Trying to get 2.9BSD to run on 11/34 without split I/D

[davepl1968]

I've found a 2.9 BSD image in RL02 format, mounted it, and am trying to boot it in simH. Here are the results, but I can't figure out what's up! It seems to me like it can't find the "unix" file in the root of the image.

I'm not even sure it's possible to run 2.9 on an 11/34, but I'd sure like to try! Any ideas?


On "@"-prompt, enter "rkunix"
Login as "root", empty password
On unix prompt "#", enter "stty -lcase" to allow lower case chars
:boot
40Boot
:
: xp(0,0)unix
not a directory
mode 0, loc 41002
unix not found




:

 

[Terri Kennedy]

I've found a 2.9 BSD image in RL02 format, mounted it, and am trying to boot it in simH. Here are the results, but I can't figure out what's up! It seems to me like it can't find the "unix" file in the root of the image.

I'm not even sure it's possible to run 2.9 on an 11/34, but I'd sure like to try! Any ideas?


On "@"-prompt, enter "rkunix"
Login as "root", empty password
On unix prompt "#", enter "stty -lcase" to allow lower case chars
:boot
40Boot
:
: xp(0,0)unix
not a directory
mode 0, loc 41002
unix not found

xp would be an RM02/03/05 and RP07. You probably want rl(0,0)unix, per the following

rl02|RL02|DEC RL02:\
        :ty=removable:se#256:ns#20:nt#2:nc#512:\
        :b0=/mdec/rluboot:\
        :pa#15360:oa#0:ba#1024:fa#1024:ta=2.11BSD:\
        :pb#5120:ob#15360:bb#1024:fb#1024:tb=swap:\
        :pc#20480:oc#0:bc#1024:fc#1024

 

[thunter0512]

I've found a 2.9 BSD image in RL02 format, mounted it, and am trying to boot it in simH. Here are the results, but I can't figure out what's up! It seems to me like it can't find the "unix" file in the root of the image.

I'm not even sure it's possible to run 2.9 on an 11/34, but I'd sure like to try! Any ideas?


On "@"-prompt, enter "rkunix"
Login as "root", empty password
On unix prompt "#", enter "stty -lcase" to allow lower case chars
:boot
40Boot
:
: xp(0,0)unix
not a directory
mode 0, loc 41002
unix not found




:

@davepl1968 could you please keep us updated on your progress?

I hope to soon get to the point with my 11/34 to try some form of UNIX.

I think 2.9 BSD would be very nice to get going on a 11/34.

Also attractive would be UNIX 6th Edition to go with the book "Lions' Commentary on UNIX 6th Edition" by John Lions.

Does anyone had success running either UNIX 6th Edition or 2.9 BSD on a real 11/34 with RL01/RL02 disks?
If yes, could you please share the RL01/RL02 disk images or point to a download location?
Thanks.

 

[Bitly]

Does anyone had success running either UNIX 6th Edition or 2.9 BSD on a real 11/34 with RL01/RL02 disks?

I used to have an 11/34, but traded it for a (spare) 11/750. I bookmarked unix-v6-install at the time, but I never got around to trying it.

Alternately, PUPS/node6.html indicates 2.9BSD will work on the 11/34, but I have no idea how to go about building a kernel for it.

I suspect you will have to start with simh and a larger machine (11/70ish) and build your images there before transferring them to the 11/34.

CW

 

[AK6DN]

Have you seen this document ...

 

[davepl1968]

Well, I got one step further: if you boot from rl(0,0)unix it'll proceed to a panic in iinit. Any ideas?

: rl(0,0)unix

Berkeley UNIX (Rev. 2.9.1) Sun Nov 20 14:55:50 PST 1983
mem = 135872
panic: iinit

 

[davepl1968]

I got it! The correct boot is below, and it runs!

40Boot
: rl(0,0)rlunix

Berkeley UNIX (Rev. 2.9.1) Sun Nov 20 14:55:50 PST 1983
mem = 135872

CONFIGURE SYSTEM:
xp 0 csr 176700 vector 254 attached
rk 0 csr 177400 vector 220 attached
hk 0 csr 177440 vector 210 attached
rl 0 csr 174400 vector 160 attached
rp ? csr 176700 vector 254 interrupt vector already in use
ht 0 csr 172440 vector 224 skipped: No CSR
tm 0 csr 172520 vector 224 attached
ts 0 csr 172520 vector 224 interrupt vector already in use
dh ? csr 160020 vector 370 skipped: No CSR
dm ? csr 170500 vector 360 skipped: No autoconfig routines
dz ? csr 160110 vector 320 interrupt vector wrong
dz ? csr 160110 vector 320 interrupt vector wrong
dn 0 csr 175200 vector 300 skipped: No autoconfig routines
vp ? csr 177500 vector 174 skipped: No autoconfig routines
lp 0 csr 177514 vector 200 attached
Erase=^?, kill=^U, intr=^C
#

 

[davepl1968]

I found images for root, swap, usr, and home. I can boot from rl(0,0)rlunix and the system comes up in single user mode. However, ps will not run so I suspect swap is not correct, and I suspect my fstab is not correct. This morning is the first time I’ve run 2.9BSD so I’ve read the setup doc, but that’s it. It’s pretty new to me!

Here’s my simH config, pretty straightforward:

set cpu 11/34 256K
set cpu idle
set tti 7b
set tto 7b
set rl0 rl02
att rl0 root.dsk
set rp0 rp06
att rp0 usr.dsk
set rl2 rl02
att rl2 home.dsk
set rl1 rl02
att rl1 swap.dsk
boot rl0

When I run it, here’s the output.

40Boot
: rl(0,0)rlunix

Berkeley UNIX (Rev. 2.9.1) Sun Nov 20 14:55:50 PST 1983
mem = 135872

CONFIGURE SYSTEM:
xp 0 csr 176700 vector 254 attached
rk 0 csr 177400 vector 220 attached
hk 0 csr 177440 vector 210 attached
rl 0 csr 174400 vector 160 attached
rp ? csr 176700 vector 254 interrupt vector already in use
ht 0 csr 172440 vector 224 skipped: No CSR
tm 0 csr 172520 vector 224 attached
ts 0 csr 172520 vector 224 interrupt vector already in use
dh ? csr 160020 vector 370 skipped: No CSR
dm ? csr 170500 vector 360 skipped: No autoconfig routines
dz ? csr 160110 vector 320 interrupt vector wrong
dz ? csr 160110 vector 320 interrupt vector wrong
dn 0 csr 175200 vector 300 skipped: No autoconfig routines
vp ? csr 177500 vector 174 skipped: No autoconfig routines
lp 0 csr 177514 vector 200 attached
Erase=^?, kill=^U, intr=^C
# mount
xp0h on /usr
rl2 on /home
# cat /etc/fstab
/dev/rl0:/:rw:7:1
/dev/rl1:swap:sw:0:0
/dev/xp0h:/usr:rw:7:2
/dev/rl2:/home:rw:7:4

# mount -a
Mounted /usr on /dev/xp0h
Mounted /home on /dev/rl2
# mount
xp0h on /usr
rl2 on /home
xp0h on /usr
rl2 on /home
# ps
/dev/swap: No such file or directory
#

As you can see, rl2 is mounted twice (!) but there’s no mention of swap, and ps will not run.

I’m not sure if swap should auto-mount on rl1, or if I need to manually mount it, and if so, where to. And do I need a link from /dev/swap to /swap? Any help in setting up fstab and mountpoints to make it happy would be appreciated!

 

[Bitly]

# mount -a
Mounted /usr on /dev/xp0h
Mounted /home on /dev/rl2
# mount
xp0h on /usr
rl2 on /home
xp0h on /usr
rl2 on /home

# 'mount -a' isn't required. The earlier 'mount' command showed /usr and /home were already mounted.

# ps
/dev/swap: No such file or directory

Pure speculation, but enter the /dev directory (cd or chdir) and './MAKEDEV swap'

CW

 

[Terri Kennedy]

Pure speculation, but enter the /dev directory (cd or chdir) and './MAKEDEV swap'

Probably the biggest stumbling blocks for anyone used to a "modern" *BSD or Linux when going to 2BSD are:

1) No setup or installer - instead, you get a document listing the commands to use to get to the point where you have a bootable system. This document may be incomplete or contain errors. Typos can be catastrophic, leading to a do-over from the start. Less forgiving than most DEC-supplied operating system installation procedures.
2) No loadable device drivers - you need to knit a custom kernel to make device changes. There's no "everything, including the kitchen sink" kernel as it would simply be too big.
3) /dev isn't automatically populated - you need to MAKEDEV everything you need, and optionally remove the ones you're not using. This can lead you into a world of unfamiliar device names, even if you have extensive DEC PDP-11 experience. For example, an RP07 type disk would be "DM0" in the PDP-11 Boot ROMs, RR0: at RSTS/E boot level, and DR0: once RSTS/E is running, but to 2BSD it is "xp0".

Way down the list is:
9) No "creature comforts" - unless your favorite editor is ed or vi it is probably missing, no command line editing / recall buffer, and so on.

A lot of people don't run into any of these except the last as there are pre-built running systems for emulators like SIMH. And even for people like myself who actually used 2BSD "back in the day" when the hardware it ran on was in daily use, we can forget things or run into bugs. For example, I'm probably the only person who ever wanted to check for bad blocks with bad144 on an pair of emulated RP07 drives under SIMH . This exposed a number of other issues for people using many disk types other than RA-series drives (real or emulated) which ended up being fixed as part of patch 482 (and may have even pushed the other issues addressed by it toward release, if I remember my conversation with SMS correctly.