The "wasn't" was a hint to indicate that the "OS" for the purpose of this conversation - actually the disklabel and FEP code- was never available or intended to be loaded outside of a factory / support environment.
For all I know, the disk controller may require special microcode to be able to write the volume header. I have no real idea- I'm not claiming any amount of expertise- only that a microcoded, undocumented 36-bit machine with it's own secondary frontend IOP, multiple microcoded bit-slice based custom IO subsystems, and no known external software tools is a little different than an 8-bit toy computer kit. Guy's response touches on the broader strokes- the ISA for the main processor itself isn't even documented. On Fri, Sep 25, 2015 at 6:17 PM, dwight <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: [email protected] > > > > I'm sorry, I usually try and keep it together on this list. > > Dwight- your post is a shitpost. > > > > (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Shit+Posting) > > > > I'm not gonna delve into details, but the Symbolics machines have a > > substantial number of unique challenges going for them. It's not as if > none > > of us have invested substantial time into understanding what's going on. > > > > It's an extremely complicated, largely undocumented system. > > > > Impossible? No. That said, your experience with bootstrapping an IMSAI > > could not possibly be a more irrelevant anecdote. > > > > But I do appreciate that you bootstrapped an S-100 machine once. > > > > "A lisp machine would clearly be difficult but not impossible for a > > determined > > hacker. > > If it was designed to run it can be made to run again." > > > > > If it was designed to run it can be made to run again. > > > > It wasn't. That's part of the problem. > > > > I don't know you and you obviously don't know me. > I know many people like you. Many that claim to know what they are > doing and are experts in there fields. > I am curious about you statement" It wasn't", as to designed to run. > Dwight > > > -- Ian Finder (206) 395-MIPS [email protected]
