Apollo Domain/OS "bare metal" startup guide
Prerequisites:
- SVN #30981 or later. The steps work for bare 0.153 and probably 0.152 even, but some options changed names.
- Delete any .cfg and nvram files for 'dn3500' as that's the specific model we'll be using
- Start up the dn3500 with no media, go to partial keyboard, enter the Tab menu, go to System Configuration, and make sure the options are as follows (these should be the defaults as of SVN #30981):
Normal/Service: Service
Graphics controller: 8-Plane Color
German keyboard: Off
20 Years Ago: On
25 Years Ago: On
Exit MESS and download the 5 cartridge tape images from Bitsavers at
this link. On Linux/MacOS X you can use command line "gunzip" to remove the .gz compression. On Windows, 7zip should be able to handle it.
Part 1: NVRAM setup
1) Run the dn3500 driver again, this time with -ctape 019593-001.CRTG_STD_SFW_BOOT_1-REV.A.ct (or mount that file as ctape in QMC2) and -disk1 apollo.awd (make sure no file by that name exists; it will be created/overwritten).
2) Press enter 3 or 4 times to wake up the system
3) Type
di c and press Enter to select the cartridge tape as the boot device
4) Type
ex config to run the machine setup program
NOTE: cartridge tape is
super ultra slow. Each load from it will take in excess of a minute at 100% emulation speed and may take several minutes. This does not mean the emulation has died. I recommand unthrottling the system during these loads.
5) It will ask if you want to reconfigure this node: press Y and Enter.
6) It will ask if the memory configuration changed. Press Y and Enter, then for each of the 4 memory boards enter 4 and press Enter for a total of 16 MB.
7) For the node ID, the usual default is 12345 although you don't *have* to do that. Note that the node ID is locked to the HDD after the OS install though.
8) For the display type, type DISP8C.
9) For the next set of questions: Y for MC68881/MC68882, N for floating point accelerator, Y for floppy disk, Y for Winchester. Winchester controller type is 0, and both disks are type C.
10) Answer Y for cartridge tape, N for SCSI cartridge tape, N for magnetic tape, N for 8mm tape, N for Serial/Parallel board, and N for PC Compatibility board.
11) Network type is 4, and N for unknown devices.
12) Answer N for "Anything more to do?"
Part 2: Calendar setup
1) When the prompt comes back, type RE to reset the system and press Enter 3 or 4 times.
2) Type
di c and press Enter.
3) Type
ex calendar and press Enter, then wait through another tape load.
4) When it asks to select a disk, press N and Enter.
5) For the time zone, you can pick any of the US time zones or GMT or UTC, it doesn't matter for our purposes really.
6) The system will show today's time and date but in the early 1990s. This is fine, answer N when asked if you'd like to reset it.
Part 3: Hard disk formatting and setup
1) When the prompt comes back, type RE to reset the system and press Enter 3 or 4 times.
2) Type
di c and press Enter.
3) Type
ex invol and press Enter, then wait through yet another tape load.
4) Choose option 7 to create a "bad spot" (bad sector) list. There are none because we emulate a perfect drive, but this is necessary anyway. Pick Y for automated bad spot entry, and Y for "Anything more to do?"
5) Choose option 1 to partition and format the drive. Choose w for "Select disk" and enter APOLLO (or something else if you want) for the volume name. Choose verification option 1 (no verify) and press Enter to accept the default average file size.
6) For the size of volume 1, enter all and press Enter to use the entire disk. Choose Y to use pre-recorded badspot info, and Y for "Anything more to do?"
7) Choose option 8 to create a swap file. Enter w for the disk select and 1 for logical volume number. Press Enter to accept the default 640 kB size of the file, and finally choose N for "anything more to do?"
(continued in next post)
Last edited by R. Belmont; 06/15/14 04:36 PM.
