RSTS/E SIMH

[the doctor]

I hope this is the right place to ask this question...

The last time I seriously played with RSTS/E, I was 12 or 13.

I used to own a real PDP 11/23, but my wife refused to ship it to where we
live now, the UK... so, I built an emulated one years ago using simh.

Somehow, at the time, I managed to copy things between linux and rsts/e. I
can't remember how I did it, and the only references I can find online refer
to using Kermit or DECNET.

I've had no luck getting DECNET / Ethernet working with simh (lack of knowing
what I'm doing I'm sure) nor do I remember how to even use kermit on RSTS, or
if it was even installed by default.

What is my best bet? What would you do? I'd live to be able to play a
complete version of dungeon/zork... What I'd really like to do is write a
modern BBS system for it in DecBASIC or something... it keeps playing on my
mind.


Thanking you in advance,


Mark

--- QUARKware (QBBS) 7.1 - QUARKnntp 0.9
* TARDIS BBS - Home of QUARKware * telnet bbs.cortex-media.info

[Johnny Billquist]

Post by the doctor
I hope this is the right place to ask this question...
The last time I seriously played with RSTS/E, I was 12 or 13.
I used to own a real PDP 11/23, but my wife refused to ship it to where we
live now, the UK... so, I built an emulated one years ago using simh.
Somehow, at the time, I managed to copy things between linux and rsts/e. I
can't remember how I did it, and the only references I can find online refer
to using Kermit or DECNET.
I've had no luck getting DECNET / Ethernet working with simh (lack of knowing
what I'm doing I'm sure) nor do I remember how to even use kermit on RSTS, or
if it was even installed by default.
What is my best bet? What would you do? I'd live to be able to play a
complete version of dungeon/zork... What I'd really like to do is write a
modern BBS system for it in DecBASIC or something... it keeps playing on my
mind.
Thanking you in advance,

telnet mim.update.uu.se
hel guest/guest
dun

:-)

But I guess you might want to play with your "own" machine... (As well
as actually running RSTS/E instead of RSX.) Kermit is probably what I'd
use in your case. Your simh can connect terminal ports of the pdp-11 to
tcp ports. Kermit on Linux can connect to tcp ports. If you just have
Kermit on the PDP-11, you should be pretty set.

I can think of other solutions too, but things become more complicated
pretty fast...

Johnny

[l***@gmail.com]

Post by the doctor
Somehow, at the time, I managed to copy things between linux and rsts/e.

Someone else mentioned Kermit. That will work if you have a terminal port accessible via Telnet in SIMH.

Myself, I have been playing with a prebuilt RSTS/E system with only the console terminal port. (Haven’t figured out how to SYSGEN my own system yet.) But I can transfer files in and out using the paper tape reader and punch. From memory:

* CTRL/E to suspend RSTS and return to the SIMH console prompt
* use “att ptr «filename»” to attach an existing Linux input file to the paper-tape reader
* “c” to resume RSTS execution
* use “PIP «filename» = PR0:” to read in the file. I also successfully used “PIP «filename»/RMS:FB = PR0:” (I think it was) to read in formatted-binary files and convert them to variable-length record format.
* CTRL/E back to SIMH again
* type “det ptr” to detach the input file from the paper-tape reader.
* “c” to resume RSTS execution.

For output, the procedure is similar:
* CTRL/E to suspend RSTS and return to the SIMH console prompt
* use “att ptp «filename»” to attach a Linux output file to the paper-tape punch
* “c” to resume RSTS execution
* use “PIP PP0: = «filename»” to copy a file to the paper-tape punch
* CTRL/E back to SIMH again
* type “det ptp” to close the output file
* “c” to resume RSTS execution.

This worked for small files, I didn’t try anything large. :)