modern os8diskserver for pdp-12

[Peter Peterson]

Hi all,

We still run the old os8diskserver on the PDP-12 with the interrupt problem and tricky path to getting files on images. Vince mentioned that these issues are resolved in the newer versions of os8diskserver... I'm wondering if there is PDP-12 specific advice for how to get it up and running, e.g., do we need a special OS8 driver the way we have used the RK05 image from Mike that supports the old diskserver? Mike, do you have a pdp-12 disk that supports the new diskserver?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Peter

--

Peter A. H. Peterson, Ph.D. (he/him)

Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science

University of Minnesota Duluth

[Vincent Slyngstad]

If you've got the up-to-date stuff from Kyle's github:

https://github.com/drovak/os8diskserver

Then in the SerialDisk/disks sub-directory, I'd place whatever disk image you are currently using.

Then, over in the SerialDisk/installer directory, have a look at the .md files to get an overview of what's involved.  (Install any packages you are missing.)

In "sdsk", locate the line

image=diagpack2

and change it to

image=pdp12

or whatever is the basename of your .dsk file in "disks".  Similarly, you'll want to locate the bash line in "pdp8.ini" to change "diagpack2.new" to "pdp12.new" or the like.

Then, you basically run the "sdsk" script, which will boot OS/8 under SIMH, install the latest drivers, and leave the resulting image in the .new file.  With luck, you copy that back to your serialdisk setup (probably renaming it back to .dsk) and you're mostly good to go.  You may also want/need to also copy over the new "server" from the server directory.

Mostly what can go wrong is that something ("expect" perhaps?) isn't installed, or that the "runbuild" script tried to set up too many OS/8 devices.

Vince

[Peter Peterson]

Hi Vince,

Thanks -- we will try this and let the group know how it works out.

Peter

[Peter Peterson]

Hi all,

Doing some thread necromancy here...

We have a grad student here who will be doing some work with the PDP-12 this term as part of his project for an OS class. (Welcome Joe Hnatek!)

We'll try what you said previously about getting the new os8diskserver going. We use the pdp-12 RK05 image that you gave Warren forever ago, and attempt to update that one to use the diskserver. (We always boot with that disk.)

If we have any questions, we'll ask here. And then, when we're done, we'll write up a report on the vcfed forums for posterity.

Thanks!

Peter

Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science

University of Minnesota Duluth (land acknowledgment)

[Vincent Slyngstad]

Cool! I'm out of town until next week, but I'll try to answer any
questions I can then.

Vince

On 9/13/22 11:02, Peter Peterson wrote:
> Hi all,
>

> Doing some thread necromancy here...
>
> We have a grad student here who will be doing some work with the PDP-12
> this term as part of his project for an OS class. (Welcome Joe Hnatek!)
>
> We'll try what you said previously about getting the new os8diskserver
> going. We use the pdp-12 RK05 image that you gave Warren forever ago,
> and attempt to update that one to use the diskserver. (We always boot
> with that disk.)
>
> If we have any questions, we'll ask here. And then, when we're done,
> we'll write up a report on the vcfed forums for posterity.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Peter
>
> On Thu, Apr 14, 2022 at 10:14 AM Peter Peterson <pa...@d.umn.edu
> <mailto:pa...@d.umn.edu>> wrote:
>
> Hi Vince,
>
> Thanks -- we will try this and let the group know how it works out.
>
> Peter
>
> On Wed, Apr 13, 2022 at 3:33 PM Vincent Slyngstad

> <vincent....@gmail.com <mailto:vincent....@gmail.com>>

> <https://about.d.umn.edu/campus-history/land>)
>