TUHS

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6532 discussions

Re: [TUHS] Happy birthday, Grace Hopper!

by Dave Horsfall

On Tue, 8 Dec 2015, Brantley Coile wrote: > We were indeed lucky that admiral hooper was with us. I know people who > still cherish their "nano" seconds. Ah yes, the 1ft piece of wire... Got a photo of it? > By the way, she wouldn't have said she coined the term "debugging". That > is at least as old as Thomas Edison. She said she was the first to a > actually find a real bug! For those who may be new around here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper#/media/File:H96566k.jpg Yes, that is a real bug, found inside a real computer. -- Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will suffer."

9 years, 6 months

v6tar from v7 on v6, too large?

by Will Senn

All, According to "Setting Up Unix - Seventh Edition", by Haley and Ritchie: The best way to convert file systems from 6th edition (V6) to 7th edition (V7) format is to use tar(1). However, a special version of tar must be prepared to run on V6. The document goes on to describe a reasonable method to make v6tar on v7 and copy the binary over to the v6 system. I successfully built the v6tar binary, which will execute in the v7 environment. I then moved it over to the v6 system and did a byte compare on the file using od to dump the octal bytes and then comparing them to the v7 version. The match was perfect. The problem is this, when I attempt to execute the v6tar binary on the v6 system (it works in v7) it errors out: v6tar v6tar: too large on the v7 system, it works: v6tar tar: usage tar -{txru}[cvfblm] [tapefile] [blocksize] file1 file2... I don't think the binary is too large, is is only 18148 bytes. ls -l v6tar -rwxrwxrwx 1 root 18148 Oct 10 14:09 v6tar Help. First, what does too large mean? Second, does this sound familiar to anyone? etc. Thanks, Will

9 years, 6 months

Happy birthday, Grace Hopper!

by Dave Horsfall

OK, slightly OT... Rear Admiral Grace ("Amazing") Hopper PhD was given unto us in 1906. She was famous for coining the term "debugging", whereby a moth was removed from a relay contact in a *real* computer[*]. However, she must be condemned for giving us COBOL; yes, I know that vile language, but I carefully leave it off my CV, as it seemed to be designed for suits (Business Studies of course, but nothing technical) to spy upon their programmers. [*] Defined, of course, where you could open a door and step inside it; I actually did that once. -- Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will suffer."

9 years, 6 months

Re: [TUHS] Scan of "Edition 0" manual

by Doug McIlroy

> It might not be so much a set of macros as just using a > subset of raw groff. Yes, there were no macros back then. If you format the document using raw groff, the odds are that you will be speaking the same roff that Dennis did. > Doug having been there, might know/remember the actually lineage. Aside from some fuzziness about who wrote what and in what language, here's what happened: To port Jerry Saltzer's Runoff (presumably written in MAD) to Multics, either Dennis or Bob Morris or both together reimplemented it (presumably in PL/I). To coexist with Saltzer's version on CTSS, the new program needed a distinct name, hence roff. The early Multics PL/I compiler was far from a production tool. Justifiably, the Bell Labs comp center didn't support it. To get roff into general use at the Labs, I undertook yet another implementation in BCPL. I added functionality (number registers, three-part headings, etc) and kept the new name. Molly Wagner added hyphenation. Eventually, I added macros that were usable either as commands or (when parameterless) embedded in text. Almost as soon as Unix was up on the PDP-11 one of Ken, Dennis or Ossanna reimplemented a pre-macro version of roff (presumably in assembler or B). I'm quite sure roff never ran on the PDP-7. Ossana had a grander plan and undertook nroff. When he learned of the availability of the Graphic Systems CAT phototypesetter, he promptly generalized nroff to handle it. Joe replaced the CAT's paper tape reader with a direct wire to the computer. It all worked swimmingly--nothing like the travails when the CAT was replaced by the more capable Merganthaler Linotron. An interesting question of priority is whether nroff or BCPL roff was first to have a macro capability. Though I don't remember for sure, the fact that BCPL roff unified registers, macros, strings and diversions suggests that I abstracted from nroff facilities. Doug

9 years, 6 months

Installing and Using Research Unix Version 7 in SimH PDP-11/45 Emulator

by Will Senn

All, In the same vein as my prior note, I have made a note available on the process of getting up and running on Unix Seventh Edition in a SimH PDP-11 environment. The text is located at: http://decuser.blogspot.com/2015/12/installing-and-using-research-unix.html I welcome comments, suggestions, and even criticisms. While I have learned a lot since my last blog entry (many thanks to Hellwig Geisse, Nelson Beebe, Noel Chiappa, Clement Cole and several others), I am still learning about these environments. I originally invested time in getting v7 running so that I could more easily work with v6, after having gone there, I believe that it was time very well spent. I know a lot more about special devices, tape formats, and so on than I did before as a result of taking the fork in the road. Thanks for everyone's help. Oh, and by the way, there appears to be quite a bit of active interest in this topic - the blog post has been viewed several thousand times since I posted it, two weeks ago. Kind regards, Will

9 years, 6 months

Adding an RP06 disk to a running V7 instance

by Will Senn

I have set up v7 following [1] and I would like to better understand the process of adding a disk to the environment. Here is what I know: The system has one RP06 with two partitions rp0 and rp3 which correspond to the two block devices rp0, rp3, and the two character devices rrp0, and rrp3. The special files look like so: brw-r--r-- 1 root 6, 0 Dec 31 19:05 /dev/rp0 brw-r--r-- 1 root 6, 7 Dec 31 19:04 /dev/rp3 crw-r--r-- 1 root 14, 0 Dec 31 19:01 /dev/rrp0 crw-r--r-- 1 root 14, 7 Dec 31 19:01 /dev/rrp3 This meshes with the device classes switches in c.c: The block device switch: struct bdevsw bdevsw[] = { ... nulldev, nulldev, hpstrategy, &hptab, /* hp = 6 */ ... } The character device switch: struct cdevsw cdevsw[] = { ... nulldev, nulldev, hpread, hpwrite, nodev, nulldev, 0, /* hp = 14 */ ... } I would like to add another RP disk to the environment. After I attach an RP04/05/06 to the system, what should I use as the major/minor device numbers? To put it differently, it doesn't seem correct to me to use 6,1 for the block device or 14,1 for the character device on the new drive as it's a completely different disk from rp0 and rp3 which are just partitions on the first drive and have 6,0, 6,7, and 14,0, 14,7. If each RP can have 8 partitions and there can be 8 drives, what is the correct major, minor numbers to use with v7 for multiple devices? c.c only lists one vector each for the hp device (one block vector where hp = 6, and one char vector where hp = 15). Thanks, Will [1] Haley, C. B. & Ritchie, D. M. (1979). Setting Up Unix – Seventh Edition (pp. 497-505) in UNIX programmer's manual, Vol. 2, Revised and Expanded Version. Bell Laboratories: NY.

9 years, 6 months

boot block in v7 bootable on rp06 in simh

by Will Senn

In exploring v6, I have found some uses for having a running v7 instance... When I try to install the RP bootblock during the installation procedure for installing Version 7 Unix following the original documentation: ftp://ftp.uvsq.fr/pub/tuhs/PDP-11/Documentation/v7_setup.html I am unable to boot from the RP06 disk that I installed into the boot block onto via: dd if=/usr/mdec/hpuboot of=/dev/rp0 count=1 No error, it just hangs. I compared hpuboot to the bootblock at it matches byte for byte. I also compared it to the hpuboot file in Henry Spencer's tape image (I am using Keith Bostic's tape) and it matches that as well. I am asking this list because I thought y'all might know if there was a problem with: 1) the hpuboot binary on the tapes 2) v7 using RP06 3) something else helpful :) (maybe it's not supposed to be loaded to byte 0 on the disk image, although that's how it works with v6?) I am aware that the system can be booted from tape, but that seems hokey (obviously it works, since that's how the installation process works in the first place, but I think it is reasonable to expect to be able to boot from the RP06). Interestingly, there are and RL02 and RK05 v7 images that boot from disk available, but not RP. I will ask on the SimH list, if y'all don't think it's appropriately directed. Thoughts? Thanks, Will

9 years, 6 months

Some notes on running UNIX v6 in 2015, using SimH and a healthy dose of documentation

by Will Senn

All, I am studying Unix v6 using SimH and I am documenting the process, as I go, as part of my own learning process. I have much to learn about Unix, Unix v6 in particular, the PDP architecture and its relationship with v6, and SimH's emulation of the PDP, so, I am taking notes... I thought that I would share the notes in raw form as occasional blog posts in the hope that the knowledge that I work to obtain, might be made available and useful to others. I also believe that these forms of communication, as insignificant as they may seem individually are part of helping to preserve the knowledge of our computing history, in the aggregate. Here is a link to the first post, a run at an installation walk-through: http://decuser.blogspot.com/2015/11/installing-and-using-research-unix.html I am open to feedback and criticism, but please keep in mind that I am a relative newbie to v6 and PDP land, some of my assumptions are probably/undoubtedly wrong, but definitely fixable :). Regards, Will

9 years, 6 months

Re: [TUHS] Some notes on running UNIX v6 in 2015, using SimH and a healthy dose of documentation

by jnc＠mercury.lcs.mit.edu

> From: Will Senn <will.senn(a)gmail.com> > a deeper read will require the reader to have knowledge beyond what is > required of most modern software developers (PDP-11 architecture, > assembly language, and UNIX are prerequisite). Well, for pretty much any _operating system_ (as opposed to applications), one will need to know something about the details of the machine it is intended to run on; depending on which part of the OS one is looking at, it will be more or less. E.g. switching processes probably requires a fair amount, since one needs to know about internal CPU registers, etc; whereas working on the file system, one probably doesn't need to know very much about the machine. > It will also require access to a lab where the ideas covered can be > experimented with. Actually, Lions/V6 was used in operating systems courses using simulated machines; one at MIT, 6.828 "Operating Systems Engineering": https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/ used it for a while before the students started complaining about being forced to learn an obsolete machine. They thereupon wrote a V6 clone for the x86 architecture, 'XV6' (see the top of that page), which is apparently now used for similar courses at quite a few other universities. > The v6 kernel ... packs in features that were either unavailable in > larger more established systems or may have been present in some form, > but were orders of magnitude more lines of code and attendant > complexity. It was and remains an amazing operating system and worthy > of contemporary study. I don't think you will find too many people here who disagree! ;-) > So, I was thinking that next up, I would write up notes to help the > modern reader engage with v6 more easily in order to follow works like > Lyons. Check around online to see what exists, first; there has been stuff written since Lions! ;-) Noel

9 years, 6 months

Re: [TUHS] Some notes on running UNIX v6 in 2015, using SimH and a healthy dose of documentation

by SZIGETI Szabolcs

Hi, Don't forget the Zuse machines, which were later proven to be Turing complete. It is certainly fascinating to see handling binary floating point numbers in a purely mechanical device (check it out if you happen to be in Berlin). Later machines were electromechanical and electronics. Regards, Szabolcs > > 2015.12.04. 15:52 ezt írta ("John Cowan" <cowan(a)mercury.ccil.org>): >> >> Greg 'groggy' Lehey scripsit: >> >> > Take a look at CSIRAC in the Melbourne museum, the oldest computer in >> > the world. It's worth it, even if they don't have it running. >> >> Well, there's the Antikythera mechanism. >> >> -- >> John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan(a)ccil.org >> In the sciences, we are now uniquely privileged to sit side by side >> with the giants on whose shoulders we stand. --Gerald Holton >> _______________________________________________ >> TUHS mailing list >> TUHS(a)minnie.tuhs.org >> https://minnie.tuhs.org/mailman/listinfo/tuhs

9 years, 6 months

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