2bsd for basement pdp-11/73??

[Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr]

In article <1990Jul02.023456.5861 at virtech.uucp>, rickr at virtech.uucp (Rick Rodman) writes:
> I was told to look here for information on obtaining a binary of 2bsd for
> my PDP-11/73.
> Another common reply, by the way, has been "assuming you have a Unix source
> license, you can get such-and-such, but otherwise jump in a lake".

  Well, if you can show that you _do_ have a Unix license, you can get the
complete kit from Usenix.

  The license is a prerequisite, though. That isn't Usenix's doing, nor
Berkeley's, but ATT's requirement.

  Non-BSD-related followups to this discussion should probably go elsewhere,
but I'm not sure where. Maybe the Info-PDP11 list at transarc.com?
 
> Anyhow it's pretty strange that just about everybody supports the old Unibus
> PDP-11's but almost nothing is available, even from DEC, for the 11/73 -
> I think this machine is only about 3 years old!!!

  Not true! You can still get RT-11, RSTS-E, RSX-11, and probably even IAS from
DEC. You'll need a license for any of those, however. On the back of your CPU
cabinet should be a "Model/Serial" tag giving the model and serial number. The
serial number will either be something like BTOnnnn or 8nnnnnnnx. Most PDP-11
systems were sold with a "general" license, which means that they were licensed
for the buyer's choice of operating system.

  If you contact your local DEC office, located at:

  Digital Equipment Corp. 
  3020 Hamaker Court
  Fairfax, VA 22031-2220
  (703) 698-5390

  You can arrange a "license transfer" which will make you legal for a DEC
operating system. Also, _if_ you can determine that the machine was licensed
for Ultrix-11 (you'd have to get proof from the old owner), you might be
able to use that as license proof for a binary 2BSD distribution.

  Hoping this helps,

	Terry Kennedy		Operations Manager, Academic Computing
	terry at spcvxa.bitnet	St. Peter's College, US
	terry at spcvxa.spc.edu	(201) 915-9381