Multi-User Star Trek and other Games for RSX

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Mark Matlock

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Apr 15, 2019, 11:57:17 PM4/15/19
to [PiDP-11]
   In another thread there has been an interesting discussion of various games that can be played under various PDP-11 operating systems.
One of my favorites has been MTREK or Multi-User StarTrek. Up to 8 players can play against (or together against other) players or robot
ships. This post is about how to find and install the programs necessary to play it.

   First, this software and over a decade of RSX SIG tapes (approximately 500 MBytes) are all available for download. This is also described
on page 31 of the PiDP-11 user manual as well and you may have already downloaded this but if not...

cd /opt/PiDP11/systems/rsx11mplus
unzip PiDP11_DU1.zip

Reboot the PiDP11 into RSX (SR switch to 1, depress Address knob) After booting DU1 should automatically be mounted.

>SET /DEF=DU1:[1,1]

The latest version of MTREK is on RSX83B.DSK which can be found by searching the *.TXT files with GREP or MOR as described in manual

>@MOUNT RSX83B

>DIR RSX83B:[*,*]MTREK.*

Directory VF0:[307,110]
15-APR-2019 21:52

MTREK.BLD;1         6.         19-OCT-1983 12:25
MTREK.CMD;1         7.         19-OCT-1983 12:53
MTREK.DOC;1         53.        19-OCT-1983 14:46
MTREK.FTN;1         29.        19-OCT-1983 12:34
MTREK.RAT;1         21.        22-DEC-1982 11:26
MTREK.RNO;1         40.        19-OCT-1983 14:14
MTREK.TKB;1         1.         19-OCT-1983 13:00

Total of 157./157. blocks in 7. files

The MTREK files are in [307,110] and we need to copy them to DU1: to make sure we have plenty of free disk space.

>UFD DU1:{307,110]
>PIP DU1:[307,110]=RSX83B:[307,110]*.*;*
>SET /DEF=DU1:[307,110]
>DIR *.TSK
PIP -- No such file(s)

Hmmm.. No prebuilt tasks so we will have to compile from the sources.

>DIR *.CMD
Directory DU1:[307,110]
15-APR-2019 21:58

MTREK.CMD;1         7.         19-OCT-1983 12:53
MTREKUP.CMD;1       1.         19-OCT-1983 13:11

Total of 8./8. blocks in 2. files

Ok, let's look at the MTREK.CMD
>TYPE MTREK.CMD

A long listing follows but it is clear that this is the build command file.
It is also apparent that MTREK is written in something called RATFOR which is Rational Fortran (an oxymoron?)
Anyway when I did a directory of all the files in [307,100] the .FTN files are there so we don't need to process
the .RAT files into .FTN files.

SO, let's try it.

>@MTREK
>;
>; MTREK.CMD
>;
>; This command file will preprocess, compile & build Multi-trek for
>; your system. The following system tasks must be installed (or
>; available thru flying installs) with the expected names:
>;
>;   ...RAT -- the RATFIV preprocessor (if you want to preprocess the
>;            RATFIV source into FORTRAN
>;   ...F77 -- the FORTRAN 77 compiler
>;   ...MAC -- Macro-11 assembler
>;   ...TKB -- taskbuilder
>;
>; The FORTRAN source is also distributed in this account, so it is not
>; really necessary to preprocess the RATFIV unless you just want to.
>;
>;
>* Do you want to preprocess the RATFIV source? [Y/N]:N
>;
>;
>; compile various utility routines
>MAC STRMOV=STRMOV
>!RAT ATAN3.RAT >ATAN3.FTN
>F77 ATAN3/-TR/-CK=ATAN3
>!RAT DIRDIS.RAT >DIRDIS.FTN
>F77 DIRDIS/-TR/-CK=DIRDIS
>;
>; compile ship routines
>!RAT MTREK.RAT >MTREK.FTN
>F77 MTREK/-TR/-CK=MTREK
>!RAT SCREEN.RAT >SCREEN.FTN
>F77 SCREEN/-TR/-CK=SCREEN
>!RAT COMMANDS.RAT >COMMANDS.FTN
>F77 COMMANDS/-TR/-CK=COMMANDS
>!RAT DRVMSG.RAT >DRVMSG.FTN
>F77 DRVMSG/-TR/-CK=DRVMSG
>!RAT RUNMTR.RAT >RUNMTR.FTN
>F77 RUNMTR/-TR/-CK=RUNMTR
>!RAT INPOUT.RAT >INPOUT.FTN
>F77 INPOUT/-TR/-CK=INPOUT
>!RAT TAQIO.RAT >TAQIO.FTN
>F77 TAQIO/-TR/-CK=TAQIO
>!RAT MESSGE.RAT >MESSGE.FTN
>F77 MESSGE/-TR/-CK=MESSGE
>!RAT TERMINAL.RAT >TERMINAL.FTN
>F77 TERMINAL/-TR/-CK=TERMINAL
>!RAT INTERS.RAT >INTERS.FTN
>F77 INTERS/-TR/-CK=INTERS
>;
>; compile universe driver routines
>!RAT MTREKD.RAT >MTREKD.FTN
>F77 MTREKD/-TR/-CK=MTREKD
>!RAT MSHIPS.RAT >MSHIPS.FTN
>F77 MSHIPS/-TR/-CK=MSHIPS
>!RAT MTORPS.RAT >MTORPS.FTN
>F77 MTORPS/-TR/-CK=MTORPS
>!RAT MHOMER.RAT >MHOMER.FTN
>F77 MHOMER/-TR/-CK=MHOMER
>!RAT MANTI.RAT >MANTI.FTN
>F77 MANTI/-TR/-CK=MANTI
>!RAT MHOLE.RAT >MHOLE.FTN
>F77 MHOLE/-TR/-CK=MHOLE
>!RAT PHASER.RAT >PHASER.FTN
>F77 PHASER/-TR/-CK=PHASER
>!RAT DAMAGE.RAT >DAMAGE.FTN
>F77 DAMAGE/-TR/-CK=DAMAGE
>;
>; compile universe initializer
>!RAT MTREKINI.RAT >MTREKINI.FTN
>F77 MTREKINI/-TR/-CK=MTREKINI
>; compile robot ship
>!RAT ROBOT.RAT >ROBOT.FTN
>F77 ROBOT/-TR/-CK=ROBOT
>;
>; compile global common
>!RAT TRKCOM.RAT >TRKCOM.FTN
>F77 TRKCOM,TRKCOM/-SP=TRKCOM
>;
>; compile universe map maker
>!RAT MAP.RAT >MAP.FTN
>F77 MAP/-TR/-CK=MAP
>;
>; Taskbuild the global common & tasks
>TKB @TRKCOM.TKB                !global common
>TKB @MTREKD.TKB                !universe driver
>TKB @MTREK.TKB         !ship
>TKB @MTREKINI.TKB      !universe initialization
>TKB @ROBOT.TKB         !robot ship
>TKB @MAP.TKB           !universe map maker
>;
>; All done!!
>; Do @MTREKUP to install Multi-trek
>;
>@ <EOF>

Wow, no errors! What Luck!

Read MTREK.DOC to learn how its played, then
>@MTREKUP

You will be asked for a random number to build your unique Universe, Install the memory common that holds the universe,
install the MTREKD daemon that moves stuff around, and install the MTREK ships and Robot ships.
Also MAP.TSK will create a large text file UNIVERSE.MAP to guide you to "Boldly Go Boldly Where No Man has Gone Before"!

Then for a change of pace:
>SET /DEF=DU1:[1,1]
>@MOUNT RSX83A
>UFD DU1:[312,354]
>PIP DU1:[312,354]=RSX83A:[312,354]*.*;*
>SET /DEF=DU1:[312,354]
>DIR *.TSK
>DIR *.TSK


Directory DU1:[312,354]
15-APR-2019 22:31

BKO.TSK;1           58.     C  18-MAY-1983 10:50
BKOFSL.TSK;1        42.     C  18-MAY-1983 10:50
CEN.TSK;1           67.     C  18-MAY-1983 10:50
CENFSL.TSK;1        51.     C  18-MAY-1983 10:50
MSL.TSK;1           70.     C  18-MAY-1983 10:51
MSLFSL.TSK;1        54.     C  18-MAY-1983 10:51
PAC.TSK;1           68.     C  18-MAY-1983 10:51
PACFSL.TSK;1        52.     C  18-MAY-1983 10:51
WONDER.TSK;1        30.     C  18-MAY-1983 10:51

Total of 492./492. blocks in 9. files

This is a collection of arcade games (PACMAN, CENTIPEDE, MISSLE COMMAND, that use VT100 graphics and some incredible escape sequence coding again in that
RATFOR language. The .TSK files that DO NOT use the FSL (FCS Supervisor Library) will run fine. They have .DOC files to explain them and are best played at 9600
to 19200 baud terminal.

The last game in this directory WONDER.TSK is one I am not familiar with. It won't run because it links a FSL library from an earlier version of RSX. There is a .TKB
file which can be used to task build it but it is also broken. Fixing it is not hard if you are familiar with RSX but if you are not edit the file to the following:

>TYPE WONDER.TKB
WONDER,WONDER/MA=WONDER,UVT100OLD,LB:[1,1]F77FCS/LB
/
SUPLIB=FCSFSL:SV
ACTFIL=1
UNITS=5
//

then you can:
>TKB @WONDER.TKB

Also, as Johnny Billquist points out, he has many additional games running on MIM and that is a great place to try them. One of my favorites there
is "Leather Godesses of Phobos" which I bought originally for my Atari 1040ST complete with the 3D glasses and scratch and sniff card.

Have Fun,
Mark


oscarv

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Apr 16, 2019, 7:36:08 AM4/16/19
to [PiDP-11]
Mark,

Something to do tonight, thank you!

One addition: if you have run RSX before, an empty/dummy PiDP11_DU1 file was generated by simh. So just to be sure that's out of the way:

cd /opt/PiDP11/systems/rsx11mplus
sudo rm PiDP11_DU1.*
sudo unzip PiDP11_DU1.zip

Kind regards,

Oscar.

Radioteacher

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Apr 21, 2019, 8:45:55 PM4/21/19
to [PiDP-11]
Mark and Oscar,

Thank you for starting this thread.  I should be back on track to work on this later in the week.  

Of all the things I did not have in my parts drawers are 1uf caps for the MAX232's.  

Have a great week!

Paul

Oscar Vermeulen

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Apr 21, 2019, 8:54:04 PM4/21/19
to Radioteacher, [PiDP-11]
Paul,

Best try before you rely on me but I think the 1uF value is noncritical. 10 uF will do just fine.

Kind regards,

Oscar.



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Radioteacher

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Apr 21, 2019, 9:56:52 PM4/21/19
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Oscar,

I am sure you are correct but I only have two of those plus aesthetically, I wanted all of the caps to match.  

After a number of searches, I realize that my parts collection has a gap in this area.  So I ordered a 10 value range of 50 pieces of each value kit to fill in my supply.  This costs less than a typical lunch and should last me...forever.

I will simply add this to my parts collection.  

Years ago, I was able to stock up when a local parts house went out of business.  They were selling a 3 cubic foot box for $50.  Anything you could fit in the box was yours.  I first cleaned out the tips for my Weller solder station first and moved on to passive and active components.

-Paul

On Sunday, April 21, 2019 at 7:54:04 PM UTC-5, oscarv wrote:
Paul,

Best try before you rely on me but I think the 1uF value is noncritical. 10 uF will do just fine.

Kind regards,

Oscar.



On Mon, 22 Apr 2019 at 02:45, Radioteacher <paul...@gmail.com> wrote:
Mark and Oscar,

Thank you for starting this thread.  I should be back on track to work on this later in the week.  

Of all the things I did not have in my parts drawers are 1uf caps for the MAX232's.  

Have a great week!

Paul


On Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at 6:36:08 AM UTC-5, oscarv wrote:
Mark,

Something to do tonight, thank you!

One addition: if you have run RSX before, an empty/dummy PiDP11_DU1 file was generated by simh. So just to be sure that's out of the way:

cd /opt/PiDP11/systems/rsx11mplus
sudo rm PiDP11_DU1.*
sudo unzip PiDP11_DU1.zip

Kind regards,

Oscar.

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andy

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May 17, 2019, 8:14:40 PM5/17/19
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Hi Mark - can you give me some advice on how a noob might install F77?  I got as far as typing @MTREK, and it asks me....

Do you want to preprocess the RATFIV source? [Y/N]:N

*** The Fortran 77 compiler is not installed.
      Please install it (as ….F77) and rerun this command

cheers!
Andy

It then 

Mark Matlock

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May 17, 2019, 11:16:02 PM5/17/19
to [PiDP-11]
Andy,
    The easiest way to get F77, as well as BasicPlus2, C, APL, Pascal, Cobol, DECnet, Johnny Billquist's TCP/IP and also have 8 DZ11 ports is to boot the version of RSX that on the disk image labelled 

    That disk image was SYSGENed for a PDP-11/70, with 4 DU drives, 4 RL drives, a MS tape, an MU tape, an RX02, a card reader, DZ and DL serial ports and a TU58. It was NETGENed for a DELUNA, has LAT in case you have a DECserver for more serial ports. That image is normally located in:

/opt/pidp11/systems/rsx11mplus/


    this is also where you want the PiDP11_DU1.dsk and it will have a boot.ini that should attach both of these images. This is the version of RSX that boots with switch 1 set.

   If your copy got overwritten, you can get a new one from the same place as the DU1 DECUS disk

cd /opt/PiDP11/systems/rsx11mplus
unzip PiDP11_DU0.zip

   If you are using a version of RSX that you have already customized and just want to install F77, The rsx11mpbl87.dsk image that
almost all of us are starting with has a F77 distribution in DU0:[246,246] with the latest patch files for it in [246,200]
The process is actually too lengthy to put in a post here but the manual that has the instructions is:


   The easiest by far is to use the PiDP11_DU0.dsk image where all that work is already done.

Good Luck,
Mark

oscarv

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May 18, 2019, 6:35:29 AM5/18/19
to [PiDP-11]
Andy,

Also - now you got your serial terminals working, the suspicion is they will work on the regular DU0 system as well. As Mark mentioned DZ was configured on that image (his 'frodo' setup) as well.

Kind regards,

Oscar.

andy

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May 18, 2019, 10:37:24 AM5/18/19
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Thanks Mark, Oscar

OK I will copy that .DU0 over to the rsx11mplus folder.  I'll leave my boot.ini stuff the same yeah?

Will report back!

cheers
Andy

Mark Matlock

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May 18, 2019, 10:58:03 AM5/18/19
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Andy,
   Yes the default boot.ini should be correct. To be absolutely sure, verify it has the following lines:

set rq0 autosize
attach rq0 PiDP11_DU0.dsk
set rq1 autosize
;enable this line when you want to use the DECUS disk image collection
;which comes on a separate 1.7GB disk:
attach rq1 PiDP11_DU1.dsk

   Oscar has pointed out that when this boot.ini runs and you don't have a PiDP11_DU1.dsk
in that folder Simh will make one for you. This can be a problem when you download and try to unzip the big 1.6 GB DECUS disk.

Best,
Mark

andy

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May 18, 2019, 8:57:15 PM5/18/19
to [PiDP-11]
thanks again for guidance Mark!

OK - so I wgot and unzipped the DU0 dsk from rsx11.com into the systems/rsx11mplus folder.  Adjusted the boot.ini to refer to the correct dsk etc.  And when I reboot I get the correct RSX11 starting up... I assume it's correct because it asks me if I want to start up LAT, TCPIP etc.  However unfortunately I don't see the "DZ Simulator started" message on any of my terminals nor can I  get to the > prompt from any terminal.  Everything else I am sure is OK. If I do con dis for tt I see something that looks like lots of terminals mapped. And my /dev/TTYUSB0-3 devices are present as before.

About an hour ago my same terminals seemed OK using the Manfred disk.

Not sure if this factors into things but I also have in my .ini

set dz enable
set dz modem
set dz lines=8

Followed by my  attach dz line=0-3,connect /dev/ttyUSB0 -3 etc lines

I appreciate the help. I surely must be getting close!!

cheers :-)

Mark Matlock

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May 19, 2019, 1:17:38 PM5/19/19
to andy, [PiDP-11]
Andy,
In the boot.ini for the RSX I set up there is a line:

attach dz 10001

Did you remove it?

Also, you should have:

set dz enable
set dz lines=8
set dz address=17760030
Set dz vec=300

attach dz line=0-3,connect /dev/ttyUSB0 -3


The last line should be your line that works in the other boot.ini I think two things could be involved,

I normally use the dz to handle inbound telnet connection to Simh at port 10001 that then appear like physical RS232 lines to RSX. That is the attach needs to be commented or removed.

Second, the RSX I sysgenned is expected the dz to appear at CSR 177760030 and VECtor 300
If this is not defined to Simh, I’m not sure where it puts the dz. If this needs to be changed the RSX CONfigure command can be used to show what Controllers RSX has configured where.

>CON DIS CONT ATT
SYS
PDP-11/70, EIS,UNIBUS_Map,D-Space,SWR,Cache,FPP,
Clock=KW11-L, $TKPS=60., $TTPRM=000002, Cache_control=000001
WEA
Csr=174510, Vector=000120, Pri=000005, Urm=000001
YLA
Csr=177560, Vector=000060, Pri=000005, Urm=000001
YLB
Csr=160010, Vector=000310, Pri=000005, Urm=000001
YLC
Csr=160020, Vector=000320, Pri=000005, Urm=000001
YZA
Csr=160030, Vector=000330, Pri=000005, Urm=000001
DKA
Csr=177404, Vector=000220, Pri=000005, Urm=000001
DLA
Csr=174400, Vector=000160, Pri=000005, Urm=000001
DUA
Csr=172150, Vector=000154, Pri=000005, Urm=000001
MUA
Csr=174500, Vector=000260, Pri=000005, Urm=000001
CRA
Csr=177160, Vector=000230, Pri=000006, Urm=000001
MSA
Csr=172522, Vector=000224, Pri=000005, Urm=000001
DYA
Csr=177170, Vector=000264, Pri=000005, Urm=000001
DDA
Csr=176500, Vector=000300, Pri=000004, Urm=000001
LPA
Csr=177514, Vector=000200, Pri=000004, Urm=000001
PPA
Csr=177554, Vector=000074, Pri=000004, Urm=000001
PRA
Csr=177550, Vector=000070, Pri=000004, Urm=000001
LHA
Csr=177776, Vector=000000, Pri=000005, Urm=000001
TNA
Csr=177776, Vector=000000, Pri=000005, Urm=000001

Note: Simh is using 22bit octal addresses and RSX CON uses 16 bit octal addresses

Best,
Mark
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andy

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May 19, 2019, 8:06:09 PM5/19/19
to [PiDP-11]
Hi Mark

On Sunday, May 19, 2019 at 1:17:38 PM UTC-4, Mark Matlock wrote:
Andy,
   In the boot.ini for the RSX I set up there is a line:

attach dz 10001

Did you remove it?


Yep gone!
 

Also, you should have:

set dz enable
set dz lines=8
set dz address=17760030
Set dz vec=300

attach dz line=0-3,connect /dev/ttyUSB0 -3

The last line should be your line that works in the other boot.ini I think two things could be involved,


Here's my full boot.ini


;detach all
;reset all
set cpu 11/70, 4M

set xu enable
;set xu address=17774510
;set xu type-delua
set xu mac=aa:00:04:00:1e:78
attach xu eth0
sho xu

; under SimH 4, "throttling" results in a disturbed "idle pattern"
;set nothrottle
set noidle
set throttle 50%
;set console telnet=10000
sho cpu

set tm disable
set hk disable
set rp disable



set rq0 autosize
attach rq0 PiDP11_DU0.dsk
set rq1 autosize
;enable this line when you want to use the DECUS disk image collection
;which comes on a separate 1.7GB disk:
attach rq1 PiDP11_DU1.dsk

;set rq1 autosize
;set rq2 autosize
;set rq3 autosize

set tq tu81

set dz enable
set dz nomodem


set dz lines=8
set dz address=17760030

set dz vec=300
;attach dz 10001
sho dz

attach dz line=0, connect=/dev/ttyUSB0;9600-8n1
attach dz line=1, connect=/dev/ttyUSB1;9600-8n1
attach dz line=2, connect=/dev/ttyUSB2;9600-8n1
attach dz line=3, connect=/dev/ttyUSB3;9600-8n1

; connect to panel
set realcons host=localhost
set realcons panel=11/70
; We're running on a desktop PC with connection to localhost: max speed!
set realcons interval=1
set realcons connected
;set realcons debug
;show realcons

boot rq0

I couldn't run RSX CON, it seemed to be an unrecognized command
 
uses 16 bit octal addresses


Here's my con dis cont att
Not going to pretend: I am not at all familiar with what is going on here :-)
My CSR 177760030 and VECtor 300 seem to be the same as yours?
Also here's my file info in systems/rsx11mplus

 

pi@raspberrypi:/opt/pidp11/systems/rsx11mplus $ ls -l
total 1987508
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root       1203 May 19 18:23 boot.ini
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  314880000 May 19 19:41 PiDP11_DU0.dsk
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1720320000 May 17 13:17 PiDP11_DU1.dsk
pi@raspberrypi:/opt/pidp11/systems/rsx11mplus $


 
And my /dev/ USB TTY info

crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 188,   0 May 19 18:25 ttyUSB0
crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 188,   1 May 19 18:25 ttyUSB1
crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 188,   2 May 19 18:25 ttyUSB2
crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 188,   3 May 19 18:25 ttyUSB3
 

 
Thanks Mark for keeping me moving forward 

cheers
Andy  

andy

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May 19, 2019, 8:28:46 PM5/19/19
to [PiDP-11]
Apologies Mark I did not include my con dis cont att output:
Message has been deleted

andy

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May 19, 2019, 8:30:46 PM5/19/19
to [PiDP-11]
Apologies Mark I meant to include this output:

Johnny Billquist

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May 19, 2019, 9:32:39 PM5/19/19
to pid...@googlegroups.com
Andy, in your simh.ini, you set the DZ11 to CSR 160030, with a vector of
300. The CON output shows that RSX is expecting a CSR of 160030, and a
vector of 330.

You obviously needs to change one side or the other, so that the two
agree before things will work.

Johnny

On 2019-05-20 02:30, andy wrote:
> Apologies Mark I meant to include this output:
>
> *CON DIS CONT ATT*
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--
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

Mark Matlock

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May 19, 2019, 10:31:25 PM5/19/19
to [PiDP-11]
Andy,
    Johnny is exactly right! I think I made a typo when I was transferring lines from my boot.ini to the forums editor.
it should be:

set dz vec=330

    It needs to match and it is easy to change in boot.ini

Mark

andy

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May 20, 2019, 10:37:59 AM5/20/19
to [PiDP-11]
Johnny, Mark- appreciate your sleuthing... looks like I am in business!

best wishes
Andy

andy

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May 20, 2019, 5:45:18 PM5/20/19
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Just one more tiny question :-)   I am on page 41 of the manual. Building MTREK from Fortran using the @MTREK command.
Everything goes nicely until the end

>TKB @MTREK.TKB                    !ship
TKB -- *FATAL*-LOOKUP FAILURE ON FILE F770TS.OLB

>TKB @MTREKINI.TKB                 !universe initialization
TKB -- *FATAL*-LOOKUP FAILURE ON FILE F770TS.OLB

>TKB @ROBOT.TKB                    !robot ship
TKB -- *FATAL*-LOOKUP FAILURE ON FILE F770TS.OLB

>TKB @MAP.TKB                      !universe map maker
TKB -- *FATAL*-LOOKUP FAILURE ON FILE F770TS.OLB

>;
>; All done!!
>; Do @MTREK to install Multi-trek
>;
>@ <EOF>


If I dare try and run @MTREK I get a variety of errors - Partition TRKON not in system, defaulting to GEN
and a bunch of file not found errors.

Thanks as usual for any help!

Andy

Johnny Billquist

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May 20, 2019, 8:00:00 PM5/20/19
to pid...@googlegroups.com
F77OTS? I would have expected it to want to link with F77FCS...
Check and change in MTREK.TKB?

(And check that you have LB:[1,1]F77FCS.OLB)

Also, the warning about partitions are pretty harmless.

Johnny

On 2019-05-20 23:45, andy wrote:
> Just one more tiny question :-)   I am on page 41 of the manual.
> Building MTREK from Fortran using the @MTREK command.
> Everything goes nicely until the end
>
> >TKB @MTREK.TKB                    !ship
> TKB -- *FATAL*-LOOKUP FAILURE ON FILE F770TS.OLB
>
> **//___^
> >TKB @MTREKINI.TKB                 !universe initialization
> TKB -- *FATAL*-LOOKUP FAILURE ON FILE F770TS.OLB
>
> >TKB @ROBOT.TKB                    !robot ship**//___^
> **//___^
> TKB -- *FATAL*-LOOKUP FAILURE ON FILE F770TS.OLB
>
> >TKB @MAP.TKB                      !universe map maker**//___^
> **//___^
> TKB -- *FATAL*-LOOKUP FAILURE ON FILE F770TS.OLB
>
> >;
> >; All done!!
> >; Do @MTREK to install Multi-trek
> >;
> >@ <EOF>
>
>
>
> If I dare try and run @MTREK I get a variety of errors - /Partition
> TRKON not in system, defaulting to GEN/
> and a bunch of /file not found /errors.
>
> Thanks as usual for any help!
>
> Addy
> **//___^
>
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andy

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May 20, 2019, 8:58:13 PM5/20/19
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Hey guys, I EDTed  mtrekd.tkb, mtrek.tkb, mtrekini.tkb, robot.tkb and map.tkb.  Changed all occurences of F77OTS/LB to LB:[1,1]F77FCS/LB

IMG_5217.JPG


IMG_5218.JPG



andy

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May 20, 2019, 9:03:36 PM5/20/19
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Now all I gotta do is learn the game!

Thanks for all the amazing help. 

Andy

Mark Matlock

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May 20, 2019, 9:26:56 PM5/20/19
to andy, [PiDP-11]
Andy,
    The game is a lot of fun when you have two or more players logged in along with a few robot ships.

Best,
Mark

On May 20, 2019, at 7:58 PM, andy <lordha...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey guys, I EDTed  mtrekd.tkb, mtrek.tkb, mtrekini.tkb, robot.tkb and map.tkb.  Changed all occurences of F77OTS/LB to LB:[1,1]F77FCS/LB

<IMG_5217.JPG>


<IMG_5218.JPG>



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<IMG_5217.JPG>
<IMG_5218.JPG>

Mark Matlock

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May 21, 2019, 7:20:50 AM5/21/19
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Andy,
   If your terminal has the VT100 graphics characters, you might want to also try the Pacman game that I mentioned in my first post of the thread. It is on the RSX83A.DSK in directory [312,354]

   The PAC.TSK will run without compiling or task building.

Best,
Mark

andy

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May 21, 2019, 6:41:29 PM5/21/19
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Thanks Mark for the tips.... our gaming was temporarily thwarted by rather quaint access controls....

after hours.PNG


But we fearlessly change the time and tackled PAC, MSL and CEN

IMG_5247.jpg



CEN (century?) was definitely a big hit.



IMG_5233.jpg



OK well I think the next task is to digest the MTREK manual.  cheers!

Andy


Johnny Billquist

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May 21, 2019, 6:49:13 PM5/21/19
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CEN is Centipede, and you clearly do not have a terminal with the VT100
DEC Graphics font. :-)

Johnny

On 2019-05-22 00:41, andy wrote:
> Thanks Mark for the tips.... our gaming was temporarily thwarted by
> rather quaint access controls....
>
> after hours.PNG
>
>
> But we fearlessly change the time and tackled PAC, MSL and CEN
>
> IMG_5247.jpg
>
>
>
> CEN (century?) was definitely a big hit.
>
>
>
> IMG_5233.jpg
>
>
>
> OK well I think the next task is to digest the MTREK manual.  cheers!
>
> Andy
>
>
> --
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andy

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May 22, 2019, 9:53:00 AM5/22/19
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ah thanks Johnny.  Well the terminal is a Zenith Z-19-CN (c.1981?) which claims Zenith or ANSI escape sequences. Was hopeful that ANSI was something akin to VT100 but clearly not :-)


On Tuesday, May 21, 2019 at 6:49:13 PM UTC-4, Johnny Billquist wrote:
CEN is Centipede, and you clearly do not have a terminal with the VT100
DEC Graphics font. :-)

   Johnny

On 2019-05-22 00:41, andy wrote:
> Thanks Mark for the tips.... our gaming was temporarily thwarted by
> rather quaint access controls....
>
> after hours.PNG
>
>
> But we fearlessly change the time and tackled PAC, MSL and CEN
>
> IMG_5247.jpg
>
>
>
> CEN (century?) was definitely a big hit.
>
>
>
> IMG_5233.jpg
>
>
>
> OK well I think the next task is to digest the MTREK manual.  cheers!
>
> Andy
>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "[PiDP-11]" group.
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Johnny Billquist

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May 22, 2019, 6:50:44 PM5/22/19
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It's not actually the escape sequences that are wrong. And you can play,
as you noted. However, DEC VT100 is first of all implementing the ANSI
escape sequences plus some "private" extensions.

However, the thing I reacted to was that your terminal do not support
the DEC supplemental character set, so the visuals are just wrong.

Here are screen shots from the four games in there, so you can see how
they should appear.

Johnny

On 2019-05-22 15:52, andy wrote:
> ah thanks Johnny.  Well the terminal is a Zenith Z-19-CN (c.1981?) which
> claims Zenith or ANSI escape sequences. Was hopeful that ANSI was
> something akin to VT100 but clearly not :-)
>
>
> On Tuesday, May 21, 2019 at 6:49:13 PM UTC-4, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>
> CEN is Centipede, and you clearly do not have a terminal with the VT100
> DEC Graphics font. :-)
>
>    Johnny
>
> On 2019-05-22 00:41, andy wrote:
> > Thanks Mark for the tips.... our gaming was temporarily thwarted by
> > rather quaint access controls....
> >
> > after hours.PNG
> >
> >
> > But we fearlessly change the time and tackled PAC, MSL and CEN
> >
> > IMG_5247.jpg
> >
> >
> >
> > CEN (century?) was definitely a big hit.
> >
> >
> >
> > IMG_5233.jpg
> >
> >
> >
> > OK well I think the next task is to digest the MTREK manual.
> cheers!
> >
> > Andy
> >
> >
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
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> send
> > an email to pid...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>
> > <mailto:pid...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>>.
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>
>
> --
> Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
>                                    ||  on a psychedelic trip
> email: b...@softjar.se <javascript:>             ||  Reading murder
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breakout.png
centipede.png
missile.png
pacman.png

andy

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May 22, 2019, 7:04:39 PM5/22/19
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Well that makes more sense, thanks Johnny.

The funny thing is I have a "VT100 compatible" Informer 207 terminal which is a neat little unit, but I haven't quite figured out how to get it to send things like ESC or square brackets.  As I have learned.... I need those square brackets for things like [312,354]  :-)

informer.PNG


Johnny Billquist

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May 22, 2019, 8:06:31 PM5/22/19
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Just as an FYI - RSX also accepts <> as an alternative to [] for
directory specifications.

Johnny

Neal G.

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May 27, 2019, 9:11:46 PM5/27/19
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Hi Andy, the Z-19 is nearly identical to the terminal used in the H-89 integrated computer that I built a number of years ago. It supported both a Zenith/Heath protocol as well as VT100/ANSI protocol. The Zenith protocol is effectively a VT52 and is the default. The VT100 protocol is activated by the sequence: ESC <
You could try this by pressing the Off Line key at the top left pressing ESC then pressing < then pressing Off Line again. Now, the next time the game redraws the screen you should see the character graphics.

andy

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May 27, 2019, 9:27:04 PM5/27/19
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Hi Neal -  appreciate the tip - I did not know that!

cheers
Andy

Johnny Billquist

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May 28, 2019, 4:19:07 PM5/28/19
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On 2019-05-28 03:11, Neal G. wrote:
> Hi Andy, the Z-19 is nearly identical to the terminal used in the H-89 integrated computer that I built a number of years ago. It supported both a Zenith/Heath protocol as well as VT100/ANSI protocol. The Zenith protocol is effectively a VT52 and is the default. The VT100 protocol is activated by the sequence: ESC <
> You could try this by pressing the Off Line key at the top left pressing ESC then pressing < then pressing Off Line again. Now, the next time the game redraws the screen you should see the character graphics.

Uh... No...

Andy's problem was not that he was in VT52 mode. If you look at the
screenshots he provided, you can see that the cursor addressing was
working just fine.

It is all about a font problem, which is about needing something that is
more than ANSI. The VT100 is a superset to ANSI.

Johnny

andy

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May 28, 2019, 7:40:52 PM5/28/19
to [PiDP-11]
Yep Johnny -no way round it. I do need a real VT100 (or later)

In desperation I was also trying to get my Kaypro to connect (it claims to be VT100-ish with the keypro term program) but I could barely get any kind of reasonable connectivity at 9600. Kept losing random characters (I read somewhere that it cant really keep up with itself)

Anyway..... if there's anyone out there who needs to unburden themselves of their VT100 (or later)  do let me know :-)

 cheers!
Andy

Tom Lake

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May 28, 2019, 10:57:37 PM5/28/19
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You can usually get a VT-320 (in setup it allows you to choose VT-52 or VT-100 mode as well) a lot cheaper than a real VT-100. I just bought one with an amber screen for less than $250.00 US and it included the keyboard. Try to get a real VT-100 for that price!

Tom L

Neal G.

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May 28, 2019, 11:38:10 PM5/28/19
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The "ESC <" sequence was worth a try. The H89 documentation is full of references which make it appear that its design is essentially a Z-19 and H8 packaged together in a single box. But perhaps Andy's Z-19 is not quite the same as the H89 terminal portion as I assumed. Here's what I see on the H-89 screen when using the ANSI sequences to switch between alphanumeric and graphics modes.

IMG20190528-0.jpg

IMG20190528-1.jpg

Johnny Billquist

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May 29, 2019, 4:33:35 PM5/29/19
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You might want to look into enabling XON/XOFF flow control in the
terminal, and make sure it's enabled on the RSX side. At which point,
you might be good.

Johnny
> email: b...@softjar.se <javascript:>             ||  Reading murder
> books
> pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
>
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Johnny Billquist

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May 29, 2019, 4:38:28 PM5/29/19
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Not only that. I would say that a VT320 in general is a better terminal.
The only issue is the flyback transformer that have a bad habit of
giving up in the VT320.

You will probably not even need to set it to VT100 mode, but it will
work just fine also left in VT300 mode. The differences relates to some
keyboard behavior, some additional functionality of the VT300 series,
and 8+bit characters and controls, which a VT100 series do not have.

Johnny
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Johnny Billquist

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May 29, 2019, 4:49:10 PM5/29/19
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Thanks for that output. That looks "funny". IBM PC graphics?

On a VT100 you don't have a graphic mode, but you have different fonts.
One font is the DEC Tehcnical font. If you select that one, the output
looks like this (doing a similar printout as you did).

Noticeable is that the escape sequence to change fonts on a VT100 is
probably very different than the switch to graphics mode that you are
playing with.

By the way, the program I used for this looks like this (very simple
BASIC+2 code):

===
10 PRINT CHR$(I); FOR I=95 TO 127
20 PRINT ESC+"(0"
30 PRINT CHR$(I); FOR I=95 TO 127
40 PRINT ESC+"(B"
===

Johnny


On 2019-05-29 05:38, Neal G. wrote:
> The "ESC <" sequence was worth a try. The H89 documentation is full of
> references which make it appear that its design is essentially a Z-19
> and H8 packaged together in a single box. But perhaps Andy's Z-19 is not
> quite the same as the H89 terminal portion as I assumed. Here's what I
> see on the H-89 screen when using the ANSI sequences to switch between
> alphanumeric and graphics modes.
>
> IMG20190528-0.jpg
>
> IMG20190528-1.jpg
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tuesday, May 28, 2019 at 3:19:07 PM UTC-5, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>
> On 2019-05-28 03:11, Neal G. wrote:
> > Hi Andy, the Z-19 is nearly identical to the terminal used in the
> H-89 integrated computer that I built a number of years ago. It
> supported both a Zenith/Heath protocol as well as VT100/ANSI
> protocol. The Zenith protocol is effectively a VT52 and is the
> default. The VT100 protocol is activated by the sequence: ESC <
> > You could try this by pressing the Off Line key at the top left
> pressing ESC then pressing < then pressing Off Line again. Now, the
> next time the game redraws the screen you should see the character
> graphics.
>
> Uh... No...
>
> Andy's problem was not that he was in VT52 mode. If you look at the
> screenshots he provided, you can see that the cursor addressing was
> working just fine.
>
> It is all about a font problem, which is about needing something
> that is
> more than ANSI. The VT100 is a superset to ANSI.
>
>    Johnny
>
> --
> Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
>                                    ||  on a psychedelic trip
> email: b...@softjar.se <javascript:>             ||  Reading murder
> books
> pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
>
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DEC Technical.png

Neal G.

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May 30, 2019, 8:40:56 AM5/30/19
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IBM PC Graphics, no the H89 predates the "PC" by several years. You're correct though; it ignores the "(0" or "(9" sequences. The sequences in and out of graphics mode are "[10m" and "[11m". All preceded by ESC, of course.

Johnny Billquist

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May 30, 2019, 9:31:18 AM5/30/19
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On 2019-05-30 14:40, Neal G. wrote:
> IBM PC Graphics, no the H89 predates the "PC" by several years. You're correct though; it ignores the "(0" or "(9" sequences. The sequences in and out of graphics mode are "[10m" and "[11m". All preceded by ESC, of course.

My comment about IBM PC Graphics were because the graphic characters
looked a bit like the ones from the IBM PC. But I didn't do a full check
to see if they actually matched in any way.

But it was immediately obvious that they did not match the DEC Graphics
font.

So I guess this was a private extension done in that terminal, which
don't match anything else I know about.

I'll do a quick explanation of how the VT100 works here, anyone not
interested can skip it.

The VT100 have two active character sets, called G0 and G1. Each can be
assigned to an actual character set. The assignment is done with ESC ( n
for G0, and ESC ) n for G1.
(The VT200 and newer also have G2 and G3, assigned with * and +)

The 'n' tells which character set to use.
0 is the DEC Special Graphics.
A is UK English
B is US English
7 is Swedish

the list goes on, there are a whole bunch of them. And these are all the
national replacement character sets, which were used back in the days of
just 7 bit characters. There is also the Latin-1 high part, which can be
combined with the US English, and together they would form the full 256
character set, if you have a terminal that handles 8-bit characters.

But this only covers how to assign a font (or a character set) to the
G0/G1 character set. The next step is that there is yet anything mapping
selecting which set is used when printing. For a VT100 this is pretty
straight forward. You select if you print using G0 or G1. On a VT200 and
newer, this mapping is actually split in two halves, where the VT100
part becomes the "left" mapping, and you also get a "right" mapping for
characters 128-255. And each have a selection of G0-G3.

You can then also switch to G0 or G1 for just the next character, or
permanently. On a VT100 there is single shift 2 and single shift 3,
which just do it for the next char (ESC N and ESC O), and the locking
shift 0 and locking shift 1 (SI and SO).
(Of course, with the VT200 and newer, this also becomes a larger set of
functions, since you also have G2 and G3, as well as the ability to map
each one to both GL and GR).

So, as you could see in my program, I just swapped in the DEC Graphics
into G0 and printed, and then swapped back US ASCII into G0 again at the
end of the program.

I could also have mapped the DEC Graphics into G1, and then just done a
LS1 to print graphics, and LS0 to print text. And swapping between G0
and G1 with locking shifts is just one character (SI and SO respectively).

Johnny

--
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|| on a psychedelic trip
email: b...@softjar.se || Reading murder books
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