Configuring the Emulator for OpenVMS
From ES40 Emulator
I have been able to
- run the SRM console
- install OpenVMS 7.3
on an Intel 32-bit Compaq nc6000 laptop running the Fedora 9 Linux host system.
Once I got the ES40 Emulator compiled, I manually configured a simplified es40.cfg file, downloaded the SRM firmware, converted the original OpenVMS installation CDROM into an iso image file, and installed OpenVMS.
After a reboot the system was ready. The initial installation of OpenVMS took about 2 hour.
Contents |
[edit] Simplified environment
- Disabled the VGA card
- Disabled the SDE disks
- Disabled the network
- One serial card (console via telnet)
We disactivated the VGA card because it was very slow, did have only text mode, and did not provide more functionality than the simple telnet console.
Because the SDE emulated disks and the hardware /dev/cdrom did not respond, we choose to work only with the emulated DKA devices.
We disabled the network, because we had problems configuring the NIC. We did not need a NIC, or network access to telnet to the console.
This way we were able to install and run OpenVMS.
[edit] ES40 configuration file
The file es40.cfg allows composing your emulated system. A minimal configuration that allowed me to install OpenVMS is documented here.
Remark:
Linux is using forward slashes for directories.
Windows would use backward slashes for directories.
Remark:
With 29 memory bits we emulate 512 MB. For 1024 MB of memory we need 30 bits.
gui = sdl { keyboard.use_mapping = false; keyboard.map = "keys.map"; } sys0 = tsunami { rom.srm = "rom/cl67srmrom.exe"; rom.decompressed = "rom/decompressed.rom"; rom.flash = "rom/flash.rom"; memory.bits = 29; cpu0 = ev68cb { icache = false; } pci0.7 = ali { mouse.enabled = true; lpt.outfile = "lpt.out"; vga_console = true; } pci0.19 = ali_usb {} pci0.3 = sym53c810 { disk0.0 = file { file = "img/dka0.img"; read_only = false; cdrom = false; autocreate_size = 1000M; } disk0.4 = file { file = "img/scsi_cd.iso"; read_only = true; cdrom = true; } disk0.5 = ramdisk { size = 200M; } } serial0 = serial { port = 21264; } }
[edit] Prepare the SRM console software image
Download the SRM Firmare kit as documented in Getting the firmware
mkdir rom (cd rom ;unzip $HOME/Download/es40.zip cl67srmrom.exe)
[edit] Prepare the OpenVMS installation iso image file
You need the original OpenVMS installation CDROM. I used the OpenVMS 7.3 distribution kit, for demonstration purposes.
Because we had problems for the ES40 Emulator to interface with the hardware CDROM, we created an iso image file instead.
To convert the original OpenVMS distribution CDROM into an iso image file.
mkdir img dd if=/dev/cdrom of=img/scsi_cd.iso dd: reading `/dev/cdrom': Input/output error 1080800+0 records in 1080800+0 records out 553369600 bytes (553 MB) copied, 232.986 s, 2.4 MB/s
[edit] Prepare the system disk
The new system disk is created automatically with the choosen size.
To restart the installation (with a possibly) bigger system disk, just delete the previous emulated system disk file, and edit the configuration file to change the autocreate_size parameter.
rm img/dka0.img vi es40.efg
Be sure to have at least 1000 MB available for the emulated system disk, for demonstration purposes only. For real work it should be a multitude of GB big.
[edit] Restrictions
- Do not use the Symbios SYM53C895 SCSI controller; use the Symbios SYM53C810 instead.
- All of the VGA cards are useful for text-mode only. DECwindows is not supported.