RSTS on a Pro, was Re: [HECnet] DECnet User Mode Router - Encapsulation Formats

[Paul_Koning at Dell.com]

It's a midnight project, done while at DEC but not official.   I did it first on RSTS 9.6, and in fact built a set of 3 or so floppies that can be used, along with a stock microRSTS kit, to install that on a Pro.   I subsequently ported it to RSTS/E 10.1 but didn't repackage it as I did the first time.

Yes, new drivers for sure.   New interrupt handling, too.

BTW, if you can write the correct bootstrap, the stock RSTS 9.6 INIT.SYS will boot on a Pro, because the PRO supports bits made it into the official sources as far as the init code goes.   If you do, it will identify the machine type as a "GPK-350" or "GPK-380".   :-)

What's missing is CNA support (Ethernet).   The chip used on that card sucks quite severely, and I've never had enough energy to write the driver.   But I have disk, and display, and serial ports including the obscure 4-port card, DDCMP support in both sync and async mode...

	paul

On Jun 22, 2012, at 5:28 PM, Dave McGuire wrote:

On 06/22/2012 05:25 PM, Paul_Koning at Dell.com wrote:
DDCMP over sync, yes.   But DDCMP also works on an async line, and
that just requires protocol code that can talk to a raw mode TTY
device.   That would work for what I need -- I have async DDCMP on my
PRO-380 running RSTS, and in fact it's a standard feature of some of
the PDP11 DECnet products.   (I'm not sure if it was ever official in
DECnet/E, but the machinery is there in the latest versions of the
kernel.)

Umm, hang on...RSTS on a Pro-380?   I didn't think RSTS had drivers for
the MFM controller in there, and I'm pretty sure the console I/O is very
different as well.   Please tell me more.

                      -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA