I have not found (so far) a utility that can write a file to a Files-11 ODS 2 disk format. There are some that can extract files, but not none that can inject them. I’d like to be wrong on this.
It is possible to transfer text files to the simh Microvax by simply using the Create command and then pouring text in at the command line eg by copy and paste in the emulation. Source code for a hex-to-bin converter can be sent as assembly code and then assembled and linked on the MicroVAX I to create the EXE. Binary files can then be transferred as hex and that program used to reconstitute the original binary file.
Once on simh they can be written to floppy disk and transferred to the physical MicroVAX.
In practice, the size of the text files that can be poured into the command line without error is too small, so a better solution is required.
Kermit provides a potential solution:
It is a very handy communications program with clients for a vast number of operating systems. Most (perhaps all) implementations support the transfer of text files. Some implementations support the transfer of binary files. For those that only support text, binary files must be converted to text eg as an intel hex format, transferred, and then converted back to binary.
The first version of kermit (kermit32) for VMS supports binary transfers, but apparently VMS binary files don’t always survive the experience. I don’t really understand why, but it reminds me of the Apple Mac experience with file forks.
Anyway, it is able to transfer a large hex file, and its own hex file is small enough that it can be successfully poured into a create command, together with an assembly language program that allows it to be reconstituted as an EXE.
Kermit32 can then be used to transfer a later kermit version (196) which does fully support binary transfers. After that the sky is the limit. (Spoiler alert – this didn’t work out well.)
Doing all this on a PC has some advantages – not least of which is that i can mount a second disk so that i have more working space – hex files are quite large and the available space on the system disk is small.
Simh allows a Microvax serial port to be allocated a host serial port. That port could be connected to another PC running Kermit. However, with the aid of com0com it is possible to create and link two virtual serial ports and connect one to the simh Microvax and the other to Kermit running on the same PC. I linked two virtual ports: Com5 and Com6.
In this context, i’m not sure that changing the baud rate makes any difference at all, but just in case, i used a baud rate of 19200.
I adapted the instructions here for the simh environment:
https://www.kermitproject.org/ckvins.html
Importantly, i found that kermit32 processes ascii lines as records, each of which is terminated in a CR/LF. Unfortunately, the hex files must have come from a unix system so there was a LF but no CR. This resulted in random CRLFs appearing in the transferred file.
I added the CR using the CR utility that comes with CPMTools:
c:> cr ckermit196.hex ckermit196cr.hexI find that no two kermit implementations are ever the same, so even with instructions, there is always a little experimenting to be done.
At the PC i did:
C-Kermit> set line COM5
C-Kermit> set carrier-watch off
C-Kermit> server
On simh:
simh> SHOW SERIAL
Serial devices:
ser0 CNCA0 (\Device\com0com10)
ser1 CNCB0 (\Device\com0com20)
ser2 COM1 (\Device\Serial0)
ser3 COM5 (\Device\com0com21)
ser4 COM6 (\Device\com0com11)
simh> AT DZ LINE=0, CONNECT=SER4On VMS:
$ SET TERMINAL /PERMANENT /SPEED=(19200,19200) TTA0:
$ SET DEF DUA3:[kermit]
$ RUN K32On kermit (K32):
Kermit-32> SET LINE TTA0:
Kermit-32> GET ckermit196cr.hexBack to VMS:
$ run vmsdeh
Please type the file name: CKERMIT196CR.HEX;1
ckv196-vax-vms55-nonet.exe
$ run ckv196-vax-vms55-nonet.exe
%DCL-W-ACTIMAGE, error activating image SORTSHR
-CLI-E-IMGNAME, image file DUA0:[SYS0.][SYSLIB]SORTSHR.EXE
-SYSTEM-F-SHRIDMISMAT, ident mismatch with shareable imageAnd that, folks, is why one should read the fine print. This executable really needs open VMS 5.5. In this game of snakes and ladders, i am now proceeding down a very long snake.
There is a version of ckermit196 available for VMS 4.4, but it is in the form of an executable archive which i cannot transfer with kermit32.
I would either need to find and download the sources and build it on the microvax, or transfer it on to another simh machine that is setup with a TCP/IP stack and an FTP program. This probably implies OpenVMS 5 which has no licensing facility at present. I am snookered.
For now i will need to be content with transferring c sources via kermit32.