Adding a disk to RSTS/E

[Carl Marbach]

I've downloaded in Windows, RL01 games disk image and RK05 Rsts0 Games image.

I've put them on a USB-stick and attached it to my PiPDP11. Pi sees the USB stick as AS01.

How do I set up a new disk image and import it into RSTS?

I see instructions for RSX, but not RSTS in the Manual.

What do I do next?

Carl

[Clem Cole]

below ...

On Fri, Jun 17, 2022 at 8:57 AM Carl Marbach <cmar...@marbachs.com> wrote:

I've downloaded in Windows, RL01 games disk image and RK05 Rsts0 Games image.

Ok so you have two local Windows files (that are in RSTS filesystem images) let's call them:  games_rl.dsk and games_rk.dsk 

I've put them on a USB-stick

i.e. you did a Windows copy command to a mounted USB stick - formatted with an MS-DOS-based FAT/vFAT/EX-FAT file system.

 

and attached it to my PiPDP11. Pi sees the USB stick as AS01.

Hmmmm ... that sounds a little strange, but you need to mount the USB on Linux (UNIX) to add it to the File System namespace, and thus "see"  the data (i.e. open file to read/write it) on the disk.  A typical UNIX command to do the same is:

%   mount -t FS_TYPE /dev/XXX /YYY

Where XXX is the special file of the device (your USB) and /YYY is the (such be empty) directory for the mount (i.e. FS namespace splice) and FS_TYPE the file system type of the bits found in the special file.  I would expect it to be either vfat or exfat [hint man 1 mount is your friend]

After the mount command, you should have the files: /XXX/games_rl.dsk and /XXX/games_rk.dsk available on Linux [and any other files on the USB key].

At this point connect to the PiDP-11 console, type ^P to simh to suspend the simulation, and then give simh the following commands such as (note I used rl2 and rk2 as an example - you have to check to see which devices are free on your simulated system):

sim>att rl2 /XXX/games_rl.dsk

sim>att rk2 /XXX/games_rk.dsk

sim>cont

At this point mounting them is purely up to RSTS.  simh will have added them to device space as if a physical disk pack had been inserted into the 3rd RK05 or RL physical device.

How do I set up a new disk image and import it into RSTS?

A new image is the same, just:

 

sim>att rl3 some_unused_filename_rl.dsk
sim>att rk3 some_unused_filename_rk.dsk
sim>cont

Note that simh will create an empty UNIX file of the appropriate size using the names listed in the sim attach command.  Again RSTS will see these as (in this case the 4th) RK or RL but this time the 'virtual disk packs' will be empty and without a filesystem. You will need to use RSTS to format and put a file system that RSTS understands inside the files (simh and thus UNIX just sees them as bits).

Carl -- respectfully.  I really can not impress on you more, that you get access to a copy of Rob Pike and Brian Kernighan's "The Unix Programming Environment" (a.k.a. ISBN: 0-13-937699-2 or 'UPE').  I then ask you to read it and do >>all<< the exercises using a VNC or ssh session into your RPi.  The exercises should apply to Linux on your RPi just fine.  Many of the frustrations you are running into seem to be from your (admitted) lack of familiarity with UNIX.

The fact is that the PiDP-11 is hosted on a modern UNIX implementation (a.k.a. Linux).  Even if you desire it to work with traditional DEC OS environments such as DOS/RSX/RSTS/RT11, you really need to understand the RPi's UNIX environment that is presenting it to you.   If not, I very much suspect that you will continue to have small frustrations that result in bewildering questions like this.

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