In this article (and the next), we undertake:
A Word of Advice
You are encouraged to read this ENTIRE article before proceeding.
You really may not need to add packs to the configuration. During the construction of Release 2, we built a considerable amount of free space for just about any purpose.
Additionally - there are some very good reasons to consider not adding a pack.
Warning
If you haven't done so already - you might not want to proceed.
Building from “the bottom up”, we prepare the HOST system, then NOS, then PLATO.
Assuming that you are using the ''NCC Distribution'', verify the equipment section contains the following, or at least closely resembles the following:
[equipment.nos287] ;---------------------------------------------------------------------- ; Equipment definitions corresponding to CMRD01 and EQPD01 on the ; NOS 2.8.7 deadstart tape ; ; The format of each entry is: ; ; type,eqNo,unitNo,channel,path ; ;---------------------------------------------------------------------- ; 4x885 disk drives, default family DD885,0,0,01,disks/DQ10 DD885,0,1,01,disks/DQ11 DD885,0,0,02,disks/DQ12 DD885,0,1,02,disks/DQ13 ; 1x844 removable disk drive DD844,0,0,11,* ; 6x885 disk drives for CYBIS auxiliary packs ; These are used only if CYBIS is installed DD885,0,0,03,disks/DQ20_BINARY DD885,0,0,04,disks/DQ21_CYB0 DD885,0,1,03,disks/DQ22_CYB1 DD885,0,1,04,disks/DQ23_PUB0 DD885,0,2,03,disks/DQ24_PUB1 DD885,0,2,04,disks/DQ25_UOL ; CDCNet Mainframe Device Interface MDI,7,0,05 ; System Console CO6612,0,0,10 ; Card Reader, Line Printer, Card Punch CR3447,4,0,12 LP512,5,0,12,3555 CP3446,6,0,12 ; 9-track Tape Drives MT679,0,0,13,tapes/ds.tap MT679,0,1,13 MT679,0,2,13 MT679,0,3,13 ; 2-port mux TPM,0,0,15 ; Automated Cartridge Tape Drives MT5744,0,0,23,localhost:4400/M0P0D0 MT5744,0,1,23,localhost:4400/M0P0D1 MT5744,0,2,23,localhost:4400/M0P0D2 MT5744,0,3,23,localhost:4400/M0P0D3 ; Distributed Data Path DDP,0,0,20
In particular, note the DD885 entries. We will need to add two more entries representing the new NOS DD885 Disk packs.
Channels 3 and 4 are configured to hold the chain of disk units (in this configuration) and we will continue that pattern by adding unit number 3 to each channel 3 and 4.
During deadstart, the hardware on the deadstart panel signifies the suffix of the CMRDECK that is processed during configuration of the system. Therefore we want to verify that the deadstart section looks like this:
[deadstart.nos287] ;---------------------------------------------------------------------- ; Mainframe deadstart panel. This panel configuration causes the system ; to perform a level 0 deadstart from a tape drive on channel 13, ; equipment 0, unit 0. It selects CMRD01 as the CMR deck defining the ; hardware and operating system configurations. ;---------------------------------------------------------------------- 0000 0000 0000 7553 DCN 13 7713 FAN 13, 0120 0120 7413 ACN 13 7113 IAM 13, 7301 7301 0000 0001 wxyy w=level, x=display, yy=cmrdeck 0000
In particular, take note of the switch settings on the row with the comment
wxyy w=level, x=display, yy=cmrdeck
The switch bank value should be 0001. The last two digits, 01 indicate the CMR Deck number that is to be loaded during deadstart. This value is expected later when we re-build the deadstart tape.
Add the following two DQ device statements to the equipment section. Note that the intention is to add packs, effectively dedicated to PLATO, whose names GEN1 and GEN2 signify our intention of making these Master Files of type GENERAL. When the NCC Distribution is first constructed, it is essentially identical to the Cybis Release 1 build. We will make changes and additions (in subsequent articles) which add content to the new
DD885,0,3,03,disks/DQ26_GEN1 DD885,0,3,04,disks/DQ27_GEN2
Save the file and start dtCyber using the MANUAL configuration. Note that the configuration of the section [manual] is distributed as:
[manual] ;---------------------------------------------------------------------- ; Manual DtCyber configuration profile for NOS 2.8.7 PSR Level 871. ; Waits at the first CTI screen for operator intervention. Does not ; start or stop helper processes. ;---------------------------------------------------------------------- displayName=CybisR2.Prod (Manual) model=CYBER865 deadstart=deadstart.nos287 equipment=equipment.nos287 npuConnections=npu.nos287 operator=operator.manual.nos287 clock=0 cpus=2 memory=4000000 esmbanks=16 pps=24 persistDir=persistence
Once dtCyber is started, the configuration is loaded and the packs will be allocated on-disk. We start with the MANUAL configuration because we need to make temporary modifications (at first) to the equipment deck and enable NOS to initialize the newly added Disk Packs.
On dtCyber - make sure that the disks were properly detected/allocated:
At the NOS CONSOLE during DEADSTART:
Define the new equipment. Note that this is done through the dtCyber OPERATOR console which has the “enter_keys” support. Entering these commands using this method makes it much easier to prepare the commands EXTERNAL to the NOS Console and ensure they are all correctly entered ahead of time:
Continue the NOS Deadstart:
Now enter the DATE and TIME:
Part I - Complete
At this point, the underlying Disk Packs have been properly formatted and are temporarily part of the configuration. Continue to Adding New Master Files to finalize the configuration.