File: DISC.TX of Disk: Disks/PDP8-Net/diag-games-kermit
(Source file text)
FIELD SERVICE DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM ... VERSION 8.03 R E L E A S E N O T E S THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS MEANT AS A GUIDE TO ASSIST YOU IN USING THE DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM AND IN PERFORMING SOME SIMPLE FILE MAINTENENCE AND MANIPULATION. IT IS NOT MEANT TO BE A COURSE IN OS-8. FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON OS-8, THE FOLLOWING REFERENCE MANUALS ARE SUGGESTED: DEC-S8-OSHBA-A-D - OS/8 HANDBOOK DEC-S8-OSHBA-A-DN4 - OS/8 HANDBOOK UPDATE DEC-S8-OSRNA-B-D - OS/8 V3D SYSTEM RELEASE NOTES DEC-S8-OS78A-A-D - OS/78 USER'S MANUAL DEC-S8-OSSMB-A-D - OS/8 SOFTWARE SUPPORT MANUAL 1) THE MAIN PURPOSE OF THIS SYSTEM IS PROVIDE A MEANS OF LOADING AND RUNNING DIAGNOSTIC PROGRAMS THAT ARE LOCATED ON THE DISTRIBUTION MEDIUM (DISCPAC, FLOPPY, DECTAPE). THEY ARE IDENTIFIED BY A UNIQUE SET OF UP TO SIX (6) CHARACTERS (EX: DHRKCG) AND A TWO (2) CHARACTER EXTENSION (.DG). THIS SYSTEM ALWAYS USES THE EXTENSION ".DG" TO IDENTIFY A DIAGNOSTIC PROGRAM. TO RUN A DIAGNOSTIC PROGRAM, ONE TYPES: .R PROGNAME.DG (WHERE "PROGNAME" IS THE NAME OF THE DIAGNOSTIC TO BE RUN ) FOR EXAMPLE, TO RUN THE RK8E DATA RELIABILITY TEST: .R DHRKCG.DG 2) ONCE THE DIAGNOSTIC HAS BEEN LOADED, IT WILL RUN NORMALLY. THAT IS, AS THOUGH IT HAD BEEN LOADED FROM PAPER TAPE. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT MANY (INDEED, MOST) OF THE NEWER DIAGNOSTICS HAVE BEEN AMMENDED TO IMPLIMENT A "SOFTWARE SWITCH REGISTER" FOR THE BENIFIT OF THOSE WORKING WITH A PDP-8A SYSTEM THAT HAS NO FRONT PANEL SWITCHES. IN THESE CASES, THE PROGRAM WILL IDENTIFY ITSELF, THEN PRINT: SR=0000 AND WAIT FOR THE USER TO INPUT THE DESIRED SWITCH REGISTER VALUE. IN THIS MANNER, THE LACK OF HARDWARE SWITCHES IS CIRCUMVENTED. ON THESE DIAGNOSTICS, IT IS USUALLY POSSIBLE TO DISABLE THE SOFTWARE SWITCH REGISTER (IF, FOR EXAMPLE, YOU ARE USING A PDP-8E) AND USE THE HARDWARE SWITCHES INSTEAD. THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS ARE STANDARD: CONSOLE LOC SOFTWARE HARDWARE --- -------- -------- 21 0000 4000 22 0400 0000 - 1 - 3) SAVING YOUR OWN DIAGNOSTICS FROM PAPER TAPES - PLACE NEW DIAGNOSTIC IN PAPER TAPE READER - TYPE: .LOAD PTR: ^ - TYPE A <C.R.> .SAVE SYS PROGNAME.DG - WHERE "PROGNAME" IS A SIX (6) CHARACTER NAME FOLLOWED BY ".DG" THIS DIAGNOSTIC MAY NOW BE RUN BY TYPING: .R PROGNAME.DG 4) THERE IS A PROGRAM CALLED "CONVRT.SV" THAT ALLOWS ONE TO PERFORM THE OPPOSITE OF STEP #3. A PAPER TAPE MAY BE GENERATED FROM ANY FILE THAT HAS A ".SV" OR ".DG" EXTENSION. THE TAPE IS PRODUCED FROM A HIGH SPEED PUNCH BY TYPING: .R CONVRT *PROGNAME.EX - WHERE "PROGNAME" IS THE PROGRAMS NAME AND ".EX" IS THE EXTENSION. *^C - TYPE A <CTRL> C TO EXIT. THIS TAPE IS A BINARY TAPE AND CAN BE LOADER VIA BINARY LOADER ON ANY FAMILY OF 8 MACHINE USING STANDARD BINARY LOADING TECHNIQUES. N O T E - IF YOU TRY TO USE THIS PROGRAM ON ANYTHING BUT ------- A ".SV" OR ".DG" PROGRAM, YOU WILL GET A LOT OF USELESS JUNK ! 5) YOU MAY USE AN OS-8 FEATURE KNOWN AS ODT (OCTAL DEBUGGING TECHNIQUE) TO INSTALL PERMINANT PATCHES OR M.C.N'S TO ANY ".SV" OR ".DG" PROGRAM. THERE IS AN EXPLAINATION OF ODT IN THE OS-8 HANDBOOK ON PAGE 1-113. .GET SYS PROGNAME.EX .ODT (MAKE NECESSARY CHANGES) ^C - <CTRL> C .SAVE SYS PROGNAME.EX - TO RESAVE THE MODIFIED PROGRAM PROGRAM AGAIN. - 2 - 6) PRINTING DIRECTORYS ON TTY - .DIR ( 1 COLUMN WIDE WITH DATES ) .DIR/F=5 ( 5 COLUMNS WIDE BUT NO DATES ) ON LPT - .DIR LPT:</E=N ( WHERE N = NUMBER OF COLUMNS ) OF "B" SIDE OF DISK ON LPT - .DIR LPT:<RKB0:/E=N OF ENTIRE DISK .DIR LPT:<SYS:,RKB0:/E=4 N O T E - AT THIS TIME, A NOTE ON THE "SIDES" OF A ------- DISK IS IN ORDER. THE RK05 PLATTER IS BROKEN UP INTO TWO (2) LOGICAL DEVICES BY OS-8. THESE ARE CALLED "RKA0" & ""RKB0" (FOR DRIVE 0). IT IS INCORRECT TO ASSUME THAT RKA0 IS ON ONE SIDE OF THE PLATTER AND RKB0 IS ON THE OTHER. ACTUALLY, "RKA0" IS THE FIRST 6250 (DECIMAL) SECTORS AND "RKB0" IS THE NEXT 6250 SECTORS. A LOOK AT THE HARDWARE SHOWS THAT AFTER THE SECTOR COUNTER OVERFLOWS, THE HEADS SWITCH (TO THE OTHER SURFACE). WHEN THE COUNTER OVERFLOWS AGAIN, THE HEADS SWITCH BACK AND MOVE IN ONE CYLINDER. THEREFORE, EVEN THOUGH WE (WITH MYSELF AS A PRIME OFFENDER) CALL THEM "SIDES"; THEY ARE NOT. IF YOU FIND THIS HARD TO SWALLOW, DO A DIRECTORY LISTING OF "RKB0" WITH THE COVERS OFF AND SEE WHERE THE HEADS GO ! - 3 - 7) THE "SET" COMMAND THE CCL COMMAND ".SET" CAN BE USED TO INITIALIZE VARIOUS DEVICE HANDLER PARAMETERS FOR THE SPECIFIC HARDWARE CONFIGURATION. THE MOST USED EXAMPLE OF THIS IS WITH THE TTY HANDLER. ONE CAN, FOR EXAMPLE, TELL THE OS-8 SYSTEM THAT YOU HAVE A VT50/52 SCOPE, 12/24 LINES PER SCREEN, ETC. THE SAME CAN BE DONE WITH THE LINE PRINTER HANDLER. FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION THAN FOLLOWS, REFERENCE THE OS78 HANDBOOK OR THE OS-8 HAND- BOOK UPDATE (V3D). SOME SPECIFIC EXAMPLES ARE: .SET TTY SCOPE - CAUSES A RUBOUT TO ACTUALLY ERASE THE CHARACTER FROM THE SCREEN. .SET TTY NO SCOPE - CAUSES THE RUBOUT TO ECHO THE CHARACTER/ SLASH COMBINATION. .SET TTY HEIGHT 12 - TELLS THE SOFTWARE YOU HAVE A 12 LINE SCOPE .SET TTY HEIGHT 24 - A VT52 SCOPE .SET TTY PAUSE - CAUSES THE OUTPUT TO THE SCOPE TO PAUSE EVERY "HEIGHT" LINES FOR EASE OF READING .SET SYS INIT - CAUSES THE COMMAND FILE "INIT.CM" TO BE EXECUTED UPON BOOT-UP. .SET SYS NO INIT - NEGATES THE ABOVE THIS SYSTEM IS SET AS FOLLOWS: SYS INIT ; SCOPE ; PAUSE ; HEIGHT 24 NOTES ON SET: IF YOU ARE RUNNING "BUILD.SV" BE SURE TO ".SET SYS NO INIT" BEFOR RUNNING THE PROGRAM. IF YOU DON'T, AND YOU TYPE ".SA SYS BUILD" AFTER THE PROGRAM, IT WILL NOT BE SAVED PROPERLY. IF YOU ARE BUILDING A DECTAPE SYSTEM, ".SET SYS NO INIT" OR EVERY TIME YOU BOOT THE TAPE, IT WILL WIND A LOT OF TAPE AS IT READS IN ALL THE NECCESSARY OVERLAYS. - 4 - 8) BATCH STREAMS THERE ARE SEVERAL BATCH STREAMS (.BI) ON THE SYSTEM THAT ARE USED TO MAKE BACKUPS,OTHER DIAGNOSTIC MEDIUMS, ETC. IN ORDER TO RUN THESE, THE SYSTEM MUST HAVE AT LEAST 12K OF MEMORY. THEY ARE AS FOLLOWS: .SU BACKUP - MAKES AN EXACT COPY OF YOUR OS-8 DISK .SU CUSPAK - MAKES A CUSTOMERS DIAGNOSTIC DISK .SU BOOK - PRINTS OUT THESE TEXT FILES .SU FLOP1,2,&3 - MAKE DIAGNOSTIC FLOPPYS .SU FLOPX8 - MAKE A DECX8 FLOPPY IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT IF YOU ARE GOING TO LEAVE A DIAGNOSTIC PACK ON SITE, USE THE BATCH STREAM ".SU CUSPAK" TO CREATE IT. THERE MAY SOFTWARE ON YOUR PERSONEL PACK THAT WE DO NOT WANT GIVEN AWAY! ================================================================================ = = = = = YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT THIS DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM RUNS UNDER OS-8 = = WHICH IS A PRODUCT THAT DIGITAL S E L L S TO CUSTOMERS FOR A = = CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF MONEY ... IT IS NOT IN OUR BEST INTEREST = = TO LEAVE COPIES OF IT LAYING AROUND FOR FREE. THE VERSION THAT = = IS ON A PACK CREATED WITH THE BATCH STREAM ".SU CUSPAK" IS A = = STRIPPED DOWN VERSION WITH ONLY THE MONITOR AND A FEW UTILITY = = FUNCTIONS LEFT ON IT. = = = = P L E A S E USE THE BATCH STREAM FOR CREATING ON-SITE = = DIAGNOSTIC PACKS. DO NOT USE ".SU BACKUP" TO MAKE A CUSTOMER PACK ! = = = = = ================================================================================ 9) SYSTEM HEADS THE FILES THAT HAVE THE EXTENSIONS OF ".SY" ARE COPIES OF OS-8 SYSTEM AREA HEADS FOR VARIOUS HARDWARE CONFIGURATIONS. THESE ARE USED BY THE BATCH STREAMS BUT MAY BE USED MANUALLY TO CREATE A OS-8 SYSTEM FOR A PARTICULAR HARDWARE CONFIGURATION. EXAMPLES OF THIS ARE: RK8E.SY - RK8E SYSTEM AREA RKS8E.SY - FOR A CSS OR LCS RKS8E CONTROLLER RX01.SY - FLOPPY DISK TD8E.SY - TD8E DECTAPE TC08.SY - TC01 - TC08 DECTAPE CONTROLLER THIS TECHNIQUE MAY BE UNDERSTOOD BY REFERENCING THE PIP OPTION /Y. EX: RECOVER AN RK8E SYS HEAD PUT A HEAD ON A NEW DECTAPE .R PIP .R PIP *SYS:<SYS:RK8E.SY/Y *DTA0:<SYS:TD8E.SY/Y/Z - 5 - 10) THE FOLLOWING CONVENTIONS ARE ADHERED TO IN THIS SYSTEM - EXTENSIONS: .SV - SYSTEM PROGRAMS .BN - BINARY FILES (USUALLY DECX8 MODULES) .DG - DIAGNOSTIC PROGRAMS .SY - SYSTEM HEADS .BI - BATCH CONTROL FILES .HL - HELP FILES .TX - TEXT FILES (SUCH AS THIS FILE) .BA - BASIC SOURCE FILES .X8 - A CUSTOMIZED DECX8 SYSTEM EXERCISER - DEVICES: SYS: - THE SYSTEM DEVICE DSK: - THE DEFAULT DEVICE (USUALLY SYS:) RKA0: - "A" SIDE OF RK05 DRIVE #0 RKB0: - "B" SIDE OF RK05 DRIVE #0 TTY: - CONSOLE TELETYPE LPT: - LINE PRINTER LPQ: - HIGH QUALITY (DIABLO) PRINTER PTR: - PAPER TAPE READER PTP: - PAPER TAPE PUNCH DTA0: - DECTAPE DRIVE #0 DTA1: - DECTAPE DRIVE #1 RXA0: - RX01 FLOPPY DRIVE #0 RXA1: - RX01 FLOPPY DRIVE #1 - PACK BUILD CONFIGURATION PRESENTLY THIS PACK (RK8E/RK05) IS CONFIGURED TO SUPPORT THE FOLLOWING HARDWARE RK8E - THE SYSTEM DEVICE (SYS:/DSK:) RK05 - NON-SYSTEM UNITS RKA0:,RKB0:,RKA1:,RKB1: TD8E - NON-SYSTEM UNITS DTA0:,DTA1: RX01 - NON-SYSTEM UNITS RXA0:,RXA1: KL8E - CONSOLE TERMINAL (TTY:) LPSV - LINE PRINTER (LPT:) PC8E - READER / PUNCH (PTR:/PTP:) SHOULD YOUR APPLICATION REQUIRE, IT MAY BE NECCESARY FOR YOU TO RUN THE BUILD PROGRAM BY TYPING: .RUN SYS BUILD TO CHANGE THE HARDWARE CONFIGURATION. INFORMATION ON THIS PROGRAM IS ON PAGE 2-34 OF THE OS/8 HANDBOOK. AN EXAMPLE OF A NEED TO DO THIS WOULD BE IF YOUR SYSTEM HAD A TC08 DECTAPE INSTEAD OF A TD8E. YOU WOULD HAVE TO DELETE THE TD8E HANDLERS , INSERT THE TC08 HANDLERS, THEN REBOOT THE SYSTEM. ONLY AFTER THIS COULD YOU ACCESS THE DECTAPES. - 6 - 11) O S / 8 N O T E S ------------------- OS/8 CONSISTS OF AN EXECUTIVE AND A LIBRARY OF SYSTEM PROGRAMS WHICH RESIDE ON A TAPE,DISK, OR FLOPPY DISKETTE UNIT CALLED A "SYSTEM DEVICE". THE EXECUTIVE SUPERVISES THE OVERALL PROGRAM PROCESSING AND CONSISTS OF THE FOLLOWING FOUR MAJOR COMPONENTS: - KEYBOARD MONITOR (KMON) - COMMAND DECODER (CD) - DEVICE HANDLERS - USER SERVICE ROUTINE (USR) THE KEYBOARD MONITOR PROVIDES COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN THE USER AND THE OS/8 EXECUTIVE. IT ACCEPTS COMMANDS FROM THE CONSOLE TERMINAL TO CREATE LOGICAL NAMES FOR DEVICES, TO RUN SYSTEM AND USER PROGRAMS, TO SAVE PROGRAMS AND TO CALL THE DEBUGGING PROGRAM (ODT). THE KEYBOARD MONITOR COMMANDS ARE: ASSIGN - ASSIGNS A NEW, USER DEFINED DEVICE NAME TO A PERMINANT DEVICE. DEASSIGN - RESTORES PERMINANT DEVICE NAMES GET - LOADS CORE IMAGE FILES INTO MEMORY FROM A DEVICE START - STARTS EXECUTION OF A PROGRAM ALREADY IN MEMORY RUN - LOADS CORE IMAGE FILES INTO MEMORY FROM A DEVICE AND STARTS EXECUTION R - LOADS CORE IMAGE FILES INTO MEMORY FROM THE SYSTEM DEVICE AND STARTS EXECUTION SAVE - CREATES CORE IMAGE PROGRAMS ON A DEVICE ODT - INVOKES THE DEBUGGING TECHNIQUE DATE - SETS THE SYSTEM DATE THE ROOT SEGMENT OF THE MONITOR RESIDES PERMINENTLY IN MEMORY AND OCCUPIES 256 WORDS. WHENEVER THEY ARE NEEDED, THE COMMAND DECODER, THE KEYBOARD MONITOR, THE USR, AND ODT ARE BROUGHT INTO MEMORY IN A SERIES OF OVERLAYS WHILE THE CONTENTS OF THE MEMORY USED IS SWAPPED OUT TO A TEMPORARY AREA ON THE SYSTEM DEVICES SCRATCH AREA. - 7 - THE COMMAND DECODER IS CALLED WHEN A SYSTEM PROGRAM NEEDS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM THE OPERATOR CONCERNING FILES TO BE ACTED UPON OR DEVICES TO BE USED. YOU ARE IN THE COMMAND DECODER WHENEVER THE PROMPT CHARACTER " * " IS ISSUED. UNDERSTANDING THE COMMAND DECODER LINE FORMAT IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP TO SUCCESSFUL USAGE OF THE OS-8 OPERATING SYSTEM. IT IS AS FOLLOWS: *OUTDEV:OUTFIL.EX<INDEV:INFILE.EX,INDEV:INFILE.EX/SW1/SW2=N TO TRANSLATE ... OUTDEV: - THE OUTPUT DEVICE (SYS:,RKB0:,DTA0:,LPT:) OUTFIL.EX - THE NAME OF THE OUTPUT FILE & THE EXTENSION INDEV: - THE INPUT DEVICE (SYS:,RKB0:,PTR:,RXA0:) INFILE.EX - THE NAME OF THE INPUT FILE & THE EXTENSION SW? - AN OPTIONAL SWITCH ... DIFFERENT FOR EACH PROGRAM =N - NUMERICAL VALUE (IE: IN DIRECT = N# OF COLUMNS) THERE MAY BE 0-3 INPUT FILES, 0-9 OUTPUT FILES, 0-3 OPTION SWITCHS, DEPENDING ON THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE INDIVDUAL PROGRAM. IN SEVERAL PROGRAMS, IT IS NOT NECCESSARY TO SPECIFY EVERY DETAIL ... CERTAIN PROGRAMS HAVE DEFAULT VALUES FOR DEVICES, SWITCHES, ETC. THE ONLY WAY TO BE SURE OF THIS IS TO KNOW THE PROGRAM YOU ARE WORKING WITH. AGAIN, THE VALUE OF LEARNING THE COMMAND DECODER FORMAT CANNOT BE OVER STRESSED ... THE SAME BASIC FORMAT IS USED THOUGHOUT DEC SOFTWARE (IE: RT-11,RSTS/E,ETC.) DEVICE HANDLERS ARE SUBROUTINES WHICH HANDLE DATA TRANSFER TO AND FROM PERIFERAL DEVICES. DEVICE HANDLERS FOR THE PARTICULAR HARDWARE SYSTEM YOU ARE USING ARE ACTIVATED BY THE PROBGAM "BUILD". THESE SUBROUTINES ARE THEN AVAILABLE TO ALL OS-8 PROGRAMS. IT IS THROUGH THE USE OF DEVICE HANDLERS THAT A SORT OF "DEVICE INDEPENDENCE" IS ACHIVED. THE USR CONTROLS THE DIRECTORY OPERATIONS OF THE OS-8 SYSTEM INCLUDING LOADING DEVICE HANDLERS, SEARCHING FILE DIRECTORIES,CREATING AND CLOSING OUTPUT FILES,OPENING INPUT FILES,CALLING THE COMMAND DECODER, AND CHAINING PROGRAMS. HOWEVER, ALL OF THIS IS TRANSPARENT TO THE USER, SO UNLESS YOU ARE INTERESTED IN WRITTING OPERATING SYSTEM PROGRAMS, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. - 8 -