[comp.sys.dec] RSX questions

news@udenva.cair.du.edu (netnews) (02/06/88)

I have three questions about RSX:

	1> Who, if anyone, has a C compiler for RSX besides DECUS and
Whitesmith? At the last DECUS symp. I attended (Nashville), I heard
that DEC was working on a PDP-11 C, that was due in about a year. Has
anyone heard more about it? (oops, VAX question - Is there a C++ compiler
for VMS that is worth using?) We use both DECUS and Whitesmith versions,
and while we like the DECUS version better, we really don't have the time
to add all the needed support routines. 

	2> MDB/Lockheed have an RSX (co-?)multiprocessor board that runs
in the backplane of a MVII. Apparently it has local on-board memory and
maps into part of the MVII's memory. Several can be in one system. What
we would like to know is:
		a> Besides the processor, memory, boot code and glue, what
is on the board? Serial, parallel ports, A/D channels?

		b> How are devices on the Q-bus used? Do all Q-bus transfers
to disks, a/d boards, etc. go through the MVII?

		c> Are any mechanisms supplied to control access to shared
memory? Do all RSX boards map to the same shared memory locations?

		d> How are bootable images stored/loaded? Can each board
have a different system image?

		e> The information I saw implied that you could run 
parallelized F77 programs. Are there special compilers for this or must
you roll your own using carefully designed cotasks on each machine?
	3> Is there interest in adding a newsgroup to the net for PDP
users? We PDP fans are a loyal, fanatical group, but we need to band to-
gether to fend off the VAX invasion. The current DEC oriented newsgroups
are heavily slanted towards the VAX world. Heck there are more PDP 
machines (and probably users too) then there are VAXen. RT, RSX, RSTS, IAS,
Ultrix-11, CTS, Mumps, etc. users let's speak up!


			Richard Neitzel

			Rockwell International
			Computer Aided Manufacturing and Control
			Box 464
			Golden CO 80402		303-966-7203

Real-time defined: RSX usec	VMS today	DOS ????
 

young@pur-ee.UUCP (Mike Young) (02/09/88)

	Here's my vote for a PDP-11 newsgroup.
		Call it: comp.sys.dec.pdp11 maybe??

					-Mike Young

tech@auvax.UUCP (Richard Loken) (02/09/88)

PDP11 users speak up you say.

five years ago or so, we bought a vax11/780 and brought up 4.1bsd and moved
all the users over except me.  I stayed on our pdp11/34 running unix v6 and
hid behind /tmp until everyone was gone and there I had a machine that used
to run 24 users (albiet slowly) all to myself for a full year until some
neferious individual brought up RSTS and gave it to the finance dept.

I nourished the dream of sneaking it into my basement but three years ago
the rko5 drives were sold for $75.00 apiece and not to me.  Now the 11/34
itself is gone as well.

Sigh.  Put up the good fight.

     *********	    73
    **********	    Richard Loken VE6BSV
   .      ****	    
  ..      ****	    Athabasca University
 ....     ****	    Athabasca, Alberta Canada
..........****	    ihnp4!alberta!auvax

cetron@utah-cs.UUCP (Edward J Cetron) (02/09/88)

	As chair of the PDP-11 Working Group of DECUS, which is working
closely with Digital on the resurgence of the 11, I have a rather unique
perspective to answer some of your questions. (and as for RSX - I'm still
on the RSX SIG steering committee, am still a wizard emeritus, and have
been known to lead various forays against VAX magic sessions at DECUS
symposia - remember the chesire cat on a noose? or the white elephants,
or the.... :-) oh my....)


In article <9768@udenva.cair.du.edu> news@udenva.cair.du.edu (netnews) writes:
>I have three questions about RSX:
>
>	1> Who, if anyone, has a C compiler for RSX besides DECUS and
>Whitesmith? At the last DECUS symp. I attended (Nashville), I heard
>that DEC was working on a PDP-11 C, that was due in about a year. Has
>anyone heard more about it? (oops, VAX question - Is there a C++ compiler
>

I think that you can probably start holding your breath, the rumours
are that it is starting to come together - all those who want it and would
buy it should send me e-mail, I will collect them and personally deliver them
to the head of PDP languages - and believe me, mail TALKS.

>	2> MDB/Lockheed have an RSX (co-?)multiprocessor board that runs
>in the backplane of a MVII. Apparently it has local on-board memory and
>maps into part of the MVII's memory. Several can be in one system. What
>
	Yea, I've heard of it. And I've heard of some other MDB products and
I know of at least one MDB employee who will remain nameless... I'd wait for
the dec supported kxj-11 Coprocessor project (in RSX and RT flavors..) I've
played with it and it looks great....and some postulated maybe sortof possible
hypothetical stuff which is easy to add on give rise to RSX-11S+ (basically a
run-time only diskless version of 11M+)

>	3> Is there interest in adding a newsgroup to the net for PDP
>users? We PDP fans are a loyal, fanatical group, but we need to band to-

	I thought there was an info-pdp mailing list be I've always missed
out on were it is....rats, I'd love to join it.

	But meanwhile, Those 'loyal, fanatical' fans should keep those cards
and letters coming - I hand carry ALL of them (besides the obvious dec-bashing
for the sake of bashing ones) direct to senior MSD management.

-ed cetron
cetron@cs.utah.edu	(arpa/internet)
cetron@utahcca.bitnet	(bitnet)

pdb@sei.cmu.edu (Patrick Barron) (02/09/88)

In article <5256@utah-cs.UUCP> cetron@cs.utah.edu.UUCP (Edward J Cetron) writes:
>>	3> Is there interest in adding a newsgroup to the net for PDP
>>users? We PDP fans are a loyal, fanatical group, but we need to band to-
>
>	I thought there was an info-pdp mailing list be I've always missed
>out on were it is....rats, I'd love to join it.

The list does exist, although it's been real quiet lately.  Requests to
join or be deleted to "info-pdp11-request@sei.cmu.edu".  Submissions
to the list to "info-pdp11@sei.cmu.edu".

--Pat.

eric@spock.UUCP (Eric Volpe) (02/09/88)

Here's another vote for a PDP-11 only newsgroup! 
comp.sys.dec.pdp11 sounds good to me, but perhaps 
a little long in the name... However this seems to
be the only name that makes sense.


				...decvax!yale!spock!eric

beadel@oswego.UUCP (Edward F. Beadel, Jr.) (02/10/88)

In article <5256@utah-cs.UUCP> cetron@cs.utah.edu.UUCP (Edward J Cetron) writes:
>	As chair of the PDP-11 Working Group of DECUS, which is working
>closely with Digital on the resurgence of the 11, I have a rather unique

	I'm also a member of the PDP-11 Working Group of DECUS as the
UNISIG rep. (I'm also on the UNISIG and RSTSIG Steering Committees
of DECUS-US.) 

>	I thought there was an info-pdp mailing list be I've always missed
>out on were it is....rats, I'd love to join it.
>

	Well, before we lost our connection to Xerox I was on the mailing list.
In looking over my mail the "cc:" line had "info-pdp11@sei.cmu.edu"
and as I recall to get on it you send mail to "info-pdp11-request@sei.cmu.edu"
I'm not getting the info-pdp11 mail now since we're having some problems
getting our link to the internet all squared away.

	I think that a pdp11 news group is a good idea. The info-pdp11
traffic could be put into the news group as some of the other mailing lists
are doing (tcp-ip for one). But untill that happens, follow Ed Cetron's
advice below:

>	But meanwhile, Those 'loyal, fanatical' fans should keep those cards
>and letters coming - I hand carry ALL of them (besides the obvious dec-bashing
>for the sake of bashing ones) direct to senior MSD management.
>
>-ed cetron
>cetron@cs.utah.edu	(arpa/internet)
>cetron@utahcca.bitnet	(bitnet)

	If you have any issues that you would like the PDP-11 Working Group
to consider and possibly (probably??? Ed has the final say {:-) !) bring
to DEC's attention. Let me and/or Ed Cetron know about them.

	My addresses are:   ...!rutgers!sunybcs!oswego!beadel
				and *soon* we should be back on the Internet
					beadel@oswego.oswego.edu

-- 
Edward F. Beadel, Jr., Assoc. Dir.	...rutgers!sunybcs!oswego!beadel
Instructional Computing Center               SOON TO BE (AGAIN???)
SUNY College at Oswego                 beadel@oswego.oswego.edu
Oswego, NY  13126 (315)-341-3055