[HECnet] ANF10 network --> DN200/DN20 --> instant gratification ...?

Thu Nov 18 08:10:20 PST 2021

Hi,

For the impatient amongst thee I have as interim solution the following,
pending the release of the software tree:

1.       The load image for simh Pdp11 of Anfu63 being a 5 sync line DN200
with peripherals with node-number 63 (routers top down allocated).

2.       The simh config file for configuring a working simh Pdp11/34 with
the proper throttling to make it work; the proper setting is important
because of Chk11 init phase which is instruction timing based!!! 

3.       The pdf of the complete listing file of the Anfu63 load image.

This configuration maxes out on the number of possible connections to be
usable as a star formation router.

Beware: the plt plotter device is absent in current simh Pdp11 as I added it
in my simh variants for Pdp8A sim (almost finished), Pdp11, Pdp10 and
Pdp10-KI/KL; it should not be a problem and can be commented out. The config
is for a Windows platform but you Unix/Linux guys will easily hack it into
your suitable form.

The config file is self-explanatory with respect to interconnecting; I keep
a port number allocation schema for all my Decnet/Anf10 nodes.

This configuration runs on a Pdp11 simh with a commit date from about 2
years ago, but I do not think it will preclude the current last commit.

It you got it running, you can inspect the running node with Ddt11 from a
KS10 based system.

Download link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/170HhUK84d81MMjre8z5vgEennxPdJ10g/view?usp=s
haring

If problems, contact me .

Fun and success,

Reindert

From: R. Voorhorst [mailto:R.Voorhorst at swabhawat.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, 17 November, 2021 10:07
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Cc: 'Robert Armstrong' <bob at jfcl.com>; 'Peter Lothberg' <roll at stupi.com>
Subject: RE: [HECnet] ANF10 network --> Kdp/Dup --> recipe for 8 Dups

The following recipe enables 8 dups:

In simh in Pdp10_defs.h:              #define DUP_LINES 8 /* max # of
DUP11's */

and rebuild the pdp10.

In Tops10:    Edit NETPRM.MAC in the monitor build tree, usually in
[10,7,MON], and modify: MXNDUP==^D8

                               from ^D2 and reassemble NETPRM and D8KINT and
replace it in TOPS10.REL.

In SYSCNF.MAC  locate M.KDUP and modify as follows

M.KDUP==:10

;;      Type of line for KDP0 (ANF10,DECNET,USER,IBM) [

;;      This question is asked for each KDP (KMC/DUP line) indicated in the 

;;      previous question.  Type the name of the network product that the
line 

;;      will support.]: d

M.0KDP==:2

M.1KDP==:2

M.2KDP==:2

M.3KDP==:2

M.4KDP==:1

M.5KDP==:1

M.6KDP==:1

M.7KDP==:1

The above values are for 4 Decnet and 4 Anf10 but that can be filled in
differently as needed

Then rebuild the monitor.

Change the Simh Pdp10 config file with the required settings set dup lines=8
and attach definitions for Dup0 to Dup7.

That is all there is to it; if the instructions are to sparse I will expand
them; patched files are overkill here as generally my files have evolved
further in version numbers and features and undoing the unnecessary ones may
lead to errors.

The DN200 files have to wait till next week as I have other obligations at
the moment.

Success,

Reindert

From: Robert Armstrong [mailto:bob at jfcl.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, 16 November, 2021 21:33
To: R.Voorhorst at swabhawat.com
Subject: RE: [HECnet] ANF10 network --> Kdp/Dup

Reindert,

  Post the details, please!   Especially the TOPS10 patch.   MONGEN limits
you to two lines on the KS, but even if I manually edit the resulting
SYSCNF.MAC file I still get errors when building the monitor.

  Are you also running an ANF10 network?

Thanks,

Bob

From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On Behalf
Of R. Voorhorst
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2021 12:18 PM
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Subject: RE: [HECnet] ANF10 network --> Kdp/Dup

L.S.

It is quite easy to expand this; currently I run 8 lines from the Kdp/dup
and it works quite well.

It needs a slight adaptation in Simh and another in Tops10, but you have to
rebuild the monitor.

Reindert

From: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE [mailto:owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE] On Behalf
Of Robert Armstrong
Sent: Tuesday, 16 November, 2021 17:34
To: hecnet at Update.UU.SE
Subject: [HECnet] ANF10 network

  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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