[TUHS] SVR2 on a PDP-11

[TUHS] SVR2 on a PDP-11

[Henry Bent]

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Hello all,

I have a distribution of SVR2 on the PDP-11 that I have managed to get
booting into the initial root dump, but it is not clear to me how to
proceed from there to format a /usr filesystem and setup for multi-user.
The root dump boots on a simulated 11/70 with an RP06:

--
sim> boot rp
#0=unixgdtm

UNIX/sysV: unixgdtm
real mem = 3145728 bytes
avail mem = 3068864 bytes

INIT: SINGLE USER MODE
--

I'm mostly a BSD person but I'm familiar enough with some later SysV
systems.  That being said, the initialization procedure here is completely
foreign to me.  I have cpio files for the entire system and I know in
theory how to extract them, but I'm stuck at the basics of creating /usr,
setting up /etc and the like.  I have a fully extracted filesystem from the
cpio files that I can browse but I can't find enough information in the
manpages.  I haven't managed to find any installation manuals or the like
on Bitsavers, and I can't even manage to find a listing in the source of
the expected disk partitions/sizes.  I feel very much like I am stumbling
in the dark here and would appreciate any pointers to how to proceed.
Thanks!

-Henry

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[TUHS] Re: SVR2 on a PDP-11

[segaloco via TUHS]

On Wednesday, March 6th, 2024 at 1:16 PM, Henry Bent <henry.r.bent@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello all,
> 
> I have a distribution of SVR2 on the PDP-11 that I have managed to get booting into the initial root dump, but it is not clear to me how to proceed from there to format a /usr filesystem and setup for multi-user.
>
> ...
>
> I haven't managed to find any installation manuals or the like on Bitsavers, and I can't even manage to find a listing in the source of the expected disk partitions/sizes. I feel very much like I am stumbling in the dark here and would appreciate any pointers to how to proceed. Thanks!
> 
> -Henry

First off I didn't know SVR2 made it to the PDP-11, I thought they cut it off after the initial System V release, is what you have AT&T or some derivative version?

Second, this is the setup instructions for DEC processors for the initial release of System V which included the PDP-11/70: https://archive.org/details/unix-system-administrators-guide-5-0/04%20Setting%20Up%20The%20UNIX%20System%20%28DEC%29/

Additionally, here is the Operator's Guide which details bootstrapping the system among other things: https://archive.org/details/unix-system-operators-guide-release-5-0/mode/2up

While not SVR2, hopefully the differences are minimal enough that you can use those.  Good luck!

Also regarding finding more documentation, sadly AT&T stripped out the /usr/doc materials with System V, so these critical pieces of documentation actually can't be found in a typical system distribution, rather, you had to get the paper copies.  I'm not aware of any discovery of TROFF sources for any of this stuff past System III, I do have it on my long-term list to eventually synthesize copies of said documents from available scans so they can be more easily diff'd, but my current focus is much, much earlier.

- Matt G.

[TUHS] Re: SVR2 on a PDP-11

[Henry Bent]

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On Wed, 6 Mar 2024 at 16:51, segaloco <segaloco@protonmail.com> wrote:

> On Wednesday, March 6th, 2024 at 1:16 PM, Henry Bent <
> henry.r.bent@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I have a distribution of SVR2 on the PDP-11 that I have managed to get
> booting into the initial root dump, but it is not clear to me how to
> proceed from there to format a /usr filesystem and setup for multi-user.
> >
> > ...
> >
> > I haven't managed to find any installation manuals or the like on
> Bitsavers, and I can't even manage to find a listing in the source of the
> expected disk partitions/sizes. I feel very much like I am stumbling in the
> dark here and would appreciate any pointers to how to proceed. Thanks!
> >
> > -Henry
>
> First off I didn't know SVR2 made it to the PDP-11, I thought they cut it
> off after the initial System V release, is what you have AT&T or some
> derivative version?
>
> Second, this is the setup instructions for DEC processors for the initial
> release of System V which included the PDP-11/70:
> https://archive.org/details/unix-system-administrators-guide-5-0/04%20Setting%20Up%20The%20UNIX%20System%20%28DEC%29/
>
> Additionally, here is the Operator's Guide which details bootstrapping the
> system among other things:
> https://archive.org/details/unix-system-operators-guide-release-5-0/mode/2up
>
> While not SVR2, hopefully the differences are minimal enough that you can
> use those.  Good luck!
>
> Also regarding finding more documentation, sadly AT&T stripped out the
> /usr/doc materials with System V, so these critical pieces of documentation
> actually can't be found in a typical system distribution, rather, you had
> to get the paper copies.  I'm not aware of any discovery of TROFF sources
> for any of this stuff past System III, I do have it on my long-term list to
> eventually synthesize copies of said documents from available scans so they
> can be more easily diff'd, but my current focus is much, much earlier.
>

Thank you, this is a wonderful starting point.  I often forget that
sometimes archive.org will have documentation that is not duplicated in
other sources, so this is a welcome reminder.  I'll read through all of
this and report back.

-Henry

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