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Update instructions for reading and writing tapes.
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Add information about file formats.  Add information about new KA10,
KL10, and KS10 emulator tape device names.  Add crdir to create
directories.
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larsbrinkhoff committed Jun 1, 2023
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Showing 1 changed file with 62 additions and 7 deletions.
69 changes: 62 additions & 7 deletions doc/DUMP-itstar.md
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# DUMP and itstar

### A note about emulators

ITS runs on many PDP-10 emulators, and they have various names for the
tape device. KLH10 calls it `mta0`. The SIMH based KA10 and KL10
emulators also call it `mta0`, but the KS10 "pdp10" emulator calls it
`tu0`, and the KS10 "pdp10-ks" emulator calls it `tua0`. It's
important to use the right device name. The instructions below spell
out each case explicitly.

### A note about file formats

PDP-10 files store 36 bits per word. Text files store five characters
per word, plus one extra bit which may or may not be used. This
presents a problem when storing PDP-10 files as a sequence of 8-bit
bytes, and this has been solved using many different encodings. The
itstar program expects files to use the "ITS evacuate" encoding, which
makes text files look like normal Unix LF line ending files. If files
use some other format, it's important to convert them to ITS evacuate
format before use with itstar. This can be done with the `cat36`
program in the `tools/dasm` directory. For example, to convert from
CR LF line endings, use `cat36 -Wascii -Xits`.

### Saving ITS files and extracting them using itstar

- Mount a tape image in the emulator.
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devmount mta0 files.tape create
continue

- For SIMH, type
- For SIMH KA10 or KL10, type

attach mta0 files.tape
continue

- For SIMH KS10 "pdp10", type

attach tu0 files.tape
continue

- For SIMH KS10 "pdp10-ks", type

attach tua0 files.tape
continue

- In ITS, type `:dump`. At the _ prompt, type `dump`. The `FILE=`
prompt will accept directory and file names. `*` can be used as a
wild card. Finish with an empty line. When DUMP has finished
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devunmount mta0
continue

- For SIMH, type
- For SIMH KA10 or KL10, type

detach mta0
continue

- For SIMH KS10 "pdp10", type

detach tu0
continue

- For SIMH KS10 "pdp10-ks", type

detach tua0
continue

- In the host, run itstar to extract the files:

itstar -xf files.tape
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devmount mta0 files.tape
continue

- For SIMH, type
- For SIMH KA10 or KL10, type

attach mta0 files.tape
continue

- For SIMH KS10 "pdp10", type

attach tu0 files.tape
continue

- In ITS, type `:dump`. At the _ prompt, type `load`. The `FILE=`
prompt will accept file names as above. Finish with an empty line.
If you need to load more files, type `rewind` to make another pass
over the tape. When you're finished, type `quit` to exit.
- For SIMH KS10 "pdp10-ks", type

attach tua0 files.tape
continue

- In ITS, type `:dump`. At the _ prompt, type `load crdir`. (The
`crdir` is to create new directories when necessary and may be
omitted if all files go to existing directories.) The `FILE=`
prompt will accept file names as above. `*` can be used as a wild
card; for example `*; * *` to read all files. Finish with an empty
line. If you need to load more files, type `rewind` to make another
pass over the tape. When you're finished, type `quit` to exit.

- Unmount the tape image as above.

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