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Boot a PDP-11/03 from an Emulated TU58?

NF6X

NF6X

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I just got my recently acquired PDP-11V03-L system to boot up for the first time since I got it, after replacing a shorted filter capacitor in the power supply. This system consists of a PDP-11/03 and an RX02 in a short DEC rack, with the following cards:

M7270KD11-HALSI-11/2 CPU
M8044-DBMSV11-ED32kword 18-bit MOS RAM
M8029RXV21RX02 floppy disk controller, 18-bit DMA only.
M8043DLV11-J4-Line Asynchronous Interface
M8012-YABDV11Bus terminator (120 ohm), bootstrap and diagnostic ROMs, 18-bit only

The BDV11 appears to include the standard pair of ROMs for this system configuration, which include bootstrap code for these devices according to the scanned LSI-11 Systems Service Manual that I have:

  • RK05
  • RL01
  • RX01
  • RX02

So, now for my possibly dumb question: If I connect a TU58 emulator such as the AK6DN one up to one of the async ports, is there any way to boot the system from it? I don't see the TU58 DECTape-II drive listed in the supported boot devices for the system. I'd like to be able to use a TU58 emulator such as the AK6DN one to boot the system from image files such as the XXDP diagnostic images, and possibly also use it to transfer floppy images from the PDP-11 to my modern laptop.

IMG_2894.jpg
 
Hi,

Last year, Don AK6DN supplied the following bootstrap code for TU-58 from a document he had:

Code: 
Revised bootstrap from TU-58 User Guide v4:

1000/012701
1002/176500
1004/012702
1006/176504
1010/010100
1012/005212
1014/105712
1016/100376
1020/006300
1022/001005
1024/005012
1026/012700
1030/000004
1032/005761
1034/000002
1036/042700
1040/000020
1042/010062
1044/000002
1046/001362
1050/005003
1052/105711
1054/100376
1056/116123
1060/000002
1062/022703
1064/001000
1066/101371
1070/005007

I type this code in every time I need to boot from the TU-58 emulator. It works fine.

Good luck!

smp
 
Mark,

If you want to save your fingers from doing this multiple times, you can upgrade your ROMs per Lou's instructions. I did it on my 11/23 (upgraded from an 11/03) and it works great. It requires locating and burning 2716s (I used 2732s), and some rejumpering.

- Crawford
 
Thank you! I also found Henk's page about bootstrapping a different LSI-11 system from TU58 after posting my question here, but I didn't understand whether it would work with my DLV11-J card and which port it would use. I think things are starting to make more sense. My DLV11-J is strapped to live at 176500, and async port 3 is the console. So, async port 0 is at the conventional address for a TU58 drive if I'm understanding everything.


Crawford said:
If you want to save your fingers from doing this multiple times, you can upgrade your ROMs per Lou's instructions. I did it on my 11/23 (upgraded from an 11/03) and it works great. It requires locating and burning 2716s (I used 2732s), and some rejumpering.
Click to expand...

I'm trying to find those instructions, but I haven't succeeded yet. I would appreciate a hint. If his ROM upgrade adds the TU58 device to the list of boot devices that I can select from the start prompt on the console, then that would be really cool. I can burn EPROMs.
 
Thank you! For anybody stumbling into this thread in the future, here's a link to the particular post of interest:

Lou's Instructions

I had already found and downloaded those ROM images just on general principal, but it did not occur to me that I could take ROMs from a different machine and put them in my 11/03. And even if it did, I don't know enough yet to figure out which machine's ROMs to use. I'll need to do some more studying to understand all of the details, but I think I get the general gist of what needs to be done. If I get it to work, I think I ought to write up a summary with pictures on my web page.

Thank you all very much for your help!
 
Lou posted a picture of his BDV11 with the set of EPROMs installed:

http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/album.php?albumid=51&attachmentid=5597

The labels are a bit hard to read. The firmware image split and his EPROM numbering scheme was explained somewhere in the thread. Another picture with easier to read labels might be nice if you get around to doing that with your BDV11.

Some day I need to acquire a label printer to make it easier to label EPROMs that I burn. I have a few boards around with just black electrical tape over the UV windows and I forget exactly what is in there.
 
I don't have enough 2716 EPROMs in my junk drawer to do the bootstrap upgrade at this time. Off to eBay I go…

Did DEC provide source code for any of the ROMs we're discussing here?
 
AK6DN said:
I find the 'Brother P-Touch' labelers are perfect for this application. The narrow tape works on 300mil ICs (PROMs, PALs, etc). The wider tapes work on 600mil ICs like EEproms and UVproms.

See: http://www.brother-usa.com/PTouch/#.UxzJrydv0RZ

Don
Click to expand...

Those are the ones I was considering myself. Maybe the PC connectable PT-2430PC for around $67 including shipping from Newegg. I think I would probably find that easier to use than one with a built in keyboard. So you use 6mm (0.23") tape for narrow DIP packages and 12mm (0.47") tape for wide DIP packages?

-Glen
 
gslick said:
Those are the ones I was considering myself. Maybe the PC connectable PT-2430PC for around $67 including shipping from Newegg. I think I would probably find that easier to use than one with a built in keyboard. So you use 6mm (0.23") tape for narrow DIP packages and 12mm (0.47") tape for wide DIP packages?

-Glen
Click to expand...

I got a refurb PT-1800 unit for $25 at a local store quite a while back, still working just fine. Standalone with keyboard. I looked at the PC USB units but the extra cost, and the need to boot up the ol' PC to print a label, argued against it. I guess if I were printing hundreds of production labels it might make more sense, but I have found the standalone keyboard unit to still be the best choice.

Those are exactly the tapes I use. I get the Tz tapes on Amazon, seems to be the best price. Like ink, Brother (mostly) gives away the printers, most of your cost over time will be in tapes...

Don
 
NF6X said:
I don't have enough 2716 EPROMs in my junk drawer
Click to expand...

Mark,

That's why I used 2732's - same pin out, and a lot more common - burned each image twice (upper and lower section) just in case. The ROM placements are non-obvious as you can see in Lou's picture.
 
Don’t want to be hijacking the thread or anything but why not just boot from the RX-02? The BDV-11 already has a boot set for the RX drive and once set for that all you need to do is type “Y” at the boot prompt with the RT-11 disk in drive 0
Just for fun one of my projects around here is to copy DEC Basic onto a couple ROMs and install that on the BDVand maybe be able to load Basic without having to load an operating system or other media, something like the old IBM PC did. So when you start the system you would load the address of the rom and then just enter “G”, but have at least a dozen or so projects to get to before starting on that but am finding all the information on the BDV-11 real usefull.
 
Qbus said:
Don’t want to be hijacking the thread or anything but why not just boot from the RX-02?
Click to expand...

This is my first PDP-11 to get running, and I don't have an independent way to either write image files to new floppies or dump old floppies to image files to preserve them. Later on, I may boot from floppy and just use the TU58 emulator as a dump/restore device, but I have the initial problem of making the utility floppies I'll need for doing that.

Qbus said:
Just for fun one of my projects around here is to copy DEC Basic onto a couple ROMs and install that on the BDVand maybe be able to load Basic without having to load an operating system or other media, something like the old IBM PC did.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a neat idea. If I understand the BDV11 correctly, it just exposes a 256 word window of the ROMs and provides a bank-switching register. So I think you would need to write a bootstrap routine that would transfer the ROM copy of BASIC into RAM before jumping into it. Is there a version of PDP-11 BASIC that is self-sufficient and doesn't need to run under an operating system?
 
Do you need a RT-11 RX-02 disk? Happiness is seeing the system load, work and being able to format and transfer files and stuff first and then do the hard stuff.
 
I have a couple that came in the drives with the system and I've booted the machine from them. Now I want to boot up the RL images of XXDP that I've downloaded to test out my hardware. I even know the previous owner'a favorite restaurants in the mid 1980s from the BASIC program he wrote to pick one randomly from the list! :)
 
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