Simulated disk drive for RT-11?

[Allison]

>
>Subject: Re: Simulated disk drive for RT-11?
>   From: "Jerome H. Fine" <jhfinexgs2 at compsys.to>
>   Date: Mon, 06 Jun 2005 19:25:41 -0400
>     To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>
> >David Betz wrote:
> >Cool. Thanks! I wonder if it can boot RT-11?
>
>Jerome Fine replies:
>
>RT-11 can boot any device which looks like a
>disk drive - for which there is also the boot
>code in the device driver.  Thus far I am not
>aware of any such devices that do not have
>the needed boot code, including the DD(X).SYS
>device driver for the TU-58.
>
>There is, of course, ONE exception - the
>LD(X).SYS device driver which is DEC's answer
>in RT-11 for sub-directories.
>
>>Or maybe I should just run simh... I'm not really a hardware guy anyway!
>
>If you first want to become experienced with RT-11
>without all the hardware problems, then there are
>several V05.03 RT-11 distributions available.  One
>of those distributions also includes all of the prior
>RT-11 distributions.  The file, RT11DV10.ISO.zip is at:
>http://www.classiccmp.org/PDP-11/RT-11/dists/
>Note that you can actually boot the CD that can be
>burned from RT11DV10.ISO (after you UnZip the file).
>Or if you run SIMH, you can:
>ATTACH  RQ0:  RT11DV10.ISO
>SET  RQ0:  LOCK
>BOOT  RQ0:
>to run V05.03 of RT-11.  Of course, you can also legally
>run under E11 if you purchase an RT-11 license from Mentec
>for about $ US 900 (the latest price I have heard) and
>perhaps the distribution kit for $ US 1600 (also the latest
>I have heard).  For hobby use, there is no charge for the
>hobby use of E11.  The E11 commands are:
>MOUNT  DU0:  RT11DV10.ISO/RONLY
>BOOT   DU0:
>
>If you can use some help with running RT-11, please ask
>
>>And, I'll repeat my question, does anyone have one of these small -11 
>>QBus boxes they'd like to sell or trade? It seems that the BA23 might 
>>be a good choice as well.
>
>If you really want to run on real DEC hardware, then
>you obviously need some sort of disk drive as well.
>Even a TU-58 needs additional space and the 4 * 4
>backplane is just too small to be really useful.

The TU58 only wants a serial port.

My 4board config:

 m8186 KDF-11A
 m8059 MSV-11LK (256kb) (Run XM use VM (192k ramdisk)
 m8043 DLV11J  console, printer, modem and DD:
 m8021 MRV11-BA with TUboot roms


>The BA23 box is probably a much better solution since
>there is also space for 2 * 5 1/4" drives and the power
>to run them.  An M7555 RQDX3 and an RX50 floppy is
>probably two orders of magnitude better than a TU-58.
>A hard disk drive might be a bit more difficult, although
>an old ST412 at 10 MBytes looks like (actually is) an
>RD51.

The BA23 is bearly 30" deep.  Using RQDX2/3 controller with 
the disti pannel from a BA123 allows RD50/51/52/53 drives
and RD52s (31mb are easy to find and likely good if you 
find one) plus Either RX50 or RX33(teac FD55GFV) which is 
easier find as it was used in PCs.

The upside of a larger box is that with any disk or even TU58
you can have a better cpu (11/23b with boot roms) more ram
up to 4mb and any device that you wish for IO.  RT-11 XM with 
the VM driver in 1mb or more of ram is a slick system as you 
can copy everything to VM: (RAM disk) and boot it making it 
extremely fast. and even as little as 256kb of ram is very 
usable as a base RT system fits in less than 200k of disk.


Allison