From: wwonko@glia.biostr.washington.edu ()
Subject: PDP-11/34 need UNIX (summary)
Summary: summary of responses to reqiest for info.
Keywords: UNIX PDP
Organization: Dept Biological Structure-University of Washington
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 20:59:56 GMT

 I requested information regarding running UNIX or BSD's Unix on a
 PDP 11/34.  The response was not what I had expected.

 Several people sent responses; all of them were helpful, and I want
 to thank all the people who sent mail.  Most said that 2.9BSD MIGHT
 do it, but it's hard to find and you need an AT&T source liscence.
 One message had several people mentioning a "Steven M. Schultz", and
 he sent a response that is concise and complete, so I'll post it here:

>From: sms@WLV.IIPO.GTEGSC.COM (Steven M. Schultz)
>Message-Id: <9209020609.AA02500@WLV.IIPO.GTEGSC.COM>
>To: wwonko@glia.biostr.washington.edu
>Subject: Re:  PDP-11/34 needs UNIX
>
>Hello,
>
>> We reecently got a PDP 11/34.  We now have it all up and running; however,
>
>	My condolences ;-)
>
>	A 11/44 would be _so_ much nicer (not to mention faster), and they
>	are pretty cheap (although not free, as i've heard the 34 is) these
>	days.
>
>> our OS is RSX 11M, and it's pretty lame.  We'd like a UNIX for it - so we
>
>	Yes, 11M is pretty lame - it has some nice features (11D or IAS
>	are a bit better, but still pretty "dead" feeling once a person
>	has worked on a Unix system).
>
>	Bad news i'm afraid on the Unix front.  The 34 doesn't have split
>	I/D or supervisor mode.  THe last Unix(s) reported as being capable
>	of running on such a system was V7 and 2.9BSD (although i never
>	personally witnessed 2BSD running on a non split I/D machine, even
>	V7 required kernel overlays to fit for a non-trivial system).  THe
>	other "bad news" is that the 34 only supports 248kb of physical 
>	memory - a typical (well, for me anyways) 2.11BSD system takes
>	around 300kb to load (IP/TCP networking, disc quotas, etc).
>
>	There _is_ Unix available (being distributed by the USENIX Association)
>	for the PDP-11, but 2.11BSD requires split I/D (too many programs
>	have grown over time, even the 'csh' is overlaid now) and supervisor
>	mode (the networking code - full 4.3BSD TCP/IP - runs in supervisor).
>	Reasonable cost of $200 assuming a Unix source license is handy.
>
>	DEC dropped Ultrix-11 years ago, so 2.11BSD is the _only currently
>	distributed/maintained_ Unix around for the 11, and i've been too
>	busy to even try and squeeze it back into a non split I/D machine
>	(not to mention the 11/73 has split I/D and it's hard to turn it
>	off - especially on a development machine ;-)).
>
>> can have mail and news, reeally, but anything that could do those two
>> things would be better than this.
>
>	About all i can suggest is replacing the 34 with either a 44 (real
>	cheap - almost scrap cost) or a 73 (fairly expensive, the KDJ-11
>	Q-bus systems have really held their value - i paid almost $5400
>	for mine).  Or, the 11/24 can be upgraded by a card (expensive)
>	from QED (outfit in Mass.).
>
>	Or try to find a old copy of 2.9BSD - it's out of print though.
>
>> We have RK05J drives, and two 80MB DD11/80's.  Is there a UNIX for this
>> machine?  (BSD?)  Or is it a waste of our time to try?  Any help would
>
>	Well, some "good news" might be in order (but it definitely won't
>	ameliorate the earlier bad news) - there is a driver for the RK05
>	in 2.11BSD.  Not knowing what type of controller is handling the
>	80mb drives i can't guess if support is present for them.
>
>	Steven M. Schultz
>	sms@wlv.iipo.gtegsc.com

So, the 11/34 is basically stuck.  One person (S. Scott Patterson)
suggested: "You've got a front panel, hack away", and that's
probably what we'll do.

Thanks for the responses!