29 Apr
2015
29 Apr
'15
5:24 p.m.
On Apr 28, 2015, at 7:11 PM, Johnny Billquist <bqt
at softjar.se> wrote:
It really would be great to have the source code for the layered products to be able to
fix issues like that.
On 2015-04-29 02:37, Mark Matlock wrote:
It is really too bad that wasn't a BRU tape.
Yeah... I sometimes wonder why BP2 is rather odd. It uses its own installation procedures
instead of the standard tools that most other layered products use, and it also behaves
rather different than any other tool (it don't exit with any status for example, so
you cannot tell if a compilation went ok or not programatically). On Apr
28, 2015, at 11:55 AM, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> wrote:
On 2015-04-28 20:10, Mark Matlock wrote:
>> On Apr 27, 2015, at 5:31 PM, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> wrote:
>>
>> On 2015-04-28 02:15, Mark Matlock wrote:
>> BP2 with I/D space would be worth some effort to bring back from extinction.
With the high speed of Simh and E11 with modern CPUs, if one could figure out a way to
reassemble the tape blocks in the various combinations the see if BRU could read it
successfully or not in some automated way, then just let the CPU have at it. It can't
be worse than breaking the Enigma code in World War II.
>
> A few thousand blocks. The number of permutations can be interesting... Also, it is
not totally trivial to see if you got it all right...
The process to see if you got the right combination of blocks is the key to whether an
automated process could be used. I guess you would have BRU try to read a virtual tape and
produce a listing, but the listing could be correct, but still have some blocks out of
order in some small file stored on the tape.
The BP2 tape is not a BRU tape. Had it been, I already have a fix. It's
a plain DOS tape. DOS tapes are extremely stupid. Basically, anything goes. There is
nothing telling you if the data comes out right or not. It's essentially implied just
by being able to read the block.
(. Why would you ever get blocks in a different order than written? .)
Indeed! I wonder if the original tape that Tim Shoppa had still exists? >> Also, I meant to say that the PDP-11 C
V1.2 is corrupt but the V1.1 is okay as I recall. Also, DECUS C works quite well, but I
don't recall which DECUS tape it is on.
>
> I did some changes/improvements to DECUS C many years ago. I believe my changed
version should be available with ftp from Update.
I will need to look for your updated DECUS C on the Update ftp. Part of the challenge
from the DECUS tapes is determining if you have the latest version of a particular
software. Thanks for bringing your version of C to my attention.
No worries. My fixes included making it all work correctly in I/D space, and then I did a
half-hearted attempt at adding a void datatype. > I should probably make a kit disk or something
available from MIM/Madame as well. If I only had time...
>
> Too bad noone is willing to pay for me doing this kind of work. I could spend full
time just fixing things for years... :-)
That is too bad. There are a number of things in RSX that I'm sure you could improve.
I really do appreciate what you've done on TCP/IP. Thanks!
Plenty of work to do... So little time. :-)
Anyway, it's great that people find TCP/IP useful...
I think the FTP code is good enough to be left for a while now. Next for proper telnet
both in and out...
Johnny
--
Johnny Billquist || "I'm on a bus
|| on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se || Reading murder books
pdp is alive! || tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol