[HECnet] Decnet8: Who has any knowledge about this product and has seen it actually working in whatever versions? -> Pydecnet etc.

[R. Voorhorst]

Hi Paul,

I have tried your router but it gave some problems on Centos 6.10 to get it
running, though at first it ran well but had some routing problems I told
you about.
I had to do some things to get it up, but later in the process of updating
pydecnet, Centos started at a certain point complaining about corrupted
kernel.
I do not speak Unix very well, so I may well have installed to many basic
things to get it running and therewith contaminated something.

Point is that with simh logging, I already can see enough about packets
interchange, however there is no exchange at all at the moment: it is stone
dead.
Activating Tlk to force some internal activity leads directly to a halt
instruction with not a very illuminating comment as explanation.
Injecting a packet from a Vax async ddcmp line leads to reception and
discarding of the sync preamble and then a halt instruction for packet
fragmentation.
Of course I was playing false with it, as the start message had C0 for flags
that Decnet8 expects to be a fill, whatever the fill value may have been
expected.
There I can make use of your product to excite the system somewhat.
By the way, the current Decnet8 is imho NOT phase II; I suspect they had it
running in the laboratory (viz Ddcmp version 4B versus V1C) and in the spd
claiming compatibility with Pdp11 phase-II products, but it probably never
got outside the gates. 
The mixed dates are a mystery but some Dec people should be around with
knowledge about this.
Moreover, I suppose the main driving force for the Pdp8A with notably the
Kt8 was from LSG as the Psdp8a was also an Anf10 workstation (680) though
with limited caps.


Thanks,

Reindert 



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On Behalf
Of Paul Koning
Sent: Monday, 19 October, 2020 23:27
To: hecnet at update.uu.se
Subject: Re: [HECnet] Decnet8: Who has any knowledge about this product and
has seen it actually working in whatever versions?



> On Oct 19, 2020, at 5:01 PM, R. Voorhorst <R.Voorhorst at swabhawat.com>
wrote:
> 
> L.S.
>  
> Currently I am finishing testing for the release of the last member of the
Pdp8 series computers: Simh Pdp8a with some new devices (and some from old
not present in Ppd8).
>  
> Current state of affairs is, that it is running Os8 V3S 128k monitor and
the Kt8 diagnostics and is stable. 
> Also F4 runs and basic Rts8 V2b and V3.
> The last hurdle is to activate Decnet8 as the last test station to really
load a Pdp8 with some realistic real time work.

Nice!

> ... 
> And there are a lot more things going on. So the bottom question remains:
has anyone seen the internet versions working or is there a clobber up
between an advanced laboratory (Phase-II??) version as documented (look at
the Ddcmp versions) and a preleased or prior old Decnet version. And if so,
can anything be retrieved or is it lost forever.

I can't help with your detailed questions.  But in case it wasn't well
known: yes, I believe DECnet/8 is Phase II.  That means you need either a
Phase II, or Phase III DECnet product to talk to it, or you need PyDECnet.
That's Phase IV but unlike the normal case, it supports all the way back to
Phase II.

It also has detailed packet tracing, so you might find it a useful peer to
use for debugging your DECnet/8 system.  For example, if DDCMP is giving you
trouble you should be able to see what you're receiving from the DECnet/8
system.

	paul