>Now, the third question has to do with CONFIGURE.  What does
>this command do exactly?  On my CPU, its prompt is
>Device, CSR: 
>
>You can type HELP, and it gives an nice list of all possible 
>devices, and gives the confusing message that the number can
>be between 1 and 255.  If you try to give a real CSR, like:
>
>KFQSA-DISK, 772150
>
>it bombs with ?35 ARG OVERF.  You can give it numbers like 
>1,2,3, etc., but I don't know what these mean.

The firmware CONFIGURE utility lets you build CSR/vector configurations
that will be recognized by the official DEC AUTOCONFIGURE rules, as used
in VMS and RSTS/E to scan and determine hardware at startup.

For more information on the autoconfigure rules, see the back of just
about any DEC Unibus or Q-bus hardware handbook, or check out Alan
Frisbie's autoconfigure paper, stored as "alans.csr.paper" at

http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/academic/computer-science/history/pdp-11/hardware/

As an example of usage, say you had 3 RQDX3's, 4 TK50's, 3 DHV11's, a
DZV11, and 2 DEQNA's on your Microvax system.  You'd do:

>>>CONFIGURE

Enter device configuration, HELP, or EXIT
Device,Number? rqdx3,3
Device,Number? deqna,2
Device,Number? tk50,4
Device,Number? dhv11,3
Device,Number? dzv11,1
Device,Number? exit

Address/Vector Assignments
-760100/300 DZV11
-774440/120 DEQNA
-774460/310 DEQNA
-772150/154 RQDX3
-760354/314 RQDX3
-760360/320 RQDX3
-774500/260 TK50
-760444/324 TK50
-760450/330 TK50
-760454/334 TK50
-760520/340 DHV11
-760540/350 DHV11
-760560/360 DHV11

You'd set the address and vectors to the recommended values, and when
you booted VMS or RSTS it would automagically recognize and configure
all the hardware because you've played by the autoconfigure rules.

NetBSD doesn't care about the autoconfigure rules (heck, it doesn't
support 90% of the hardware that CONFIGURE will deal with), so it
doesn't really matter much to you, I'm guessing.

-- 
 Tim Shoppa                        Email: shoppa@trailing-edge.com
 Trailing Edge Technology          WWW:   http://www.trailing-edge.com/
 7328 Bradley Blvd		   Voice: 301-767-5917
 Bethesda, MD, USA 20817           Fax:   301-767-5927