NetBSD SIMH HOW-TO

This guide is intended to help you install NetBSD on the SIMH VAX emulator.

Install the simulator from SIMH home page. There is a package available to make life simple.
Get a NetBSD/vax CD ISO image, for example NetBSD 2.0.
Start the emulator program (/usr/pkg/bin/simh-vax).

At the emulator prompt, type

        load -r /usr/pkg/share/simh/ka655.bin
        set cpu 64m
        set rq0 ra92
        at rq0 netbsd.dsk
        set rq1 cdrom
        at rq1 /path/to/vaxcd.iso
        at xq0 name-of-network-interface-on-host
        boot cpu

This will configure the emulated VAX with an RA92 disk (/dev/ra0*), and the CD image masquerading as an RD54 disk (/dev/ra1*). See the SIMH documentation for other options.

At the VMB prompt, type
```
        boot dua1:
```
to boot off the CD.
Proceed with a normal NetBSD install. You may not want to install the X11 stuff, since SIMH doesn't emulate a frame buffer. Once the install program prompts you to mount the CD drive and defaults to /dev/cd0a you should change this to /dev/ra1a.
After a considerable amount of time, the installation finishes, and you may shut down or reboot.
You can now type q at the emulator prompt to exit the emulator.

Enter these lines

        load -r /usr/pkg/share/simh/ka655.bin
        set cpu 64m
        set rq0 ra92
        at rq0 netbsd.dsk
        at xq0 name-of-network-interface-on-host
        boot cpu

into a file, say netbsd-boot.

Restart the emulator like so:

        /usr/pkg/bin/simh-vax netbsd-boot

At the VMB prompt, type
```
        boot dua0:
```
to boot off the disk.
Welcome to NetBSD!

If you are interested in helping this document cover other NetBSD ports, or have any other comments or suggestions, please contact Lars Brinkhoff <lars.spam@nocrew.org>, or the NetBSD WWW group.

Acknowledgements

The initial version of this HOW-TO was written by Lars Brinkhoff. Some of the information in this page was derived from an email sent by Mirian Crzig Lennox .

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