I figured I could/should post here when I do changes to the RSX
disk/tape image that I've created.
So I did a new cut today.
New stuff:
Kernel have been extended with a function to adjust time gradually,
which NTP will use for smaller changes, making time corrections happen
in a nicer way.
NTPD have been enhanced to be more clever about when and how to apply
time changes, and also make use of the kernel time adjust functionality,
if it exists. If it does not exist, NTPD will just do set time requests
if the time error is large enough.
(Any other recent updates to BQTCP have also been included.)
Added setting up of the spooler queue for network printing. If you look
at queues on the system, LPT queue now exist, and is connected to the
LPT despooler. In order to make the whole thing work, you need to create
a logical name (either in the global table, or the NETUIC group table,
called LPT$PRINTER, and it should contain what protocol to use, and what
address the printer can be found at. Protocols are "ansi", "lpr", "txt"
and "pcl". Ask if you want clarifications on any of these. Address are
just the IP address, or hostname, to use when connecting to the printer.
And the two values are separated by a dash. So, for example, I have a
printer that speaks pcl, and the hostname is just "printer", so my
LPT$PRINTER logical name looks like this:
.dfl lpt$printer/gr=5
(Group 5 Logical Table)
"LPT$PRINTER"
= "pcl-printer"
.
(More information on the use of this logical name, and how to use it in
more advanced ways is documented in the BQTCP documentation.)
Also, some protocols also understand a couple of different forms:
Form 0 - Landscape 132x66
Form 1 - Portrait 80x66
(Form 0 is the default.)
So if you have a text file FOO.TXT you want to print in portrait, you
can just do:
PRINT LPT:/FO:1=FOO.TXT
By default a banner page is also included, but this can be selected to
not appear via switches, and if you want a different default, correct
[1,2]STARTUP.CMD, where the queue is created.
For more information, check the system managers manual on queue operations.
If you want printing to go to the network printer by default, you need
to also assing the PRINT queue to the LPT processor. This can be done
with the command:
QUE LPT:/AS:PRINT
(This could be added in the local startup customization if you always
want this - see below...)
Things this enables: All programs spooling files will result in output
to the printer, programs using the system library function to print will
cause output to the printer, the PRINT command will print on the network
printer and so on. Be careful! I believe I fixed all tools to by default
not spool output, but let me know if I missed any. And don't blame me if
you suddenly are getting lots of pages printed...
I've also made changes to the images to make them more "clean" on
install. Error logs, system logs, and so on are now empty at first boot.
If you want to get these changes onto an existing disk, please note that
you can restore the tape image onto an existing disk. But you need to
create the new system image, and VMR it. I did write an explanation
about this on the document page (but documentation needs to be improve,
I know). Also, after such an upgrade you want, at a minimum, remove the
[0,0]RSX11.SYS file that got restored, since otherwise any accounts you
created will not be there anymore. And error logs and so on might be
something you want to preserve if they contain something you consider
important.
Finally, any local customizations you might want to do should be placed
in LB:[1,2]USERPROG.CMD
This file, if it exists, will be called at boot, as almost the last step
in the startup process. It is not created, or managed in any way by the
images I provide, but will allow anyone to do local customizations that
easily will survive any upgrades.
I hope people will find this useful. As always, send any questions you
have, and I'll try to answer.
Johnny
--
Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
|| on a psychedelic trip
email:
b...@softjar.se || Reading murder books
pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol