UNIX Sixth Edition

This is a guide to installing UNIX sixth edition in the simh PDP-11 emulator. Besides the PDP-11 emulator you only need the v6 distribution tape, which you can get from http://doc.cat-v.org/unix/v6/operating-systems-lecture-notes/v6/dist.tap or my site.

You should also read some of the documents that come with UNIX. You can get most of them (and the UNIX Programmer's Manual) as Postscript files here: http://doc.cat-v.org/unix/v6/operating-systems-lecture-notes/v6/doc/index.html or from my site (also as PDF). The Programmer's Manual without the documents is also available here.

The UPM for v6 (among others) is also available here.

Particularly relevant is the Setting up UNIX document (start.ps/pdf).

Note: If you don't want to install UNIX yourself, you can grab the pre-installed RK05 images and the expect script that was used to build them here.

Installing the root file system

There are three RK05 disk images on the tape:

/
/usr/source
/usr/doc

To install the root file system create an install.ini with the following lines:

set cpu 11/40
set tm0 locked
att tm0 path/to/your/dist.tape
att rk0 disk0.rk
att rk1 disk1.rk
att rk2 disk2.rk
d 100000 012700
d 100002 172526
d 100004 010040
d 100006 012740
d 100010 060003
d 100012 000777
g 100000
g 0

This tells the emulator to emulate a PDP-11/40, attaches the distribution tape and three disks, and then executes the bootstrap.

To run, type pdp11 install.ini, press ^E to stop the emulator. It will start again at 0. Now copy the boot sector and root fs from tape to RK0:

=tmrk
disk offset
0
tape offset
100
count
1
=tmrk
disk offset
1
tape offset
101
count
3999
=

and stop with ^E. We will copy the rest to disk when we are running UNIX.

Booting UNIX

To boot UNIX, boot from RK0 and load the kernel rkunix. Login as root.

sim> boot rk0
@rkunix

login: root
#

Welcome to UNIX.

A quick introduction: To erase one character type #, to kill the whole line type @. To interrupt a program type DEL/^? (usually on Delete or Backspace key, depends on terminal). If you want to change that, use stty:

# stty erase <key to erase character> kill <key to kill line>

A good standard are ^H (Backspace) and ^U.

The terminal is configured with option cr1 by default which delays output after a newline, set it to cr0 to get faster output:

# stty cr0

cd is still called chdir in v6 (edit /usr/source/s1/sh.c later if you want to change that).

Creating device files

To restore the other RK disks we have to create the correct device files. /etc/mknod without arguments tells you what arguments it expects:

usage: mknod name b/c major minor

We create a block- and character-device for each of the three disks (major number 0 and 9 resp.):

# /etc/mknod /dev/rk0 b 0 0
# /etc/mknod /dev/rk1 b 0 1
# /etc/mknod /dev/rk2 b 0 2
# /etc/mknod /dev/rrk0 c 9 0
# /etc/mknod /dev/rrk1 c 9 1
# /etc/mknod /dev/rrk2 c 9 2

We also need a tape device (major number 3/12):

# /etc/mknod /dev/mt0 b 3 0
# /etc/mknod /dev/rmt0 c 12 0

Copy disks and mount them

Finally we can copy the source and doc disks from tape:

# dd if=/dev/mt0 of=/dev/rk1 count=4000 skip=4100
# dd if=/dev/mt0 of=/dev/rk2 count=4000 skip=8100

You can now mount them to /usr/source and /usr/doc (needs to be created):

# /etc/mount /dev/rk1 /usr/source
# mkdir /usr/doc
# /etc/mount /dev/rk2 /usr/doc

If you want the disks to be mounted at startup, edit /etc/rc:

# ed /etc/rc
28
2
/etc/update
a
/etc/mount /dev/rk1 /usr/source
/etc/mount /dev/rk2 /usr/doc
.
w
89
q
#

This completes the basic installation. To halt the system type sync a couple of times, stop and quit the emulator:

# sync
# sync
# sync
# ^E
Simulation stopped, PC: 002502 (MOV (SP)+,177776)
sim> q
Goodbye

Recompiling the Kernel and System Configuration

After the installation there is still some stuff to do. We will compile a new kernel with additional support for 8 terminal lines, a papertape device and a line printer.

Create a boot.ini that will be used to boot the system:

set cpu 11/40
att rk0 disk0.rk
att rk1 disk1.rk
att rk2 disk2.rk
; att tm0 scratch.tape
; att lpt printer.txt
; att ptp paperout
; att ptr paperin
set dci en
set dci lines=8
att dci 1106
d sr 1
b rk

This will create 8 terminal lines you can attach to with telnet over port 1106. Uncomment the lines to attach tape, printer and papertape output/input files. If the switch register is set to zero, the kernel will not print anything, Setting it to 1 will enable kernel printing.

Boot rkunix again:

% pdp11 boot.ini

PDP-11 simulator V3.9-0
Disabling XQ
Listening on port 1106 (socket 9)
@rkunix
mem = 1035
RESTRICTED RIGHTS

Use, duplication or disclosure is subject to
restrictions stated in Contract with Western
Electric Company, Inc.                      

login: root
#

Now we will delete the unneeded kernels and build our own:

# rm hpunix rpunix unix
# chdir /usr/sys/conf
# cc mkconf.c
# mv a.out mkconf
# cat >myconf
rk
tm
pc
8dc
lp
^D
# mkconf <myconf
# as m40.s
# mv a.out m40.o
# cc -c c.c
# as l.s
# mv a.out l.o
# ld -x l.o m40.o c.o ../lib1 ../lib2
# mv a.out /unix

If you want, you can write a shell script that does this for you, look at or modify /usr/sys/run. Now halt and boot kernel unix, we can now also delete rkunix.

# sync
# sync
# sync
# ^E
Simulation stopped, PC: 002656 (MOV (SP)+,177776)
sim> b rk0
@unix
mem = 1027
RESTRICTED RIGHTS

Use, duplication or disclosure is subject to
restrictions stated in Contract with Western
Electric Company, Inc.                      

login: root
# rm rkunix

Now we will create the necessary device files again, for that we consult /usr/sys/conf/c.c. The first table is for block devices, the second for character devices. The major number for /etc/mknod is the index into the corresponding table.

# /etc/mknod /dev/lp0 c 2 0
# /etc/mknod /dev/pc c 1 0
# /etc/mknod /dev/tty0 c 3 0
# /etc/mknod /dev/tty1 c 3 1
# /etc/mknod /dev/tty2 c 3 2
# /etc/mknod /dev/tty3 c 3 3
# /etc/mknod /dev/tty4 c 3 4
# /etc/mknod /dev/tty5 c 3 5
# /etc/mknod /dev/tty6 c 3 6
# /etc/mknod /dev/tty7 c 3 7

(TODO: permissions?)

To enable the tty lines, edit /etc/ttys (changes take effect after reboot).

# ed /etc/ttys
112
1,8s/./1/
w
112
q

Now to tell df, icheck and dcheck about the disks we have mounted:

# chdir /usr/source/s1
# ed df.c
1282
/rp/
    "/dev/rp0",
d
-i
    "/dev/rk0",
    "/dev/rk1",
.
w
1295
q
# ed icheck.c
5051
/rp/
    "/dev/rrp0",
d
-i
    "/dev/rrk0",
    "/dev/rrk1",
.
w
5065
q
# ed dcheck.c
3332
/rp/
    "/dev/rrp0",
d
-i
    "/dev/rrk0",
    "/dev/rrk1",
.
w
3346
q
# cc df.c
# mv a.out /bin/df
# cc icheck.c
# mv a.out /bin/icheck
# cc dcheck.c
# mv a.out /bin/dcheck

For some reason df and icheck report bad free count on rk2. I don't know how this could be fixed right now.