[TUHS] 2.9bsd with networking on 18-bit possible?

[Noel Chiappa]

    > From: Warner Losh

    > I kinda doubt it has good NCP support: it was released in November of
    > 1983.

Wow, that far back? I'd assumed it was later (considerably later).

Looking at the 2.9 networking stuff:

  https://minnie.tuhs.org//cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=2.9BSD/usr/net/sys/net

it does indeed have _no_ NCP support.


    > I'd get it running in simh, then move to real hardware.

Absolutely; running in an emulator is, I have found, a key step on getting an old
OS running. I've found Ersatz-11 to be really good for PDP-11 emulation.


    > It's going to take a lot of elbow grease to make that work, I think.

Indeed; part of the problem, if the goal is going to be 'run it on real
hardware' is 'what network interface to use'.

All the ARPANET interfaces are out. There are drivers there for Proteon,
Ungermann-Bass, Xerox 3MB Ethernet, etc interfaces, but i) where you gonna
find one, and ii) you'll need a router to connect up to most other things.

There's a driver for the Interlan Ethernet interface, but AFAIK, those are
non-existent. (If anyone has one they're willing to part with, please let me
know!)

DEC Ethernet interfaces are available, but i) only the QBUS ones are common,
DEUNAs and DELUAs are almost impossible to find, that I've even seen, and ii)
it would need a driver.


    > Ultrix-11 is of similar vintage, and similar functionality and does boot
    > on the 18-bit 11's.

Yes, definitely worth looking at; I know it had TCP/IP (we had it on our
-11/73 at Proteon), but I don't know which interfaces it supported; probably
just the DEC ones (which, given the above, is not necessarily a Bad Thing).

     Noel