[HECnet] Speaking of old decnet releases

From what I remember it was phase iii. I used to support IAS-11 between 1980-1983 at the Corporate Operations Group, Maynard, MA

On Sep 19, 2018, at 13:00, Jeffrey H. Johnson <jhj at trnsz.com> wrote: John, Fascinating history. I've been trying to track down DECnet/IAS - all I've been able to find so far is the SPD. (http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/spd/10.71.03_7802_DECnet-IAS.pdf) Was Phase III or IV software available for IAS? -- Jeffrey H. Johnson jhj at trnsz.com https://ban.ai/multics > On Sep 19, 2018, at 9:42 AM, John Forecast <john at forecast.name> wrote: > > I worked on DECnet Phase II (11-D and IAS) starting in February 1977. As I recall, the protocol specs were complete by then, so design had probably started sometime in 1976. The original goal was to complete the project in 9 months but it ended up taking 18+ months. > > I used Phase I on a pair of 11/40?s running RSX-11D around the middle of 1976. The CHM has a transcript of an interview from 1988 with Stu Wecker who did the original DECnet architecture where he claims that Phase I development was done for 11-M, 11-D, PDP-8 and PDP-10 (Tops-10) - not sure if they were all released. > > John. > >> On Sep 18, 2018, at 6:44 PM, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> wrote: >> >> A couple of more comments: >> >> The manual I have for DECNET-8 is dated February 1977. >> The timeline for DECnet on Wikipedia claims that phase II was introduced in 1975. >> According that same article, it would appear that only RSX ever had DECnet phase I. >> >> But information on Wikipedia should as usual be taken with a grain of salt. Especially when it a bit more obscure information, for which there are few sources, and the information might be written by someone without direct experience. >> >> A couple of quotes from the code, that might help: >> >> From NSP.PA: >> /NETWORK SERVICES PROTOCOL FOR DECNET/8 >> / IMPLEMENTED AT SPEC LEVEL 2.2 >> / >> /J. ROTH 23-NOV-75 >> /JR 17-DEC-76 ADDED VERSION 2.2 CHANGES >> / >> / WARNING: >> / >> / THERE EXISTS A BUG IN THE NETWORK DESIGN, SUCH THAT DROPPAGE >> / OF LEADING 0 BITS IN THE FIRST FRAME OF THE NSP DATA MESSAGE >> / IS NOT DETECTED BY CRC. TO CIRCUMVENT THIS BUG, THIS NSP CODE >> / ALWAYS SETS THE NSP 'BLOCKING' BIT WHEN SENDING, AND IGNORES IT >> / WHEN RECEIVING. >> / >> / >> / DECNET/8 RELEASE VERSION 1 >> / DECNET/8 PATCH LEVEL A >> / APRIL 8,1977 >> / >> VERSION=01 >> PATCH="C >> /JR01 16-MAY-77 FIX CONNECT REJECT BY DISCONNECT BUG >> / NSP02 SCR 9/77 FIX INTERRUPT PACKET BUG [02] >> / >> >> >> So, despite the comments, it's version 1C, and not 1A. And the last fix was in September 1977. >> And "SPEC LEVEL 2.2" might be useful in figuring out what phase it might be, and it might be a hint for phase 2. >> >> Johnny >> >>> On 2018-09-19 00:30, Johnny Billquist wrote: >>> Hmm. Thinking some more, I remember that we had a discussion about this about 2 years ago. >>> At that time, I tried to figure it out, and found DECnet-8 to look like it was somewhere between phase I and phase II, so I guess my previous comment was too hasty, and it don't seem to be a proper phase II implementation. >>> But, like I mentioned the previous time, I can go and dig more into the code, if someone is interested. >>> Johnny >>>> On 2018-09-18 22:56, Paul Koning wrote: >>>> Phase 2, or phase 1? I have seen (and read, cursorily) a manual for a PDP-8 based DECnet phase 1. It made it quite clear that there is no plausible way to be compatible with that, it's quite a different protocol than Phase 2 and later. >>>> >>>> paul >>>> >>>> >>>>> On Sep 18, 2018, at 4:50 PM, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> There is a phase ii release for rts-8. How easy it would be to get it up and running might be a different story, but the sources are on the internet. >>>>> >>>>> Johnny >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Paul Koning <paulkoning at comcast.net> skrev: (18 september 2018 19:30:56 CEST) >>>>> Does anyone have the Phase II DECnet that goes with RSTS V7.0? I think it calls itself DECnet/E V1.1, rather confusingly. >>>>> >>>>> For that matter, are there any Phase II DECnet releases around? I know of the TOPS-20 one; any others? Ditto for Phase III. >>>>> >>>>> paul >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Skickat fr?n min Android-enhet med K-9 Mail. Urs?kta min f?ordighet. >>>> >> >> >> -- >> 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 >