Bootstrap code for VAXes lives here. The goal on any type of VAX: somehow load the secondary boot program `boot' into memory, and get it to load /unix. On the VAX-11/780 and 785, the console BOOT command executes a command file according to its arguments: B SDF invokes SDFBOO.CMD from the floppy; B without args calls DEFBOO.CMD. For Unix, the command file typically does anything that must be done early (turning on interleaved memory, for instance), loads a copy of `boot' from the floppy, puts boot flags in R11 and perhaps a device type in R10, and starts boot. ./floppy contains junk that should be put (verbatim) on the console floppy. Other, site-specific junk (like the microcode appropriate to your system) should go on the floppy too. On the VAX-11/750, the B command causes a tiny ROM program to be called, with parameters set from arguments: B XY3 picks a ROM named `XY' and passes the unit number 3 in a register. Standard ROMs read block 0 from some device into low memory, and start it at address 0xC. Some standard registers are set up with things like the device unit number and the address of a driver subroutine in the ROM, so it's possible to have a device-independent boot block. It's a nice setup, and nobody uses it much. Unix boot blocks read /boot from the root filesystem and start it. ./bb contains source to several boot blocks. 1kboot and 4kboot are device- independent boot blocks (using the driver provided by the ROM) for 1k and 4k filesystems; /boot doesn't know about the device-independent conventions (yet), so ?kboot tell /boot that the system device is a UDA50 disk. upboot is a boot block for some kinds of SMD disk on a UNIBUS Emulex controller; hpboot is for MASSBUS controllers. upboot is Emulex-dependent in the way it guesses the size of the disk; look for references to the hr register to fix that. There are some other boots too; do what you like with them. ./stand contains the source for `boot,' and a few other standalone utilities. Only boot is thought to work. Boot assumes that ra disks have 4k filesystems, that up/hp disks have 1k filesystems, and probably doesn't work with anything else. To set things up on an 11/780, add the contents of ./star to the console floppy. If you have interleaved memory, de-comment the DEPOSIT lines in all the command files first. To set things up on an 11/750, install the appropriate boot block as block 0 of the root filesystem (which should be the first partition on unit 0), and make sure you have a working boot ROM as well. Copy boot to /boot. Caveat booter.