16 Nov
2021
16 Nov
'21
6:16 p.m.
I'm pretty sure that ANF10 predates DECnet.? The 1973 third addition of
the Assembly Language Handbook (the orange book) shows the LOCATE UUO
(CALLI 62,) to change a job's logical station and the WHERE UUO (CALLI
63,)? which returns a device's physical location.
My understanding is that this was by using ANF10 or one of its ancestors.
I never heard of DECnet that long ago; not on any 36 bit or 12 bit
system I had access to (didn't have access to a PDP-11)
I /think/ ANF10 will run over Ethernet, which is how you would get
multiple nodes, maybe.
This is so cool; I have wanted to lift the ANF10 code out of Tops-10 and
put it into Tops-20 for eons.
Kudo's to you both.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
On 11/16/21 11:34 AM, Robert Armstrong wrote:
? 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