OK, so with an understanding of how to create RX50 floppies from the images, as well as what images to use, we are now ready to begin the actual installation. I’d like to point out that these instructions are basically typed versions of the hand-written notes found here:
http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/PDP-11/Distributions/ucb/2.9-derivatives/2.9bsd4pro350-kcwellsc/document
Preparation
1) As discussed in Part I, first create the floppy distribution using ImageDisk. You will need nine 5.25″ floppy disks if you are using the 3 disk usr set, and twenty-five if using the 16 disk usr set. You will also need a DOS PC, a copy of ImageDisk and, of course, the images. Use ImageDisk to create the installation floppies from the *.IMD images, using these settings:
Sides: One
Double-step: Off
R/W gap: 7
Format gap:14
You can find the IMD images here:
And the ImageDisk program here:
Note that during installation of BSD, the maintenance floppy must not be write-protected, else you get this error:
r50a: hard error on 10 cs0=370 csi=260
All other floppies can be write-protected.
2) In order to perform the installation, you must gain access to the Pro-350 via the printer port. When a cable with pins 8 and 9 shorted together is inserted into the printer port, it puts the Pro-350 into maintenance mode, which is necessary for installing BSD. Either construct a cable, or find an official DEC cable on ebay or someplace (DEC part BCC-08). To construct a cable, use the following pinout:
| PC (DB9) | Pro-350 Printer Port (DB9) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 5-6 | |
| 7 | 7 |
| 8-9 |
Once you have a cable, connect it between the printer port of the Pro-350 and the serial port of the PC. Note that while connected via the cable, sending a break signal will put the Pro-350 into the ODT (Online Debugging Tool). If your prompt changes to an @, you are in the ODT. If this happens, hit p to resume.
3) The original notes mention that the Pro-350 expansion cards may need to be in a particular order for the installation to work. I have gotten BSD to install with a slightly different set of cards in a different order, but believe that the DECNA card MUST be in slot 4 (slots are numbered from 0 – 5, left to right) or not present in order for the installation to boot from the hard drive. I do not have a DECNA card to test this theory (I can’t seem to find one), but I originally had a 256KB RAM expansion card in slot 4 and this is the error I received when trying to boot from the hard drive:
m=351232
dc0: addr=1C:0:FF:AA:0:1
ka6=3714
aps=143656
pc=21132 ps=30304
__ovno=5
tt0
panic: trap
sd..done
In order to get by this error, I moved the 256KB RAM expansion card from slot 4 to slot 5. So the order of my cards became:
| Slot | Card |
|---|---|
| 0 | RD51 Controller |
| 1 | RX50 Controller |
| 2 | Screen Bitmap |
| 3 | Extended Screen Bitmap |
| 4 | Empty |
| 5 | 256K RAM Expansion |
This worked, but I lost 256KB of memory, presumably because BSD wasn’t using the card in slot 5. So I removed the Extended Screen Bitmap card from slot 3, and put the 256KB RAM expansion in its place. This gave me the additional 256KB of memory that is needed to do anything useful with BSD once the system boots. So the short of all this is to follow the original notes and arrange your cards in the order specified, which is:
| Slot | Card |
|---|---|
| 0 | RD51 Controller |
| 1 | RX50 Controller |
| 2 | Screen Bitmap |
| 3 | 256K RAM Expansion |
| 4 | DECNA Ethernet Controller |
| 5 | Empty? |
I’m sure the system can be reconfigured to use a different card order, but for installation, use the above order.
4) When restoring volumes, it is OK if you put the wrong disk in by accident as the system will inform you. If you put the wrong disk in for the first set of a volume, you will receive this error:
Tape is not volume1
If subsequent disks are inserted in the wrong order, you will receive this error:
Wrong tape. Try again
Mount volume x
Installation
Text in italics are actions or comments. Entries in bold should by typed by the user. Connect the cable between Pro-350 printer port and PC serial port Start PC terminal program - use comm settings 9600,N,7,1 Put maintenance0 disk in floppy in drive 0 - make sure it isn't write-protected Power on Pro350 Until told otherwise, all input is from the terminal, not the Pro-350 40Boot : r5(0,0)rdfmt format hard disk Drive type (RD51 - 0 or RD50 - 1) ?0 Format begins... It takes about 7 minutes to format the drive Format and bad scan done Total bad blocks = 0 40Boot : r5(0,0)unix boot floppy to single user CONFIGURE SYSTEM: Couldn't exec /etc/autoconfig Configuration setup error Display shows: mem = 426880 Berkeley UNIX (Rev. 2.9.11) Mon Sep 9 12:28:43 EDT 1985 # /etc/mkfs /dev/rrd0a 2240 create / filesystem isize = 704 m/n = 5 10 Insert root1 disk in floppy drive 1 # restor rf /dev/rr51 /dev/rrd0a restore / filesystem Last chance before scribbling on /dev/rrd0a. Press enter Mount volume 2 Insert root2 disk in floppy drive 1 - press enter Mount volume 3 Insert root3 disk in floppy drive 1 - press enter Mount volume 4 Insert root4 disk in floppy drive 1 - press enter Mount volume 5 Insert root5 disk in floppy drive 1 - press enter End of tape # /etc/fsck /dev/rrd0a verify / filesystem ** Checking /dev/rrd0a ** Phase 1 - Check Blocks and Sizes ** Phase 2 - Check Pathnames ** Phase 3 - Check Connectivity ** Phase 4 - Check Reference Counts ** Phase 5 - Check Free List 172 files 1543 blocks 651 free root1 - root5 or 184 files 1905 blocks 289 free root0 - root5 # /etc/mkfs /dev/rrd0c 6528 create /usr filesystem isize = 4176 m/n = 5 10 Remove root5 disk from floppy drive 1 Insert usr1 disk in floppy drive 1 # restor rf /dev/rr51 /dev/rrd0c restore /usr filesystem Last chance before scribbling on /dev/rrd0c. Press enter Mount volume 2 Insert usr2 disk in floppy drive 1 - press enter Mount volume 3 Insert usr3 disk in floppy drive 1 - press enter End of tape # /etc/fsck /dev/rrd0c verify /usr filesystem ** Checking /dev/rrd0c ** Phase 1 - Check Blocks and Sizes ** Phase 2 - Check Pathnames ** Phase 3 - Check Connectivity ** Phase 4 - Check Reference Counts ** Phase 5 - Check Free List 200 files 786 blocks 5479 free usr1 - usr3 or 1043 files 4982 blocks 1283 free usr00 - usr15 # sync # sync Power off Pro-350 Remove usr3 disk from drive 1 floppy Power on Pro-350 40Boot : rd(0,64)unix boot from hard disk Display shows: For root1 - root5 m=351872 Berkeley UNIX (Rev. 2.9.54) Thu Nov 14 12:32:20 EST 1985 root1 - root5 or Berkeley UNIX (Rev. 2.9.55) Tue Dec 10 13:56:37 EST 1985 root0 - root5 CONFIGURE SYSTEM: rd 0 csr 174000 vector 300 attached r5 0 csr 174200 vector 310 attached Erase=^?, kill=^U, intr=^C # From this point on, all input is from the Pro-350, not the terminal # dd if=/rdboot of=/dev/rrd0h count=17 install hard disk boot 17+0 records in 17+0 records out # passwd root set root password New password: Retype new password: # date 9906201733 Sun Jun 20 17:33:00 EDT 1999 Remove maintenance0 disk from floppy drive 0 Disconnect maintenance cable # shutdown +1 bring the system to single-user mode # sync sync the disk # sync # reboot reboot the machine Display shows: m=351872 Berkeley UNIX (Rev. 2.9.54) Thu Nov 14 12:32:20 EST 1985 root1 - root5 or Berkeley UNIX (Rev. 2.9.55) Tue Dec 10 13:56:37 EST 1985 root0 - root5 CONFIGURE SYSTEM: rd 0 csr 174000 vector 300 attached r5 0 csr 174200 vector 310 attached Automatic reboot in progress... Sun Jun 20 17:38:20 EDT 1999 /dev/rd0a: ??? /dev/rd0a: ??? Root was modified-- rebooting. System reboots m=351872 Berkeley UNIX (Rev. 2.9.54) Thu Nov 14 12:32:20 EST 1985 root1 - root5 or Berkeley UNIX (Rev. 2.9.55) Tue Dec 10 13:56:37 EST 1985 root0 - root5 CONFIGURE SYSTEM: rd 0 csr 174000 vector 300 attached r5 0 csr 174200 vector 310 attached Automatic reboot in progress... Sun Jun 20 17:40:17 EDT 1999 /dev/rd0a:172 files 1543 blocks 651 free /dev/rrd0c: 200 files 786 blocks 5479 free Sun Jun 20 17:42:08 EDT 1999 Mounted /usr on /dev/rd0c Berkeley Unix 2.9BSD ;login: root Password: Erase=^?, kill=^U, intr=^C #
There you have it! BSD 2.9 running on a Pro-350!
Post-Installation
Edit these files as necessary:
/etc/passwd /etc/hosts /etc/hosts.equiv /etc/rc set hostname to match /etc/hosts /etc/motd /etc/ttys enable login on tty01 by changing 09tty01 to 19tty01
Note that the F11 key acts as ESC for vi