TUHS October 2002

tuhs@tuhs.org

28 participants
37 discussions

[pups] Interdata 3220 backup tape found... worth recovering for archives?

by Robertdkeys＠aol.com

I chanced upon some old V7 stuff today, from a researcher at the Duke University Medical Center that did not have the heart to just throw them out. There was a complete manual set for V7 from a Perkin-Elmer NMR machine dating from 1984, and a backup tape of the system (9 track Scotch 700 series 6250bpi) dated 12/17/80. The machine was apparently an Interdata 3220 (Perkin-Elmer was supposed to have bought out Interdata). The manuals will make for fun reading, but there may be some worthwhile bits if the tape is OK. Anyway, I am seriously thinking of trying to read the contents of the tape, and pass them on to Warren, for the archives, if he thinks that is something to do. As to reading the tape, with the highest chance for successful recovery, what would the list folks recommend. I was thinking of just doing a retension on the tape to wind it off the reel and prevent sticking, and then maybe use the copytape ditty that has been floating around the net since time began, which should list file sizes, block sizes, file types, etc., while reading the files to disk. I can roll the tape on a VAX or a Sparc system using a Cipher M995S deck. Any suggestions from the list? Thanks Bob Keys robertdkeys(a)aol.com

22 years, 2 months

[pups] Req help rebuilding v7 rl2unix with dz driver added

by Richard L. Hamilton

(running under simh V2.9-11) I wanted to add the dz driver for multi-"terminal" support. But I'm a bit stumped figuring out how to rebuild rl2unix, let alone how to add the dz driver. (no rlconf/rl2conf file, although mkconf.c looks like maybe it knows about the rl2 if not about the dz) Is this do-able? Is the dz driver in the v7 image usable? -- mailto:rlhamil@mindwarp.smart.net http://www.smart.net/~rlhamil

22 years, 2 months

Re: [TUHS] Re: Making boot disks

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Oct 1, 10:16, Ian Molton wrote: > On Tue, 1 Oct 2002 06:29:56 GMT > pete(a)dunnington.u-net.com (Pete Turnbull) wrote: > > It is indeed a straight port of BSD 4.x, where x depends in whether is > > it's RISC iX 1 or 1.2 (R440 used 4.2, I think; R260 used 4.3). > > was the only difference between 1 and 1.2 the kernel? I think other things were updated as well, in line with differenet versions of BSD, but I don't have any sort of definitive list. > > Take a look at James Carter's page at > > http://www.jfc.org.uk/documents/riscix_clone.html > > wont I need a working installation first? To clone a disk, yes, you need to start with a good disk :-) > > > is it possible for someone else to make a filesystem image for me > > > that I could dd onto a floppy? I suspect that this system uses an > > > old variant of ufs. > > > > It is a standard 4.3 filesystem (at least for the verison for an > > R260). It even says so when it boots: > > Thats good to know - linux can actually write to that (although attempts > so far have led to kernel panics!) > > Do you know of generic source for mkfs ? Linux source, especially early versions, or a full BSD 4.x distribution, eg from the PUPS archive? > > One of us could copy some stuff for you. I'm not sure you'd be able > > to get what you need onto a single floppy, though. That's not how > > Acorn did it. > > did you see the scripts I attached? > > Apparently the create 3 floppies, which can be used to install a system. I've looked at the scripts (sorry, didn't have time yesterday). They're not Acorn's. They were created by Granada Microcare's Field Service division when they had to upgrade R140 versions of RISC iX -- 1.13 was a bugfix release. They should work, providing the versions of the kernel and other files in my version will fit on a floppy. I'm not sure how best to get your tar file back though; it doesn't look like the minimal system has NFS support. You ought be able to do it if you had a spare hard drive, put the tar file on it, and mount it under /mnt. Modify the tar command in cpsys so it doesn't overwrite /mnt, like James and I did. dsplit is just a utility (written by Acorn?) to split a big file over several floppies, or extract it again (like bsplit, but probably with different markers). > can risciX do loopback mounted filesystems?) No. That's a linux invention. But I can probably create the floppies for you, when I have time to move my R260 to somewhere I can use it -- probably not this weekend, maybe the weekend after. What machine have you got? R140, R260, or something else? Is it the same type as the filesystem you copied came from? -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

22 years, 2 months

Re: [TUHS] Re: Making boot disks

by Christian Groessler

On 10/01/2002 01:37:54 AM CET Ian Molton wrote: > >On Tue, 1 Oct 2002 09:29:02 +0930 >"Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog(a)lemis.com> wrote: > >> Well, it would be nice to know what you're really trying to do. >> What's the hardware? If the file system is UFS, it's unlikely to be a >> good fit for Linux. I'd say "try FreeBSD", but without knowing more >> about your software and hardware, it's not clear if that would be any >> better. Google suggests that it runs on ARMs. Is that correct? > >The hardware is an obscure british platform from back when the ARM was >young. - The Archimedes. > >The CPU is the ARM2 or 3 (either work) and the systems have SCSI, >ethernet, and (up to) 16Mb of RAM. I think NetBSD supports these machines. See http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/acorn26/ regards, chris

22 years, 2 months

Re: [TUHS] Re: Making boot disks

by pete＠dunnington.u-net.com

On Oct 1, 1:37, Ian Molton wrote: > > On Tue, 1 Oct 2002 09:29:02 +0930 > "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog(a)lemis.com> wrote: > > > Well, it would be nice to know what you're really trying to do. > > What's the hardware? If the file system is UFS, it's unlikely to be a > > good fit for Linux. I'd say "try FreeBSD", but without knowing more > > about your software and hardware, it's not clear if that would be any > > better. Google suggests that it runs on ARMs. Is that correct? > > The hardware is an obscure british platform from back when the ARM was > young. - The Archimedes. > > The CPU is the ARM2 or 3 (either work) and the systems have SCSI, > ethernet, and (up to) 16Mb of RAM. > > I dont actually know what the filesystem is, but my guess is UFS based > on the newfs command in the mkkernel script, and a rumour it is BSD > derived. It is indeed a straight port of BSD 4.x, where x depends in whether is it's RISC iX 1 or 1.2 (R440 used 4.2, I think; R260 used 4.3). > I have everything from a machines filesystem in a tarball. > > I simply have no bootdisk, and cant create one without a suitable newfs > > > > any advice from the list would be appreciated :) Take a look at James Carter's page at http://www.jfc.org.uk/documents/riscix_clone.html James and I worked this out when we rescued half-a-dozen R260's in various states of disrepair and with various not-quite-complete copies of RISC iX. > is it possible for someone else to make a filesystem image for me that I > could dd onto a floppy? I suspect that this system uses an old variant > of ufs. It is a standard 4.3 filesystem (at least for the verison for an R260). It even says so when it boots: RISC iX Release 1.2 ARM3 processor, cache enabled ... ... Root fstype 4.3, name /dev/sd0a Swap fstype spec, name /dev/sd0S ... One of us could copy some stuff for you. I'm not sure you'd be able to get what you need onto a single floppy, though. That's not how Acorn did it. We'd certainly be willing to help, especially if you have any RISC iX stuff we're missing. -- Pete Peter Turnbull Network Manager University of York

22 years, 2 months

[pups] Re: minnie.tuhs.org mailing list memberships reminder

by Richard Snow

now that i've signed up for this list I have forgotten what the topic is? I am a disabled veteran, I do some work with Linux as a hobby, and some web sites, also as a hobby. I may be getting a Vaxstation soon. I don't think is one of the ones supported by Linux yet. Richard Snow

22 years, 2 months

Re: Making boot disks (fwd)

by Warren Toomey

----- Forwarded message from Ian Molton ----- >From spyro(a)f2s.com Tue Oct 1 09:02:24 2002 Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 00:15:35 +0100 From: Ian Molton <spyro(a)f2s.com> To: wkt(a)tuhs.org Subject: Re: Making boot disks On Tue, 1 Oct 2002 07:37:35 +1000 (EST) Warren Toomey <wkt(a)minnie.tuhs.org> wrote: > I'll pass this to the mailing list to see if others can help you. > I'd say that Linux is unlikely to construct the correct filesystem > type. There are severl UFS variants, and you'd need to know the exact > layout details to be sure that Linux (or something else) could create > the boot disks. Thanks. I found some ufs code in the HURD source, and VERY crudely hacked it. It creates filesystems that linux can mount, but it crashed trying to write big files to it (doh!) any advice from the list would be appreciated :) ----- End of forwarded message from Ian Molton -----

22 years, 2 months

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TUHS October 2002