[HECnet] My RSTS/E system...

[Johnny Billquist]

On 2018-08-13 16:12, Paul Koning wrote:
> 
> 
>> On Aug 12, 2018, at 8:11 PM, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> wrote:
>>
>> By the way, Steve. What version of RSTS/E?
>>
>> I noticed another "odd" thing here.
>>
>> .set /host=pluto
>>
>> NCT -- CTERM is not available on host
>> NCT -- Using RMT
>>
>>
>> RMT -- Remote Host incompatibility error
> 
> The first message from the responding node contains OS and protocol identifiers.  The protocol identifiers, if I read the RSTS client correctly, are RSTS, RSX, VMS, and TOPS-20 protocols respectively (for 1 and up).  TOPS-20 is also used by RT-11; I forgot what Ultrix uses, either RSTS or TOPS-20 protocol I think.
> 
> If you run the "official" network terminal client on RSTS, it will give you a very similar message when connecting to non-RSTS because only the RSTS protocol was officially supported.  But the "netuns" client supports all four.  I have a summary of all four protocols somewhere which I used to extend the DECnet/Linux client; or you could use that code as a reference implementation if you need one.

Thanks for the clarifications. I have never looked closer at this older 
protocol itself. But just like RSTS/E, the RSX DECnet distribution 
provides a bunch of unsupported tools. And there too are a programs to 
connect to other operating systems. But in RSX, it's a different tool 
for each type of OS to connect to.
So you have a program called RRS to connect to RSTS/E systems, and a 
program called HOST to connect to TOPS-20.
RVT for connections to VMS.
(And RMT is the program for RSX to RSX communication.)

So I don't really need some reference implementation. The code already 
exists, but I suspect it has rotted some over the years, so I need to 
fix it.

   Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol