[HECnet] ANF10 network

[Thomas DeBellis]

I'm pretty sure that ANF10 predates DECnet.  The 1973 third addition of 
the Assembly Language Handbook (the orange book) shows the LOCATE UUO 
(CALLI 62,) to change a job's logical station and the WHERE UUO (CALLI 
63,)  which returns a device's physical location.

My understanding is that this was by using ANF10 or one of its ancestors.

I never heard of DECnet that long ago; not on any 36 bit or 12 bit 
system I had access to (didn't have access to a PDP-11)

I /think/ ANF10 will run over Ethernet, which is how you would get 
multiple nodes, maybe.

This is so cool; I have wanted to lift the ANF10 code out of Tops-10 and 
put it into Tops-20 for eons.

Kudo's to you both.

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 11/16/21 11:34 AM, Robert Armstrong wrote:
>
>   Supratim and I (with some help and encouragement from Peter) have 
> set up an ANF10 network between the TOPS10 nodes VENTI and TWONKY.  If 
> you haven’t heard of it, ANF10 (short for “A Networking Feature” – 
> yes, really!) predates DECnet (I’m pretty sure, although I’m sure 
> there will be debate about that) and provides mostly the same 
> functions – remote terminals, file transfer, etc.  ANF10 also has 
> remote RJEs with card readers, line printers and terminal concentrators.
>
> .net/anf
>
> [ANF10 network: connected to VENTI(20), located at VENTI(20), 2 nodes]
>
> Node    VENTI (20)    SIMH KS10 VENTI 7.04 NET        14-Nov-21
>
> Node    TWONKY (37)    SIMH KS10 TWONKY 7.04NET        15-Nov-21
>
>   It’s possible to run ANF10 and DECnet both, and that’s what we’re 
> doing so TWONKY and VENTI are also available on HECnet.  If anybody 
> else has a TOPS10 system and would like to connect it would be nice to 
> add a few more nodes, but there is a problem.  TOPS10 supports a 
> maximum of two KDP/DUP lines on the KS10, and you need one for DECnet 
> and the other for ANF10.  That means each system can talk to at most 
> one other ANF10 system, which limits the network size to two nodes.   
> Bummer…
>
>   There are a few options available –
>
> ·DEC made some DNxx PDP-11 boxes that supported multiple ANF10 
> connections.  We could set up one of these as a router.
>
> ·Somebody could hack TOPS10 to allow more than two DUP lines.
>
> ·Somebody could write a pyDECnet type gizmo that speaks ANF10.
>
> And there might be others that I haven’t thought of yet.  Any ideas?
>
> Bob
>
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