[HECnet] RSX11M 4.6 complete installation logs

[Jordi Guillaumes i Pons]

El 24/07/2012, a les 11:12, Johnny Billquist va escriure:

On 2012-07-15 17:54, Jordi Guillaumes i Pons wrote:
I've completed 3 posts about the installation/generation of a RSX11M 4.6 (no plus) system from scratch under the simh simulator. If someone is interested, the links are:

http://ancientbits.blogspot.com.es/2012/07/installing-rsx-11m-46-from-scratch-part.html
http://ancientbits.blogspot.com.es/2012/07/installing-rsx-11m-46-from-scratch-part_12.html
http://ancientbits.blogspot.com.es/2012/07/installing-rsx-11m-46-from-scratch-part_15.html

(There is no addsense in that blog, even though I must confess I tried to enable it and was rebuked by google because of "lack of content"   ;), so this obvious spamming has no monetary interests behind ;)).

Read through them. My first reaction is that you are pretty much just letting ACF figure out your hardware, and taking the default answer

Yup. :)

almost everywhere. That is certainly a valid approach, and it makes life easy. However, if you ever need to start actually change anything, life becomes much more complex, and your guide leaves the user totally helpless. Atleast a few comments about the whats, whys and wheres would probably be useful.

I'll try to come up with something about this. For instance, ACF does not start up if I SYSGEN the running system again, then I have to go thru the whole device setup dialog.

Also, even though you say you have your system installed, finished, and done, it is not. You have not installed RMS, for instance, which many layered produects will require. You built all your tasks to not use any shared libraries, there are potential problems with doing a SAV /WB, as well as the generated system from the VMR step, that you should look at.
Also, there are potentially interesting stuff to change in the SYSVMR.CMD file, before you build your system.

:) I've managed to install DECnet on a 11M system. In a 256KW machine. It worked. Kinda. I had a good time fighting VMR and VNP. But it works, and connects. So yes, definitely VMR deserves more attention.


The queue manager is something you start in your SYSTARTUP.CMD, but unless my memory fails me, that is also something that needs some extra steps when you create it the first time, before it actually works in a usable way.

Well, it seems to have created the appropriate files. TBH I've not tried to print anything :)

XDT is sometimes a very nice thing to have in your system as well, which you skipped. Might be worth at least mentioning.

I can't remember offhand what else might be good to do/know, but that is partly a problem because I don't use 11M much these days, partly because I know my way around RSX pretty good, and partly because I just forget things. I might remember more later, or after some additional read throughs. :-)

Anyway, it's nice to see someone doing this kind of stuff. Keep at it. Hope someone finds it useful.

Thanks for this words. The idea was to put up a "quick and dirty" guide to set up a barebones RSX11M system. It can be elaborated ad infinitum (layered product installation, network installation, partition managing, you know...). 

BTW, there is a huge, serious mistake in my setup. Perhaps I could leave it as an exercise to the reader... :) But no, it's too serious to leave it as is...

In the next POS I'll write about my adventures setting up a standalone development system. After a lot of help from ppl from the simh list I've got what I think can be a working (playing) solution...

Oh, remember I've never worked with 11s in my professional career :) I begun with a VAX, and now I am a mainframer. So it is just for fun. And, certinly, I'm having a LOT of fun.


Jordi Guillaumes i Pons
jg at jordi.guillaumes.name
HECnet: BITXOV::JGUILLAUMES