN.SAV  to DU:QUEMAN.SAV
DL:FORMAT.SAV  to DU:FORMAT.SAV
DL:SETUP.SAV   to DU:SETUP.SAV
DL:VTCOM.SAV   to DU:VTCOM.SAV
DL:DATIME.SAV  to DU:DATIME.SAV
DL:DATIME.MAC  to DU:DATIME.MAC
DL:DATIME.COM  to DU:DATIME.COM
DL:LET.SAV     to DU:LET.SAV
DL:SPLIT.SAV   to DU:SPLIT.SAV
DL:UCL.SAV     to DU:UCL.SAV
DL:VBGEXE.SAV  to DU:VBGEXE.SAV
DL:TERMID.SAV  to DU:TERMID.SAV
DL:QUEUE.REL   to DU:QUEUE.REL
DL:RTMON.REL   to DU:RTMON.REL
DL:SPOOL.REL   to DU:SPOOL.REL
DL:SPOOL.SAV   to DU:SPOOL.SAV
DL:VTCOM.REL   to DU:VTCOM.REL
DL:TRANSF.SAV  to DU:TRANSF.SAV
DL:TRANSF.TSK  to DU:TRANSF.TSK
DL:TRANSF.EXE  to DU:TRANSF.EXE
DL:GIDIS.SAV   to DU:GIDIS.SAV
DL:ALPH00.FNT  to DU:ALPH00.FNT
DL:ODT.OBJ     to DU:ODT.OBJ
DL:VDT.OBJ     to DU:VDT.OBJ
DL:MDUP.SAV    to DU:MDUP.SAV
DL:MBOOT.BOT   to DU:MBOOT.BOT
DL:MBOT16.BOT  to DU:MBOT16.BOT
DL:MSBOOT.BOT  to DU:MSBOOT.BOT
DL:MDUP.AI     to DU:MDUP.AI
DL:MDUP.MM     to DU:MDUP.MM
DL:MDUP.MS     to DU:MDUP.MS
DL:MDUP.MT     to DU:MDUP.MT
DL:MDUP.MU     to DU:MDUP.MU
DL:DEMOBG.MAC  to DU:DEMOBG.MAC
DL:DEMOFG.MAC  to DU:DEMOFG.MAC
DL:DEMOF1.FOR  to DU:DEMOF1.FOR
DL:DEMOF2.FOR  to DU:DEMOF2.FOR
DL:DEMOF3.FOR  to DU:DEMOF3.FOR
DL:DEMOB1.BAS  to DU:DEMOB1.BAS
DL:DEMOM1.MAC  to DU:DEMOM1.MAC
DL:DEMOKD.TXT  to DU:DEMOKD.TXT
DL:VERIFY.COM  to DU:VERIFY.COM
DL:IVP.COM     to DU:IVP.COM
DL:IVP.MAC     to DU:IVP.MAC
DL:MTB.COM     to DU:MTB.COM
DL:MSB.COM     to DU:MSB.COM
DL:MS1B.COM    to DU:MS1B.COM
DL:MUB.COM     to DU:MUB.COM
DL:FB.MAC      to DU:FB.MAC
DL:SB.MAC      to DU:SB.MAC
DL:XB.MAC      to DU:XB.MAC
DL:XM.MAC      to DU:XM.MAC
DL:ZB.MAC      to DU:ZB.MAC
DL:ZM.MAC      to DU:ZM.MAC
DL:SYSTEM.MLB  to DU:SYSTEM.MLB
DL:EDTL.MLB    to DU:EDTL.MLB
DL:BSTRAP.MAC  to DU:BSTRAP.MAC
DL:EDTG.MAC    to DU:EDTG.MAC
DL:KMON.MAC    to DU:KMON.MAC
DL:KMOVLY.MAC  to DU:KMOVLY.MAC
DL:MTTEMT.MAC  to DU:MTTEMT.MAC
DL:MTTINT.MAC  to DU:MTTINT.MAC
DL:RMON.MAC    to DU:RMON.MAC
DL:TRMTBL.MAC  to DU:TRMTBL.MAC
DL:USR.MAC     to DU:USR.MAC
DL:XMSUBS.MAC  to DU:XMSUBS.MAC
DL:BA.MAC      to DU:BA.MAC
DL:DL.MAC      to DU:DL.MAC
DL:DM.MAC      to DU:DM.MAC
DL:DU.MAC      to DU:DU.MAC
DL:DW.MAC      to DU:DW.MAC
DL:DX.MAC      to DU:DX.MAC
DL:DY.MAC      to DU:DY.MAC
DL:DZ.MAC      to DU:DZ.MAC
DL:LD.MAC      to DU:LD.MAC
DL:LP.MAC      to DU:LP.MAC
DL:LS.MAC      to DU:LS.MAC
DL:NC.MAC      to DU:NC.MAC
DL:NI.MAC      to DU:NI.MAC
DL:NL.MAC      to DU:NL.MAC
DL:NQ.MAC      to DU:NQ.MAC
DL:NU.MAC      to DU:NU.MAC
DL:RK.MAC      to DU:RK.MAC
DL:SP.MAC      to DU:SP.MAC
DL:TJ.MAC      to DU:TJ.MAC
DL:TM.MAC      to DU:TM.MAC
DL:TS.MAC      to DU:TS.MAC
DL:TU.MAC      to DU:TU.MAC
DL:UM.MAC      to DU:UM.MAC
DL:VM.MAC      to DU:VM.MAC
DL:XC.MAC      to DU:XC.MAC
DL:XL.MAC      to DU:XL.MAC
DL:FSM.MAC     to DU:FSM.MAC
DL:EL.MAC      to DU:EL.MAC
DL:ERROUT.SAV  to DU:ERROUT.SAV
DL:ELCOPY.MAC  to DU:ELCOPY.MAC
DL:ELINIT.MAC  to DU:ELINIT.MAC
DL:ELTASK.MAC  to DU:ELTASK.MAC
DL:ERRTXT.MAC  to DU:ERRTXT.MAC
DL:ERROUT.OBJ  to DU:ERROUT.OBJ
DL:RTSB.MAP    to DU:RTSB.MAP
DL:RTFB.MAP    to DU:RTFB.MAP
DL:RTXM.MAP    to DU:RTXM.MAP
DL:RTZM.MAP    to DU:RTZM.MAP
DL:SYSGEN.COM  to DU:SYSGEN.COM
DL:SBFB.ANS    to DU:SBFB.ANS
DL:XBXM.ANS    to DU:XBXM.ANS
DL:XMEL.ANS    to DU:XMEL.ANS
DL:ZBZM.ANS    to DU:ZBZM.ANS
DL:CONFIG.COM  to DU:CONFIG.COM
DL:CONFIG.SAV  to DU:CONFIG.SAV
DL:V5USER.TXT  to DU:V5USER.TXT
DL:V5NOTE.TXT  to DU:V5NOTE.TXT
DL:CUSTOM.TXT  to DU:CUSTOM.TXT
DL:CONSOL.MAC  to DU:CONSOL.MAC
DL:NITEST.MAC  to DU:NITEST.MAC
DL:MSCPCK.SAV  to DU:MSCPCK.SAV
DL:DBGSYM.SAV  to DU:DBGSYM.SAV
DL:INDEX.SAV   to DU:INDEX.SAV
DL:INDEXX.SAV  to DU:INDEXX.SAV
DL:INDEXA.IMG  to DU:INDEXA.IMG
DL:INDEXB.IMG  to DU:INDEXB.IMG
DL:INDEX.IDX   to DU:INDEX.IDX
DL:TECO.SAV    to DU:TECO.SAV
DL:CR.MAC      to DU:CR.MAC
DL:CT.MAC      to DU:CT.MAC
DL:DD.MAC      to DU:DD.MAC
DL:DP.MAC      to DU:DP.MAC
DL:DS.MAC      to DU:DS.MAC
DL:DT.MAC      to DU:DT.MAC
DL:PC.MAC      to DU:PC.MAC
DL:PD.MAC      to DU:PD.MAC
DL:RF.MAC      to DU:RF.MAC
DL:SWAP.SYS    to DU:SWAP.SYS
DL:RT11AI.SYS  to DU:RT11AI.SYS
DL:RT11SB.SYS  to DU:RT11SB.SYS
DL:RT11FB.SYS  to DU:RT11FB.SYS
DL:RT11XM.SYS  to DU:RT11XM.SYS
DL:RT11ZM.SYS  to DU:RT11ZM.SYS
DL:DL.SYS      to DU:DL.SYS
DL:DM.SYS      to DU:DM.SYS
DL:DU.SYS      to DU:DU.SYS
DL:DW.SYS      to DU:DW.SYS
DL:DX.SYS      to DU:DX.SYS
DL:DY.SYS      to DU:DY.SYS
DL:DZ.SYS      to DU:DZ.SYS
DL:RK.SYS      to DU:RK.SYS
DL:LD.SYS      to DU:LD.SYS
DL:LP.SYS      to DU:LP.SYS
DL:LS.SYS      to DU:LS.SYS
DL:MM.SYS      to DU:MM.SYS
DL:MS.SYS      to DU:MS.SYS
DL:MT.SYS      to DU:MT.SYS
DL:MU.SYS      to DU:MU.SYS
DL:NL.SYS      to DU:NL.SYS
DL:PI.SYS      to DU:PI.SYS
DL:SL.SYS      to DU:SL.SYS
DL:SLMIN.SYS   to DU:SLMIN.SYS
DL:SP.SYS      to DU:SP.SYS
DL:VM.SYS      to DU:VM.SYS
DL:XC.SYS      to DU:XC.SYS
DL:XL.SYS      to DU:XL.SYS
DL:DLX.SYS     to DU:DLX.SYS
DL:DMX.SYS     to DU:DMX.SYS
DL:DUX.SYS     to DU:DUX.SYS
DL:DWX.SYS     to DU:DWX.SYS
DL:DXX.SYS     to DU:DXX.SYS
DL:DYX.SYS     to DU:DYX.SYS
DL:DZX.SYS     to DU:DZX.SYS
DL:LDX.SYS     to DU:LDX.SYS
DL:LPX.SYS     to DU:LPX.SYS
DL:LSX.SYS     to DU:LSX.SYS
DL:MMX.SYS     to DU:MMX.SYS
DL:MSX.SYS     to DU:MSX.SYS
DL:MTX.SYS     to DU:MTX.SYS
DL:MUX.SYS     to DU:MUX.SYS
DL:NCX.SYS     to DU:NCX.SYS
DL:NLX.SYS     to DU:NLX.SYS
DL:NQX.SYS     to DU:NQX.SYS
DL:NUX.SYS     to DU:NUX.SYS
DL:PIX.SYS     to DU:PIX.SYS
DL:RKX.SYS     to DU:RKX.SYS
DL:SLX.SYS     to DU:SLX.SYS
DL:SPX.SYS     to DU:SPX.SYS
DL:UBX.SYS     to DU:UBX.SYS
DL:VMX.SYS     to DU:VMX.SYS
DL:XCX.SYS     to DU:XCX.SYS
DL:XLX.SYS     to DU:XLX.SYS
DL:SDS.SYS     to DU:SDS.SYS
DL:SDH.SYS     to DU:SDH.SYS
DL:SDSX.SYS    to DU:SDSX.SYS
DL:SDHX.SYS    to DU:SDHX.SYS

.copy/boot:du du:rt11fb.sys
To  ? du:

.
Simulation stopped, PC: 151722 (BR 151706)
sim> boot rq0

RT-11FB  V05.07  

.TYPE V5USER.TXT

                                   RT-11 V5.7

    Installation  of  RT-11  Version  5.7 is complete and you are now running
    RT-11 from your system volume.  

    Your  system volume is your working volume if you have used the Automatic
    Installation (AI) procedure.  If you  have  installed  RT-11  using  that
    procedure,  Mentec  recommends  you verify the  correct operation of your
    system's software using the VERIFY verification procedure.  You can  only
    perform  VERIFY  on  the  valid target (output) media you used for the AI
    procedure.  Run VERIFY before you run CONFIG.  To run VERIFY,  enter  the
    command:  
                                   IND VERIFY

    Mentec  recommends  you  read the file V5NOTE.TXT,  which you can TYPE or
    PRINT.  Also, read the Introduction to RT-11, rewritten for  V5.7,  which
    contains much of the information you need to use RT-11 Version 5.7.


.R MSCPCK
?MSCPCK-I-MU0-TK50  FW Rev Level is 005/HW Rev Level is 001 
?MSCPCK-W-TQK50 controller below FW Rev 4/HW Rev 6

.
 
Thanks cbscpe, I've not used simh yet so that is something else that I'll have to learn. I'm about to go on a Linux course in work so it'll have to wait until after that. Hopefully I'll be able to build myself a Linux machine and be able to use DD to transfer image to SD card;)
 
Thanks cbscpe, I've not used simh yet so that is something else that I'll have to learn. I'm about to go on a Linux course in work so it'll have to wait until after that. Hopefully I'll be able to build myself a Linux machine and be able to use DD to transfer image to SD card;)

Actually you can run SIMH within the CYGWIN environment on Windows. I download via git and compile via gcc et al the full SIMH source on my Windows 7 64b system.
If you are interested you can get CYGWIN at www.cygwin.com. It is free. It basically gives you a linux command line terminal window on your Windows box.
Includes all the unix tools you could ever want (well, almost) including dd, gcc, make, perl, python, git, ...

You could also go the full VM route and install VirtualBox (www.virtualbox.org, not .com) and then install your favorite linux distro into that environment. Then install simh.

So lots of ways to get going right now without building a linux hardware box from scratch.
 
If you're a Windows users you don't need to download and install anything else if you run a pre-built SIMH binary distribution.

I thought at one point I did download the SIMH source code to rebuild it on a Windows system to enable physical access to the host Ethernet through WinPcap, but now I can't remember if that support is already enabled in the pre-built Win32 SIMH binary distributions or not.

If you want to do the equivalent of 'dd' on a Windows system you do need to install some utilities to do that. I just used something I hacked up myself the last time I needed to do that.
 
If you're a Windows users you don't need to download and install anything else if you run a pre-built SIMH binary distribution.

I thought at one point I did download the SIMH source code to rebuild it on a Windows system to enable physical access to the host Ethernet through WinPcap, but now I can't remember if that support is already enabled in the pre-built Win32 SIMH binary distributions or not.

If you want to do the equivalent of 'dd' on a Windows system you do need to install some utilities to do that. I just used something I hacked up myself the last time I needed to do that.

Certainly true, there are regular Windows prebuilt binaries zipp'ed up at: https://github.com/simh/Win32-Development-Binaries Usually a few days old at most.

I've found CYGWIN to be invaluable over the years (I've had it installed on my Windows boxes when I was using WinNT in the late nineties, thru XP, and now Win7).

It is very easy to install and get running, and obviates the need for a 'real' linux box for most application usage situations (like download, compiling, running unix programs).

I think MS finally got the hint where I hear in Win10 there is/will be a 'true' linux subsystem, very similar in concept to CYGWIN as I understand it.

For now however I plan to stick with Win7 until it is no longer feasible. I have seen Win 10 and it does not impress me.
 
"I think MS finally got the hint where I hear in Win10 there is/will be a 'true' linux subsystem, very similar in concept to CYGWIN as I understand it."

I moved my main Windows machines to Windows10 soon after launch though I do keep a machine on Windows7 and one on XP for compatibility needs. Windows10 would be fine except that u$'s compulsory 'upgrades' frequently remove or hide important features (and the latest has severely impacted networking) and add rubbishy non-features. But Windows10 has a Bash Shell which to all intents replaces and improves on Cygwin and really works quite well.
 
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Windows10 doesn't have the Bash Shell enabled by default and it needs to be the 64-bit version. Have a google for 'windows 10 bash' for details.
 
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