18-bit Serial Card in 22-bit backplane

[cli...@gmail.com]

I'd like to run a DLV11-J (18-bit) in a H9270Q (22-bit) backplane. Haven't tried it yet but wondering what problems I might encounter. The CPU is KDJ11-AA so no serial or ROM there. I'm using a QBone in 22-bit mode for memory, serial port and ROM.

[Lee Gleason]

On 11/22/2022 7:41 AM, cli...@gmail.com wrote:
> I'd like to run a DLV11-J (18-bit) in a H9270Q (22-bit) backplane. Haven't tried it yet but wondering what problems I might encounter. The CPU is KDJ11-AA so no serial or ROM there. I'm using a QBone in 22-bit mode for memory, serial port and ROM.

DLV11-J is documented as working in a 22 bit backplane. It's an 18
bit device, but it doesn't do DMA, so it's not a problem. See DEC
Micronote #5.

Lessee, what else....you need to put it in the highest priority slot
(IO slot that is closest to CPU and memory), otherwise higher
performance devices will keep it from getting much done. See DEC
MicroNote #33.

IF you plan to use VMS SYSGEN CONFIGURE to see what vector and
address to use, you'll be out of luck, since DLV11J apparently isn't
supported by that tool (been wrestling with that problem myself for a
few days). What vector and address are you planning to use? If it
conflicts with any existing ones in your machine, you may have some
writewarp work in your future....

--

Lee K. Gleason N5ZMR
Control-G Consultants
lee.g...@comcast.net

[Dennis Boone]

> IF you plan to use VMS SYSGEN CONFIGURE to see what vector and
> address to use, you'll be out of luck

A KDJ11-AA is an 11/73.

De

[Lee Gleason]

Yes. Obviously. I have several of them. But the best tool for
planning what CSRs and vectors to use for options on VAXes AND PDP11s is
VMS SYSGEN CONFIGURE. You give it a list of options, and it will give
you back a list of the CSRs and vectors to assign to them, following all
of the configuration rules. It's a handy tool - for PDP11s as well as
VAXes. It you're doing any hardware modifications to a system (yes,
including KDJ11-AA and other PDP11s), you should check it out.

[Lee Gleason]

And, although usually I wouldn't think it would be necessary - just
in case I have to spell it out here - you run the tool on a VAX running
VMS - even when you are using it to generate configuration info for a
PDP-11. There is no VMS SYSGEN CONFIGURE available for the OS's
generally found on a PDP-11.

[Three Jeeps]

Glad you spelled it out. Thank you. Not everyone has a VAX available to configure a PDP11. I do but they run UNIX. Haven't had the time or the need to install VMS. Been kicking around the idea of dual booting a vax but don't have the heart to dive into that anytime soon. Any chance it was ported to Unix/Linux ? (or other OS's). Source code available?
J

[Lee Gleason]

On 11/23/2022 9:48 AM, Three Jeeps wrote:

>
> Glad you spelled it out. Thank you. Not everyone has a VAX available to configure a PDP11. I do but they run UNIX. Haven't had the time or the need to install VMS. Been kicking around the idea of dual booting a vax but don't have the heart to dive into that anytime soon. Any chance it was ported to Unix/Linux ? (or other OS's). Source code available?
> J
>

Actually, I've been doing a lot of searching about CONFIGURE
lately,trying to find out why it doesn't seem to support the DLV11J, and
I came across a UNIX implementation of it. Haven't used it, but it
looks pretty good. Sources included. It's available lots of places,
here's one - https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Tools/Misc/sysgen.tar.Z

---

[Dennis Boone]

> Actually, I've been doing a lot of searching about CONFIGURE
> lately,trying to find out why it doesn't seem to support the DLV11J, and
> I came across a UNIX implementation of it. Haven't used it, but it
> looks pretty good. Sources included. It's available lots of places,
> here's one - https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Tools/Misc/sysgen.tar.Z

There's one included with the simh tools as well.

De

[Johnny Billquist]

If you are running RSX, and have DECnet installed, then there is
[200,200]FLOAT.CMD

However, that one don't know about the DLV11-J.

There is a basic C implementation that does the same as VMS SYSGEN also,
which I compiled on my RSX system.
However, that one *also* do not know about the DLV11.

With that said, I believe the DLV11-J is what was used with the TU58
commonly, so if you play based on that, you would end up correctly.

.run sysgen
Type device names one per line, optionally followed
by a comma and a repeat count. Finish with EOF.
TU58,4
UNA
UDA
Table of standard DEC assignments for configuration:

DEVICE CSR VECTOR
-------------------------
TU58 776500 0300*
TU58 776510 0310*
TU58 776520 0320*
TU58 776530 0330*
UNA 774510 0120
UDA 772150 0154

CSRs and vectors marked '*' are in floating space.


Johnny