Put the new disk image through its paces on the HP 1000 - real machine quite slow

HP 1000 SYSTEM RESTORATION

Working with RTE IV B

The disk images run under the simulator have the bytes of their words swapped compared to the ordering in disk images on real HP hardware. The PC uses little-endian words while HP is big-endian. I ran the DD utility to swap the bytes back, creating a new disk image to run on my physical hardware.

All is not well. My image booted up but the system prompt showed up on the 2622A terminal, not the 2645A that it should. Perhaps I have the cables backwards - I will investigate. Even so, the system came up and I issued some commands to check out its functioning.

Time to compile and run my Algol test program. I have a procedure to handle the Algol compiler, which is an older bit of software that does not work properly when handed names of files. Instead, it needs to have the source set up as a logical unit and the output produced on a temporary disk area which can then be saved as a file.

It all ran well. I put the system through some paces, running various compilers and programs. The one thing that wasn't working right was the second console, the 2622A, but I think I pulled wires off the connector as I moved the cables to put the 2645A as the system console and the 2622A as the secondary.

Diagnosing bad 12966A BACI card

Preparing to use the logic analyzer to spot the problems with the serial card is complicated by space and power cabling concerns. Where I have the HP machine in my garage, the rear of the rack enclosure where I will access the IO cards is near the main garage door, leaving little room for access.

I have no space for a table to sit the logic analyzer, and the PC hosting the HP Drive emulator is sitting on top of the rack taking up what little space there was. Further, I don't have a power strip nearby with enough open sockets to handle the logic analyzer, PC and its monitor.

Once I sort out these logistics, which are the pesky issues remaining, I will still have to program the logic analyzer and locate a source for the system clock I will need to run the analyzer in clocked mode.