From tuhs at tuhs.org Sun Mar 1 02:08:38 2026 From: tuhs at tuhs.org (Noel Chiappa via TUHS) Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2026 11:08:38 -0500 (EST) Subject: [TUHS] Can PDP-11/23 PLUS run Unix? Message-ID: <20260228160838.76B2B18C084@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> > From: Phil Budne > V7M has overlays Ah, the CHWiki doesn't have a page for that system; I'll have to add it. Yes, it does seem to have had _kernel_ overlays before 2.9 (I looked, to see if I could find any direct credit in 2.9, to indicate that their support for kernel overlays came from V7M, but couldn't; I'm too lazy to do sources compares). I say "_kernel_ overlays" because I gather (see some evidence, below) that use-of/support-for overlays in _processes_, in user mode, preceded use-of/support-for overlays in the kernel. See: "Running Large Text Processes on Small Unix Systems", Charles Haley, William Joy, William F. Jolitz https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=2.9BSD/usr/doc/ovpap "We describe a set of simple modifications to the Unix system, which permit larger programs to be run than has previously been possible. In particular, the 'f77' and 'a68' compilers and version 2 of the 'ex' editor, which previously would not run on the non-separate I/D machines such as the 11/23, 11/34 and 11/40, may be run, without source code modification, using this scheme. This scheme will also allow processes larger than 65K bytes of instruction space to run on all 11/ cpu's with segmentation hardware. and: "How to use the UNIX Automatic Text Overlays: A Tutorial", Barbara Bekins, Bill Jolitz https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=2.9BSD/usr/doc/ovtutorial The former unfortunately does not have a date on it; the latter has a date of 10/20/81, but we can infer that the original work was before that. It does appear to be later than "The Second BSD" (1979-04); there's nothing about overlats that I could find there.. V7M contains notes that more or less state that its use-of/support-for overlays in the kernel is based on the prior support for overlays in _processes_, done at Berkeley: This directory contains the C overlay loader and some other junk. ... Covld is derived from Bill Joy's covld .. The paper in ovpap.n describes the original Berkeley overlayed text scheme which was intended for use in user mode programs. I use overlays only for the kernel itself. https://www.tuhs.org/cgi-bin/utree.pl?file=V7M/src/cmd/covld/README I also have a memory that someone did some work that allowed large amounts of disk buffers (and maybe clists too), which were not statically mapped into kernel address space; one segment was used to map them in, as needed. Can anyone point me at anything which covers that? (URL's would be a big plus!) I will add all that (and this) to the appropriate places in the CHWiki. I understand that all these kludges were not really important; in the long run, they were dead ends. I just want to see them all documented, and credit correctly assigned (as above, for the code overlays). Noel From tuhs at tuhs.org Sun Mar 1 04:11:21 2026 From: tuhs at tuhs.org (segaloco via TUHS) Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2026 18:11:21 +0000 Subject: [TUHS] Ongoing UNIX Manual Scans In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Thursday, February 26th, 2026 at 09:30, segaloco via TUHS wrote: > Hello, starting a new thread for a new round of UNIX manual scans I'm > going to be working up over the next few months. To start it all off, > here is the cover and introductory pages from the December, 1983 manual > UNIX System V Release 2.0 Programmer Reference Manual, known on-line as > "p_man". > > https://archive.org/details/unix-system-v-release-2-programmer-reference-manual-btl-edition > > ... > > - Matt G. > The above scan is now complete, and so I've now started on the corresponding User Manual: https://archive.org/details/unix-system-v-release-2-user-reference-manual-btl-edition Like the previous link, this is a BTL internal version that includes a number of pieces not found in the stock SVR2 manuals, including various microprocessor development tools as well as WWB. I'll let folks know when it is entirely scanned. For now, like last time, it is just the cover and man0 content until I get the manpages themselves scanned. - Matt G. From tuhs at tuhs.org Sun Mar 1 08:51:24 2026 From: tuhs at tuhs.org (Warren Toomey via TUHS) Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2026 08:51:24 +1000 Subject: [TUHS] Fwd: London and Reiser's UNIX VAX port paper, reconstructed Message-ID: ----- Forwarded message from "G. Branden Robinson" Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2026 16:48:08 -0600 From: "G. Branden Robinson" Subject: London and Reiser's UNIX VAX port paper, reconstructed [CCing Warren for help with my usual problems mailing the TUHS list] Hi folks, I'm pleased to report that I've "finalized" my reconstruction of London and Reiser's paper documenting the process of porting Seventh Edition Unix to the VAX-11/780. This effort started back in mid-2024, and drove numerous improvements to groff's mm package. You can find the reconstruction at GitHub, with a pre-rendered PDF under "Released". My thanks to everyone who helped; you're acknowledged in the paper itself. :) Regards, Branden ----- End forwarded message ----- From tuhs at tuhs.org Sun Mar 1 08:53:04 2026 From: tuhs at tuhs.org (Warren Toomey via TUHS) Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2026 08:53:04 +1000 Subject: [TUHS] Fwd: London and Reiser's UNIX VAX port paper, reconstructed In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: On Sun, Mar 01, 2026 at 08:51:24AM +1000, Warren Toomey via TUHS wrote: > ----- Forwarded message from "G. Branden Robinson" > I'm pleased to report that I've "finalized" my reconstruction of London > and Reiser's paper documenting the process of porting Seventh Edition > Unix to the VAX-11/780. https://github.com/g-branden-robinson/reconstructing-unix-32v-port-paper is the Github repository. Cheers, Warren