this is obsolete doc -- see http://doc.nethence.com/ instead

NetBSD/vax with SIMH 

SIMH installation 

- Get WinPcap (http://www.winpcap.org/install/default.htm) and install it. 

- Get SMMH with ethernet support (http://simh.trailing-edge.com/), extract it and put the simh dir somewhere easyly accessible e.g. into C:\tp. And simply rename to e.g. "simh". 

- Also fetch NetBSD/vax ISO and put it into "c:\tp\simh", 

vaxcd.iso

VAX startup 

Start the VAX emulation, 

Start > Execute > cmd

cd c:\tp\simh

vax

You get the "sim>" prompt. Setup those parameters. Note the virtual CDrom drive to install NetBSD, 

#load c:\tp\simh\ka655x.bin -r

load ka655x.bin -r

set cpu 64m

set rq0 ra92

at rq0 netbsd.dsk

set rq1 cdrom

at rq1 vaxcd.iso

set console telnet=2223

Note. makes the console available on windows localhost:2223, for example 

Find out what physical network interface you can link to, 

att xq ?

Note. even on Windows, answer 'ethX' where X is the interface's number. Choose an unsused VMware interface or something like that : eventually create a loop device. 

If you want network even for NetBSD installation, enable it immediately, 

at xq0 eth3

Note. change ethX accordingly 

Start the VAX Emulation, 

boot cpu

Connect locally with a telnet client and boot from CD, 

boot dua1:

Note dua1: is for the second drive, namely the CDrom. 

NetBSD installation 

During the installation, change the CDrom device from 

cd0a --> ra1a

Note. if you want to install with FTP through qe0, proceed with next paragraph first 

Note. for the rest, as usual e.g. SHA1 password encryption and KSH default shell 

VAX autoboot 

We will now configure auto-booting anyways. Get out of SIMH and create the boot file, 

notepad bsdboot

#vi bsdboot

for example, 

load ka655x.bin -r

set cpu 64m

set rq0 ra92

at rq0 netbsd.dsk

at xq0 eth3

set console telnet=2223

boot cpu

Note. change ethX accordingly 

Now start the emulated VAX, 

vax bsdboot.txt

#vax bsdboot

and connect with your telnet client. 

References 

SIMH Homepage : http://simh.trailing-edge.com/ 

SIMH Documentation : http://simh.trailing-edge.com/pdf/all_docs.html 

SIMH User guide : http://simh.trailing-edge.com/pdf/simh_doc.pdf 

NetBSD/vax HOWTO : http://www.netbsd.org/ports/vax/emulator-howto.html 

OpenBSD howto : http://www.openbsd.org/fr/vax-simh.html 

Another howto : http://www.retrocomputinggeek.com/retrowiki/Install4.3BSDQuasijarus/ 

SIMICS : http://www.virtutech.com/products/simics_hindsight.html 

QEMU for windows : http://www1.interq.or.jp/~t-takeda/qemu/ 

GXemul : http://www.gavare.se/gxemul/ 

ES40 Emulator : http://www.es40.org/Homepage 

Other version, http://www.dbit.com/demo.html 

SIMH IBM 1401 : http://ed-thelen.org/1401Project/i1401_doc_version33-0.html