Configuring devices on the Qbus of a VAX or CHARON-VAX
Related products | CHARON-VAX all versions |
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Operating systems | Windows, Linux |
Table of contents
Description
This document corresponds to the AN-032.pdf file, dated September 3rd, 2007
When implementing CHARON-VAX, it may not be possible to implement exactly the same configuration as was used on the original hardware VAX.
In case of difficulty, configure CHARON-VAX by specifying the exact addresses and vectors where necessary in the CHARON configuration file (for CHARON for Windows version 4.8 and later use "Edit Configuration" button of the "CHARON VM Manager" to get access to the configuration file).
For details on the configuration of peripheral device addresses and vectors refer to the VAX peripheral option manuals.
If you move a Qbus system disk from an existing system to an appropriate CHARON-VAX without modification, you must identify the device / controller addresses and vectors and set them to the same value as your VAX operating system used before. For instance, in VMS you can use the MCR SYSGEN (or MCR SYSMAN) and the show / configuration command to identify the values.
But if you are reconfiguring a VAX fortunately, CHARON-VAX can be used to calculate these addresses as follows:
Step-by-step guide
Decide what kinds of QBUS devices are needed and how many of them should be present.
For example, suppose four (4) RQDX3 controllers, two (2) DELQA Ethernet controllers, and three (3) DHV11 controllers are needed. Note that when using a CHARON-VAX TMSCP controller it is seen by the VAX as a TQK50.
For the next step configure CHARON-VAX with only a console terminal. Start CHARON, wait until the ">>>" prompt is displayed, enter the "configure" command and enter you configuration followed by "exit":
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It is possible to see addresses and vectors, which need to be put into the configuration file, for each of the required devices.
Some QBUS devices are not able to set an interrupt vector. For such Devices, VMS sets the vector programmatically when initializing the device. For example, RQDX3 and DELQA/DEQNA
The addresses above are 16-bit wide, but CHARON is able to understand 22-bit addresses. Therefore, it is necessary to sign-extend them before writing into CFG file.
Numbers are octal, so attach "0" in the beginning.
For this example, the configuration file would be as follows:
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