Difference between revisions of "Installing Xenix 2.x on Qemu"

From Computer History Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search
(media table: added a few more drive details...)
(media table: Changed table to reflect noun usage from the Xenix manual. diskette and Flexable disk drive...)
Line 23: Line 23:
 
!Major
 
!Major
 
!Minor
 
!Minor
 +
|-
 +
|fd0
 +
|Flexible disk drive
 +
|2
 +
|64
 
|-
 
|-
 
|fd0135
 
|fd0135
|3 1/2" floppy drive
+
|3 1/2" Flexible disk drive
 
|2
 
|2
 
|60
 
|60
Line 40: Line 45:
 
|-
 
|-
 
|fd048
 
|fd048
|5 1/4" floppy drive (low density)
+
|5 1/4" Flexible disk drive (low density)
 
|2
 
|2
 
|4
 
|4
Line 64: Line 69:
 
|-
 
|-
 
|fd096
 
|fd096
| 5 1/4" floppy drive (high density)
+
| 5 1/4" Flexible disk drive (high density)
 
|2
 
|2
 
|52
 
|52
Line 73: Line 78:
 
|52
 
|52
 
|-
 
|-
|fd096ds18
+
|fd096ds18*
| DMF format for 5 1/4" disks
+
| DMF format for 5 1/4" diskette
 
|2
 
|2
 
|60
 
|60
Line 85: Line 90:
  
  
 +
* This format was created specifically to lower the costs of manufacturing, i.e. use less disks for distribution. 
 +
 +
Hopefully this will make some sense..  Esp with the floppy driver being very touch, but at least with the device table at hand you can hard code /dev/install and friends so that things will 'just work'.  The big thing to watch for is high density vs low density....
 +
 +
From the [http://www.polarhome.com/service/man/Xenix/XG-5-16-88_5.0_XENIX_2.3_System_Administrators_Guide_May88.pdf manual]:
 +
 +
"
 +
/dev/dsk/f0d9d      48tpi floppy device
 +
/dev/dsk/fOd9dt      48tpi entire disk floppy device
 +
/dev/dsk/fOq15d      96tpi floppy device
 +
/dev/dsk/fOq15dt    96tpi entire disk floppy device
 +
/dev/rdsk/fOd9d      raw 48tpi floppy device
 +
/dev rdsk/fOd9dt    raw 48tpi entire disk floppy device
 +
/dev/rdsk/fOq15d    raw 96tpi floppy device
 +
/dev/rdsk/fOq15dt    raw 96tpi entire disk floppy device"
  
 +
"The very first thing to understand is that these files are NOT the drivers for the devices. Drivers are in the kernel itself (/unix or /xenix or /stand/unix), and the files in /dev do not actually contain anything at all: they are just pointers to where the driver code can be found in the kernel. There is nothing more to it than that. These aren't programs, they aren't drivers, they are just pointers." [https://aplawrence.com/Unixart/devices.html Unix device pointer explanation]
  
Hopefully this will make some sense..  Esp with the floppy driver being very touch, but at least with the device table at hand you can hard code /dev/install and friends so that things will 'just work'.  The big thing to watch for is high density vs low density....
 
  
 
I've also demonstrated how to do this in a [http://youtu.be/3oinClapUZU video].
 
I've also demonstrated how to do this in a [http://youtu.be/3oinClapUZU video].
 
  
 
[[Category:QEMU Tutorials]] [[Category:Qemu]]
 
[[Category:QEMU Tutorials]] [[Category:Qemu]]

Revision as of 21:17, 10 July 2019

Xenix 2.3.4 on Qemu

As of Qemu 0.14.0 you can actually install Xenix version 2. This works for both the i386 & the i286 versions.

I've documented it here on my blog.

The whole thing hinges on changing the boot strings so that instead of detecting the media type, it is instead forced to use the actual media type. For example, using the 3 1/2 inch diskette the boot string goes from:

fd(64)xenix root=fd(64) swap=ram(0) pipe=ram(1) swplo=0 nswap=1000 ronly

Into this:

fd(60)xenix root=fd(60) swap=ram(0) pipe=ram(1) swplo=0 nswap=1000 ronly

Things to keep in mind is that the largest IDE hard disk that Xenix 2.x can support is 500MB.

media table

Device Name Description Major Minor
fd0 Flexible disk drive 2 64
fd0135 3 1/2" Flexible disk drive 2 60
fd0135ds18 high density 1.44Mb diskette 2 60
fd0135ds9 low density 720Kb diskette 2 36
fd048 5 1/4" Flexible disk drive (low density) 2 4
fd048ds9 360K double sided nine sector diskette 2 4
fd048ds8 DOS version 1.1 double sided eight sector diskette 12
fd048ss8 DOS version 1.1 single sided eight sector diskette 2 8
fd048ss9 DOS single sided nine sector diskette 2 0
fd096 5 1/4" Flexible disk drive (high density) 2 52
fd096ds15 1.2MB diskette 2 52
fd096ds18* DMF format for 5 1/4" diskette 2 60
fd096ds9 720K 5 1/4" diskette 2 36


  • This format was created specifically to lower the costs of manufacturing, i.e. use less disks for distribution.

Hopefully this will make some sense.. Esp with the floppy driver being very touch, but at least with the device table at hand you can hard code /dev/install and friends so that things will 'just work'. The big thing to watch for is high density vs low density....

From the manual:

"

/dev/dsk/f0d9d       48tpi floppy device 
/dev/dsk/fOd9dt      48tpi entire disk floppy device
/dev/dsk/fOq15d      96tpi floppy device 
/dev/dsk/fOq15dt     96tpi entire disk floppy device
/dev/rdsk/fOd9d      raw 48tpi floppy device
/dev rdsk/fOd9dt     raw 48tpi entire disk floppy device 
/dev/rdsk/fOq15d     raw 96tpi floppy device
/dev/rdsk/fOq15dt    raw 96tpi entire disk floppy device"

"The very first thing to understand is that these files are NOT the drivers for the devices. Drivers are in the kernel itself (/unix or /xenix or /stand/unix), and the files in /dev do not actually contain anything at all: they are just pointers to where the driver code can be found in the kernel. There is nothing more to it than that. These aren't programs, they aren't drivers, they are just pointers." Unix device pointer explanation


I've also demonstrated how to do this in a video.