Installing NetBSD 1.2 on the SIMH MicroVAX II

Installation of NetBSD 1.2 on the MicroVAX II is a little shaky...

To keep things simple I'm going to stick with the examples...

Preparing the hard disk

the instructions need us to know the geometry of a disk, and all of it's parameters.. So for me it's a tad daunting, but they do give an RD54 as an example. Here is the disktab entry:

rd54|RD54|DEC RD54 on Microvax:\
        :ty=winchester:ns#17:nt#15:nc#1225:\
        :dt=MSCP:\
        :pa#15884:oa#0:ba#8192:fa#1024:\
        :pb#33440:ob#15884:bb#8192:fb#1024:tb=swap:\
        :pc#311200:oc#0:bc#8192:fc#1024:\
        :pd#15884:od#49324:bd#4096:fd#512:\
        :pe#55936:oe#65208:be#8192:fe#1024:\
        :pf#190485:of#121144:bf#8192:ff#1024:\
        :pg#261876:og#49324:bg#8192:fg#1024:\
        :b0=rdboot:

With this knowledge we can start the disk label.

Sample disklabel

VAX simulator V3.8-1
Loading boot code from ka655x.bin

←[c
KA655-B V5.3, VMB 2.7
Performing normal system tests.
40..39..38..37..36..35..34..33..32..31..30..29..28..27..26..25..
24..23..22..21..20..19..18..17..16..15..14..13..12..11..10..09..
08..07..06..05..04..03..
Tests completed.
>>>b/3 mua0
(BOOT/R5:3 MUA0



  2..
-MUA0
  1..0..


howto 0x3, bdev 0x12, booting...
10556+552+33996 start 0x0

Nboot
: edlabel
12524+676+42280 start 0x0
With this program you can modify everything in the on-disk
disklabel. To do something useful you must know the exact
geometry of your disk, and have ideas about how you want
your partitions to be placed on disk. Some hints:
The a partition should be at least ~20000 blocks, the
b (swap) is depending on your use of the machine but it
should almost never be less than ~32000 blocks.

Disk geometry for most DEC disks can be found in the disktab
file, and disknames is listed in the installation notes.

Remember that disk names is given as disk(adapt, ctrl, disk, part)
when using the installation tools.

Label which disk? ra(0,0,0,0)
getdisklabel: no disk label
ra(0,0,0,0): no disk label
(E)dit, (S)how, (D)efaults, (W)rite, (Q)uit) : e

First set disk type. Valid types are:
0  unknown
1  SMD
2  MSCP
3  old DEC
4  SCSI
5  ESDI
6  ST506
7  HP-IB
8  HP-FL
9  type 9
10  floppy
11  ccd
12  vnd

Numeric disk type? [0] 2
Disk name? [] rd54
badsectoring? [n]
ecc? [n]
removable? [n]
Interleave? [0] 1
rpm? [0] 3600
trackskew? [0]
cylinderskew? [0]
headswitch? [0]
track-to-track? [0]
drivedata 0? [0]
drivedata 1? [0]
drivedata 2? [0]
drivedata 3? [0]
drivedata 4? [0]

bytes/sector? [0] 512
sectors/track? [0] 17
tracks/cylinder? [0] 15
sectors/cylinder? [0] 255
cylinders? [0] 1221
a partition: offset? [0]
             size? [0] 20000
b partition: offset? [0] 20000
             size? [0] 20000
c partition: offset? [0]
             size? [0] 311200
d partition: offset? [0]
             size? [0]
e partition: offset? [0] 40000
             size? [0] 271200
f partition: offset? [0]
             size? [0]
g partition: offset? [0]
             size? [0]
h partition: offset? [0]
             size? [0]
(E)dit, (S)how, (D)efaults, (W)rite, (Q)uit) : s


disk type 2 (MSCP),  rd54:
interleave 1, rpm 3600, trackskew 0, cylinderskew 0
headswitch 0, track-to-track 0, drivedata: 0 0 0 0 0

bytes/sector: 512
sectors/track: 17
tracks/cylinder: 15
sectors/cylinder: 255
cylinders: 1221

8 partitions:
     size   offset
a:   20000,    0
b:   20000,    20000
c:   311200,    0
d:   0,    0
e:   271200,    40000
f:   0,    0
g:   0,    0
h:   0,    0

(E)dit, (S)how, (D)efaults, (W)rite, (Q)uit) : w

This program does not (yet) write bootblocks, only disklabel.
Remember to write the bootblocks from the miniroot later with the
command "disklabel -B <diskname>".

(E)dit, (S)how, (D)efaults, (W)rite, (Q)uit) : q
Label which disk? q
q: no disk label
(E)dit, (S)how, (D)efaults, (W)rite, (Q)uit) : q
Label which disk?
Simulation stopped, PC: 00103083 (BEQL 10307C)
sim> q
Goodbye