004 - Starting NOS and CYBIS

In this article, we perform the initial startup and assume that the following have been completed:

• NOS and CYBIS disk images have been extracted and positioned
• The deadstart tape image has been extracted and positioned
• The cyber.ini file has been extracted and positioned
• The DtCyber emulator binary has been been created and tested
• A working version of PTERM and/or PlatoAccess has been installed and tested

The NOS 2.8.7 operating system will be started, and then as a second step the CYBIS subsystems will be launched.

Before proceeding, it's important to understand aspects of what is being simulated by DtCyber. The keyboard is a crucial element in the operation of NOS. It is sufficiently different from modern keyboards that it requires some explanation.

In the above image, the keyboard layout may appear to be foreign but the mapping of keys is straightforward.

• There is no SHIFT key in this keyboard layout.
• There are very few “special” characters represented.
• There are two keys on either side of the Equal Sign (=) each named Left Blank and Right Blank respectively.
• The “Carriage Return” (CR) key is where the LEFT SHIFT key is on modern keyboards.
• The forward slash (/) key and the Parentheses are where the RIGHT SHIFT key appears on modern keyboards.

Launch dtcyber application.

The emulator creates two windows:

• the DtCyber operator window
• the CDC (NOS) console window

The DtCyber operator window is used to manipulate the virtual devices emulated by the environment. This includes many activities including:

• mounting and un-mounting tapes
• displaying tape status
• removing printed paper
• loading and removing punch cards
• shut down the emulation

A complete list of functionality provided by the DtCyber Console Commands should be completely reviewed prior to proceeding.

The emulated CDC console keyboard has equivalent functionality to the original console, except for the following differences:

• Left blank key is mapped to the left square brace key [ and erases any command line which may have been entered.
• Right blank key is mapped to right square brace key ] and its use depends on context. Often it is used to cycle through a set of console screens.

The screen shots below show examples of both displays:

The right hand side will update as the various NOS components are loaded until the following shows:

Note that the current date and time have been automatically entered by DtCyber during initialization. These commands are configured in the cyber.ini file.

Now wait until NAM networking is finished initializing. The line on the upper-right of the screen, Control Point 1, will display IAF X. NETWORK CONNECTED..

Now type CYBIS. followed by Enter:

This will initiate the loading of the CYBIS subsystem controls. Once everything has initialized correctly, the following will be displayed:

This process takes about 30 seconds.

Wait until the last message on the left hand side says LOCAL SYSTEM LESSONS INSTALLED.

On the right hand side the following CYBIS subsystems should be running:

• MAS1 Mass Storage Manager
• PLA1 PLATO Executor
• FOR1 Formatter
• PNI1 PLATO/NAM Interface
• COA1 TUTOR Language Condenser

If not all subsystems have started, then shutdown CYBIS as described in the article 006 - Shutting-Down CYBIS (PLATO) and NOS and if necessary drop any remaining CYBIS subsystems and possible dump jobs using DROP,jsn.. After all CYBIS subsystems have shutdown try starting CYBIS again with CYBIS..