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Puzzled Beaker

I'm not dumb, but I tend to forget things. Like, when I haven't used RSX-11 for a while, I sometimes have to get back to the manual to check "what was the exact command again?", "which file was it I need to edit?", "how did I do the upgrade last time?", and so on. And it's not even RSX-11 only, it happens with a lot of stuff. "Oh man, how did I do that the last time around, it can't have been more than a couple of months ago?!?". Only the totally useless trivia I seem to remember forever, the stuff I actually need...somewhat less. But at least I do remember that at one time I did know, and am able to rediscover it over and over again.

Of course it helps to write things down, and that is basically what this page is for, at least PDP-11 related. Or maybe I should broaden it a bit and make it "Retro computing" related, I don't know yet. So, in other words, here are some ramblings and notes to myself. Retro-hosted on the PiDP-11, of course!


Uploading web content to RSX-11

Let's start with the chicken and the egg. I need to upload this page, but how do I do that? I could read my notes on my PDP-11 web site, but that page hasn't been uploaded yet because I forgot how to. Yeah... Well no, just kidding, I do know, and here's how:


Compiling C in RSX-11

RSX-11 is not UNIX, but it can still compile and run C programs (if the C compiler is installed). Assuming the filename is "FILE":


Updating RSX-11 with a new image

Here's a big one. RSX-11M-PLUS may be old, but some people still feel the love for this Operating System and are putting much effort in keeping RSX-11 relevant in the 21st century. Johnny Billquist in particular is owed much by the community in this regard, two of his achievements which make RSX-11 much more easy to use (everything is relative, of course) are the RPM Package Manager (totally unrelated to RedHat's RPM format) and the fully working TCP suite. Check out his PiDP-11 page and the PiDP-11 Forum.

Anyway, Johnny sometimes releases new RSX-11M-PLUS images which can be used to install it from scratch, or update an existing system with whilst keeping all settings intact. This writeup is merely a copy from his PiDP-11 page, plus some feedback I was able to give. Commands to enter are in bold here:


SSH login without a password

Not RSX-11 related, but here's one I keep searching for over and over again, and it's so simple...: