On 2017-02-05 21:07, Clem Cole wrote:
Going back to the original question (BTW ... everything Paul and Johnny
pointed out are excellent); but I think you need to step back and think
a little conceptually about what you are trying to do.

Fair enough. :-)
A bit more detail on what he have, and what he wants to accomplish could be useful.

Ignore simh for a minute and think this through as a thought experiment
if you had two PDP-11 -- the systems:

 1. which you boot - RK05 based
 2. one which you can not boot the current OS with the media you require
    (RL02 - in this case)

How do you move the OS from one system to the other and be able to boot
both systems when done.   Basically, you a few things (which might be
satisfied by a single device but conceptually can be with different
devices that satisfy each action):

1.) A common media  that both systems understand or some way to transfer
binary between both systems.
2.) Some way to boot the second system with >>some<< OS that can read
the common media/run the transfer program.
3.) Some way to build bootable media for the OS you want to run on the
media you want.


It seems to me the issue here is you have an RK05 in common and RL02 on
the new system which you can not create. what you need/want.

As Johnny pointed out, trying try to the RK05 bits on the RL02 is
unlikely to lead to a bootable system, because things like the bootblock
code is wrong.   Other issues are things like interleaving, file system
block clustering etc., which can vary depending the target OS and target HW.

So unless you specific tools the create conformant disk images (RL02)
for the second OS (what ever you are desire - RSX, RSTS, RT11, DOS11,
UNIX etcc), you are likely to have issues.    When we develop/port an
OS, this solution is often what we do/is done.

We write tools that run on original host that make images that are
expected by the target.  This seems to be what you are asking for.   The
problem is such tools will vary per OS and can vary per target media.
So, unless /you know exactly what you are doing for both the target OS
and target media/, you are unlikely to have a lot direct success.

But.....  what I hear you saying is that you need do boot the second
system with the RK05, and tools to create a bootable file system/regen
the system for the RL02.     Don't despair -- there are a number of ways
to do this.

Then build that disk, boot it and then use the RK05 as a common disk
between the systems.   Johnny will have to answer if you can boot RSX11
on an RK05, Paul can tell you the same for RSTS, many of us on this
list, such me can talk you through UNIX if its not already clear as this
is done all the time there.

Here is where we have the questions. What does he actually want to do, and with what?

Moving a system from one type of disk to another, is general, a well known and solved problem. There are some limitations to what devices can be used as the system boot device, which differs based on OS. But apart from that, there is nothing very strange or tricky about it.

But it is not normally done by just copying the raw blocks from one device to the other. You commonly boot the OS, and use tools within the system to write your new disk, populate it with content, and make it bootable.

But I think the simplest and most fool proof process is this:

1.) build a bootable RK05 RSX11-M image on system 1.
2.) Dismount and remount it on system 2, and boot system 2.
3.) Use the RSX11-M disk build tool create a bootable RL02 system.
4.) Reboot system 2 using the RL02
5.) Then sneaker-net using the RK05 data from the two systems.

Totally agree on steps 1 to 4. Not sure what step 5 is here. But any way, I would like to understand what system 1 and 2 is for the OP. I almost got the impression that he maybe had some actual hardware, but then is passing through simh for some reason, and fiddling with different types of disks. Not entirely sure why.

Since one of the systems is "virtual" using simh, trick is writing the
common (RK05) and there are multiple ways to do that.

Well, writing the RK05 is sure one "problem" to solve. But I'm actually not following what the problem the OP is trying to deal with, talking about "porting" from an RL01 to RL02, or even from an RK05 to something else. If simh is involved, he might as well just actually set up the correct devices from the start, and not try all this trickery.

BTW:  Another solution (being a UNIX guy) since the first system is
simh, would be to add a virtual RL02 to it. And do the regeneration and
set up all on a virtual RL02.

Then using small UNIX image, and the the common (smaller) disk; bring
the RL02 image over as multiple parts and put it back together with the
dd program.    But you'll need a different tool kit and lot more
knowledge of what's going on under the covers to make that happen.

Not sure what is the first system, or anything, but as simh seems to be involved, I'm not sure why you would not do it this way. Set up the correct, required devices in simh, and just do it the easy and correct way.

        Johnny

--
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                  ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: [email protected]             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
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