[HECnet] SIMH TOPS-20 question --> recipe for handling Tops20 install tapes --> MTBOOT --> create new PS: structure

[Thomas DeBellis]

Cool beans.  Get me those tape labels, would you?


On 12/30/21 2:43 PM, Paul Koning wrote:
> At this point I'm all set.  Reindert pointed me to a DECnet 2.1 for 
> 2020 tape, and I copied the files on it to disk with dumper.  After 
> that, the installation procedure in the manual did the job.  The 
> missing part, and bafflingly so, is the dumper instructions to get the 
> files off tape.
>
> I also found that the "DECnet 2.1 SWS tape" has a whole bunch of neat 
> stuff on it.
>
> paul
>
>> On Dec 29, 2021, at 8:58 PM, Thomas DeBellis 
>> <tommytimesharing at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I downloaded both images, but am only looking at BB-H240B-BM at the 
>> moment.
>>
>> This appears to be a KL distribution as it has a rather sizeable 
>> directory for building an MCB imagine for a DN20.  A DN20 requires a 
>> DTE, which the KS does not have.  You'd need something to DMA Unibus 
>> to Unibus and I'm not sure whether that was ever a thing.  Sounds 
>> like a great idea, if you ask me.
>>
>> However, I don't think any of it will be useful.  Also, I can't quite 
>> tell; it may be Phase III.  At least a document says as much.  Have a 
>> look at VENTI2::H240B.LST, which is a listing of the DUMPER save sets 
>> and VENTI2::DECNET.DOC, which is the initial documentation for the 
>> release.
>>
>> How would you like to proceed?  Skip this and look at the second 
>> tape, which appears to be a 2020 based distribution?
>>
>> On 12/28/21 7:34 PM, Paul Koning wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> On Dec 28, 2021, at 5:11 PM, Thomas DeBellis 
>>>> <tommytimesharing at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> dir mta0: would only work for either a Tops-20 or ANSI labeled tape 
>>>> with volume recognition on.  You're not doing that by assigning the 
>>>> tape drive directly.
>>>>
>>>> But they're probably not labeled; I don't recall that DEC shipped 
>>>> this way.
>>>>
>>>> If you let me know what tapes you're looking at, I can have a look 
>>>> and give you some pointers or tips.
>>>
>>> BB-H240B-BM.tap.gz 
>>> <http://www.bitsavers.org/bits/DEC/pdp10/magtape/dec_distribs/TOPS-20/BB-H240B-BM.tap.gz> is 
>>> one, BB-H241B-BM.tap.gz 
>>> <http://www.bitsavers.org/bits/DEC/pdp10/magtape/dec_distribs/TOPS-20/BB-H241B-BM.tap.gz> the 
>>> other.  I'm not sure which is right.  The description file 
>>> (labels_combined.txt 
>>> <http://www.bitsavers.org/bits/DEC/pdp10/magtape/dec_distribs/labels_combined.txt>) 
>>> has them listed as:
>>>
>>> BB-H240B-BM         DECNET-20 V2 DIST TAPE                1980     
>>> _tops-20
>>> BB-H241B-BM         DECNET-20 2020 V2 DISTRIBUTION        1980     
>>> _tops-20
>>>
>>> paul
>>>
>
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