On Fri, Aug 20, 2021, 2:26 PM Peter Allan via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> The idea of using an RA81 drive as it is bigger sounds like a simple > solution, but does it actually give a larger /usr partition? Even though an > RD54 drive is not huge, most of it is not taken up by the root partition > plus the /usr partition, but is available for use as (on the video at > least) /user1. > > I will give it a try after the weekend and see what happens. > I was going to try tonight. The dksizes.c table suggests that it is 10MB instead of 8.5MB on the RD54. Yet someone else said it was smaller, so I wanted to check.... Warner Cheers > > Peter Allan > > On Fri, 20 Aug 2021 at 17:38, Ethan Dicks <ethan.di...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Fri, Aug 20, 2021 at 11:50 AM Peter Allan via cctalk > > <cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote: > > > I just installed Ultrix-11 3.1 using the ultrix31.tap file from > > > https://pdp-11.org.ru/files.pl?lang=en > > > which is the location from the comments in Stephen's Machine Room video > > on > > > YouTube that I think started this thread. > > > > > > It installed just fine, but just like the video, I ran out of space on > > /usr. > > > > /usr was usually tight back in the day. > > > > > How can I make a larger /usr partition? Is it possible to do this at > > > installation time? There did not seem to be an option for this. Can it > be > > > done by using an additional disk? That would seem likely, but not what > a > > > system manager back in the 70's or 80's would expect to need to do, > > > especially as there is a relatively large amount of space left to > create > > > /user1. > > > > In the 70s and early 80s, it was not at all uncommon to have multiple > > disk drives mounted to add up to enough space, especially to put user > > files on their own device to keep them from competing with free space > > in the system areas. Also, older, smaller disks were often cheaper > > than the newest/largest disk drives, or systems would be put together > > from repurposed hardware rather than purchasing new. For a single > > data point, my employer bought a new RA81 in 1984. For 424MB it was > > $24,000. Most machines had a _lot_ less disk in those days. Our main > > UNIX machine was an old 11/750 (2MB RAM) with 2x RK07 (28MB each). It > > was quite a jump when I put Ultrix 1.1 on an 11/730 w/RB80. The CPU > > was 30% slower, but it had 5MB of RAM and a 121MB disk, so as a > > machine that spent most of its time with a single user (me), it was > > fine. > > > > When disks were routinely 1-30MB (RK05... RK07 or RP03), it was > > totally common to have 2-3 disks on a machine. > > > > All that said, I looked over this install write-up and it seems to > > assume you have one disk and it slices and dices with default sizes... > > > > > > > http://ftp.fibranet.cat/UnixArchive/Distributions/DEC/Fred-Ultrix3/setup-3.1.txt > > > > I've installed older versions of UNIX where you had to explicitly set > > up disks and partitions (where you _could_ resize partitions). Prior > > to restoring the contents from tape. That didn't appear to be as easy > > with this installer script. > > > > > I noted the options for installing software using soft links to other > > > locations. Was that the preferred method when installing additional > > > software? > > > > That was done, as was mounting an entire second disk for /usr. One of > > the challenges is making sure you have enough tools accessible on the > > boot device to bring the machine up far enough to mount the additional > > devices. This is part of why there are system tools in /bin, > > /usr/bin, etc. You could depend on the contents of /bin being there > > before /usr was mounted. Also, traditionally, programs in /bin were > > statically linked so that you didn't have to have specific libraries > > available at the time. > > > > The simplest solution, of course, is just get a bigger disk, but where > > that wasn't possible (which was most of the time), people did use soft > > links or multiple spindles to aggregate enough space to get by. > > > > Back in the day, I struggled to get enough disk space to install > > 2.9BSD on an 11/24. Two RK07s would have been a luxury. I had an > > RL02 (10MB) and I think maybe an RL01. I could get the initial > > restore to work but I didn't have enough space to rebuild my kernel. > > > > -ethan > > >
