Xerox 1186 User manual

- -. . -. . .:~".. ' ,
XEROX
1186 USER'S GUIDE
3101893
Februa ry 1986
;. ~ .-

Copyright (C) 1986byXerox Corporation
All rights reserved.
DEC, VAX, VMS, and VT100 are trademarks of Digital Equipment
Corporation.
IBM
is a registered trademark of International Business Machines.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
The 1186 Workstation
Getting Started 3
Software 5
The Lisp Sysout 5
Starting Lisp 6
Installing a Sysout 7
Loading Interlisp-D Packages 7
Copying Floppies to a File Server 8
Cu rsor Codes 9
Booting the Xerox 1186 10
The Ethernet
11
Copying Files Between Machines 12
Advice For the Standalone User
12
References
13
2. Equipment
15
Environmental Requirements
15
Electrical Requirements 16
Standard Equipment 16
Processor
16
Display 19
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Keyboard 20
Mouse 22
Optional Equipment 23
Floppy Disk Drive 23
Ethernet Transceiver and Controller 24
Ethernet Interface 24
Peripheral
Equipment 24
Cables 24
Power Supply 25
3. Using the 1186 27
Turning the 1186 On 27
Booti ng the 1186 28
Booting Sequence for Interlisp-D 28
Turning the 1186 Off 29
Routine Maintenance 29
Keyboard 29
Mouse 29
DisplayScreen 30
Floppy Disk Drive 30
FloppyDisks 30
Troubleshooting 31
Reporting Problems 32
4. Software Installation 33
Installing Lisp on the 1186 Workstation 33
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Floppy Disks Needed 33
FactoryConfiguration 34
Partitioning 34
Steps for Partitioning 34
Microcode and System Tool Installation
35
Steps for Microcode and System Tool
InstallatIon 36
Installing the Lisp Sysout from Floppies 38
Steps for Ins~alling the Lisp Sysout from
Floppies 38
Installing the Lisp Sysout from the Network 39
Steps for Installing a Lisp Sysout from the
Network 40
To Re-Install a Lisp Sysout from the Rigid Disk 43
Steps for Re-Installing a Lisp Sysout 43
Initializing Lisp 44
Steps for Initializing Lisp 45
Loading Interlisp-D Packages 46
Logging
Out of Lisp 48
Steps for Logging Out of Lisp 48
Troubleshooting
for Lisp Installation 48
Rigid DiskFile
System 49
Disk Partitions 49
File System Utility Functions 50
File Name Conventions 52
Disk Scavenging 53
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
5. System Tools 57
Introduction
57
The Profile Tool
58
Parameter Items 61
Command Items
62
The lisp System Tool
63
Parameter Items
65
Command Items
68
The On-line DiagnosticTool 74
Parameter Items
76
Command Items 76
6. Input/Output 77
FloppyDisk Support
77
Naming, Erasing and Formatting Floppies 78
Copying Floppies
79
Loading Sysouts and Other Large Files onto
Floppies 79
Measuring Unused Floppy
Space 81
Testing Whether a Floppy is in the Drive 81
Scavenging Floppies 82
R5232 Support 82
Cable Configurations for RS232C Port and
TTY Ports 83
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XEROX 1186 USER'S GUIDE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
7. Diagnostics
Glossary
Index
Boot Options for Running Diagnostics
Preboot Diagnostics
Boot Diagnostics
Cursor Codes
Pilot Operating System Codes
Lisp Codes
Appendix A - Setting the Time
Setting Date and Time on Standalone
. Workstations
Appendix B- The Floppy Copy Utility
Copying FloppyDisks
Appendix C- Library Guide
How to Load from the Library Floppies
Library Floppy Index
HelpSys Floppy Index
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XEROX 1186 USER'S GUIDE

1.
INTRODUCTION
The 1186 is an artificial intelligence development
workstation
that combines Xerox hardware and
software
to provide a wide variety of user
applications.
This chapter provides a brief overview
of the 1186 workstation and its software
environment.
The 1186 Workstation
Your workstation consists of the components
described below.
Display Screen: When the power is turned on, the
screen should display the boot icons, on-screen
representations
of the 10 function keys at the top of
your keyboard.
Processor Unit: The central processor
(CP) is in a
brown, rectangular box about two feet tall that
usually sits on the floor dose to the screen and
keyboard.
The power switch is on the front of the
processor unit (often called the front panel) near
the top, just under the word "Xerox". The switch is
fabeled with a 0 and a 1; 0 is off, 1 is on. Also near
the power switch are the boot button (labeled B
Reset), a green
"power on" light, and three red
lights which are
used for diagnostic purposes (see
chapter 7, Diagnostics).
XEROX 1186 USER'S GU IDE

INTRODUCTION
2
If your 1186 isn't on, you can turn it on by pushing
the power switch to 1. The screen should flash and
after a minute or two the boot icons should appear.
Contained in
the processor unit is the Rigid Disk. If
you purchased a Floppy Disk Drive, it will probably
be sitting on top of the processor unit (for complete
details on
the rigid disk and the floppy disk drive
see chapter 2, Equipment and chapter 3, Using the
1186).
Keyboard: The keyboard
is attached to the display
by a cable and
is the way you interact with the
processor (see chapter 2, Equipment).
Three-button Optical Mouse: The mouse
is
attached to the keyboard with a thin insulated wire.
It guides a pointer (called the mouse cursor) across
the screen (see chapter 2, Equipment). The mouse
comes
with an optical mouse pad, and must be on
the pad when you move it.
Sometimes
the mouse cursor will change shape and
display a series
of four numbers. These are cursor
codes and
the numbers represent both progress and
error conditions (see chapter 7, Diagnostics).
Together these components comprise
the standard
1186 configuration. You should read chapter
2,
Equipment and chapter 3, Using the 1186, to
familarize yourself with the care and use of your
Xerox 1186 workstation'sequipment.
XEROX 1186 USER'S GU IDE

INTRODUCTION
Getting Started
Xerox 1186 workstations come with some software
(a Lisp sysout and System Tools) already installed on
the rigid disk.
If you discover that software isn't installed, that you
cannot load
it due to some mishap during either
installation or shipping, or you decide to repartition
(i.e., erase and restructure) your disk, you will need
to follow the procedures found in chapter 4,
Software Installation.
Your workstation should be turned on and the boot
icons displayed. Press the F1 key on your keyboard.
If a boot icon other than the one representing the
F1 key is already darkened you must press the boot
button (B Reset) first.
Pressing the
F1 key begins the loading process of
your Interlisp-D environment, called a sysout. (This
is described in a subsequent section called The Lisp
Sysout.) In
the upper left hand corner of your
screen you will see a small square containing four
numbers. These numbers are called cursor codes
and are
used to inform you of the progress of the
operation you are running. The sysout loading
process takes one to two minutes.
If Interlisp-D loads successfully your screen will
display three windows: the Interlisp-D Executive
window (figure 1) the prompt window (figure 2)
and the Interlisp-D logo window (figure 4).
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INTRODUCTION
4
nterllsp-O Execl.!lIve
Figure 1. The Interlisp-D Executive window
The executive window is the window where you
interact
with the system by typing in commands and
Lisp expressions
to be evaluated.
You will also see the prompt window (figure 2),
Figure
2. The prompt window
The prompt window is where system messages are
printed. For example,
if you are not connected to a
network that has a time server, or the 1186 cannot
get the time for any other reason, the prompt
window will print a message (figure 3). You should
always
work in an environment with the correct
time set. If the time is not set on your workstation
see Appendix A-Setting the Time.
Prom t ..,.Vin(Jow
Time not set]
Figure 3. Prompt window with message
indicating that time is not set
XEROX 1186 USER'S GU!DE

Software
INTRODUCTION
Figure 4. The Interlisp-D logo window
Xerox supplies several software systems with the
1186. Each system is recorded on one or more
floppy disks. The major system is the Interlisp-D
sysout. Other systems provided are a software
installation
utility, Lisp Library packages, and
machinediagnostics.
Two examples
of Library packages are the text
editing package called TEdit and the drawing
program called Sketch.
The Lisp Sysout
A sysout is a snapshot of an Interlisp-D
environment. The sysout contains all the
information needed to start the initial state of the
Interlisp-D system-a sysout is the initial contents of
virtual memory. As you run Lisp, its virtual memory
grows to accommodate newly allocated data
structures, compiled code and
the like.
If you want to stop working in the sysout and want
to save the state of your virtual memory (e.g., the
entire environment plus the software modules you
have loaded) you must
log out of Interlisp-D. You
do this by typing (LOGOUT).
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INTRODUCTION
Starting Lisp
6
Interlisp-D Executive
94~ (LOGOUT)
Figure 5. The Interlisp-D executive window during
execution of a logout
After you type the closing parenthesis, Interlisp-D
automatically begins saving the current state of
your virtual memory. The state of the virtual
memory
will be stored in the logical volume in
which you were running. You can resume your
Interlisp-D session from the place where you logged
out with an Fl boot.
You can produce sysouts
of your own, which
capture the state of your own custom environment,
by using
the function SYSOUT (See chapter 6,
Input/Output and the Interlisp-D Reference
Manual).
If you want to resume running from the point of
the most recent LOGOUT, simply press F1 while the
boot icons are displayed.
When Interlisp-D is started for the first time, it may
ask you to supply the name of an Init file. An Init
file contains information that configures Interlisp-D
for your installation.
For example,
the file INIT.NONET configures
Interlisp-D for an 1186 that is not connected to a
network with a file server. To use it, put the Lisp
Library floppy containing INIT.NONET into the
floppy drive and type
{FLOPPY}I NIT. NON ET
XEROX 1186 USER'S GU IDE

INTRODUCTION
in response to the prompt for an Init file. If you
prefer
not to specify an Init file, press the carriage
return.
You may also be prompted for a PUP host 10. For an
expianation
of this request, see the section of this
chapter entitled The Ethernet.
After you have run Interlisp-D once, you will
probably want to store the In it file of your choosing
on the local disk, so that it is loaded automatically
when you starta fresh sysout.
After the initialization finishes, a caret will start
blinking in the Interlisp-D Executive window,
indicating you can now enter expressions and
commands.
Installing a Sysout
Fresh sysouts may be installed in logical volumes
Lisp, Lisp2, etc. by running System Tools (see chapter
5, System Tools). Sysout.s also can be installed from
floppy disks or from a file server. You may also copy
a sysout
from one logical volume to another if the
sysout on the source volume has never been started
(see chapter 4, Software Installation).
Loading Interlisp-D Packages
Xerox supplies two sets of floppies containing
Interlisp-D software modules: the lisp library,
which contains software supported by Xerox; and
lisp Users, which contains user-written software not
supported byXerox.
Please consult Appendix C-library Guide, before
attempting to load a specific Library package into
your virtual memory. Appendix C lists those·
packages
that require you to load files from more
than one
floppy disk, provides the sequence of
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INTRODUCTION
loading, and contains an index indicating which
modules reside
on which floppies
Each module consists of one or more compiled files.
There are also floppies containing fonts and
the
on-line documentation (HelpSys).
To load a module from these floppies
into a
running Interlisp-D environment, insert
the floppy
containing the module you need into the floppy
disk drive, and use the LOAD function to read it into
virtual memory.
For instance, to load the Grapher module, type
(LOAD '{FLOPPY}GRAPHER.DCOM)
to the Interlisp-D Executive. If you are loading
many modules, you may find it convenient instead
to first connect to the floppydevice by typing
CONN {FLOPPY}
after which you could type simply
(LOAD
'GRAP~ER.DCOM).
When a module such as Grapher is loaded, the
system attempts to automatically load all the files
on which
the module depends that have not yet
been loaded.
If the required files are stored on a
floppy disk other than the one currently loaded in
the floppy disk drive, the system will fail to find
them.
Copying Floppies to a File Server
8
Another solution, which most users with a file
server or a large disk are likely to prefer, is to copy
the contents of the floppies to the file server or disk.
Then
the system can load all the necessary files
directly
from the server or disk with no further
intervention. You can either copy everything on
the floppies or just the modules you need. The
Library module Copyfiles
is useful for loading the
XEROX 1186 USER'S GUIDE

INTRODU CTION
contents of the floppies to a file server or a rigid
disk.
load COPYFllES.DCOM from the library and then,
for each floppy you wish to copy type (i n the
executive
window),
(COPYFllES '{FLOPPY} '{host} < directory»
where {host} < directory> specifies a directoryon a
file server where you have set aside
space for
library files, or is {DSK}< lISPFllES> if you are
copying
the files to your machine's rigid disk.
If you only wish to copy selected files from the
floppies, you
can copy them one at a time with the
function COPYFllE, or more conveniently use the
library module File Browser to browse each floppy
and copy the files you desire. See the lisp Library
documentation for the CopyFiles and File Browser
modules
for more details.
Note: The
HelpSys file IRM.HASHFllE is an
exception:
it spans three floppies and must be
copied in
"huge" mode (see chapter 6,
Input/Output).
Cursor Codes
Two types of codes are displayed in the four-digit
cursor code: progress codes and error codes. These
codes are called cursor codes because the mouse
cursor changes shape
to display a four-digit
number.
Progress codes are displayed
at various stages of
booting and initialization. These codes vanish
when initialization is finished, or halt in some error
code.
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INTRODUCTION
10
Error codes are indications of problems in the
program you are attempting to run. Codes less
than 9000 are displayed by non-Lisp systems (e.g.,
the booting programs), while codes in the range
9000-9999 an? displayed while Lisp is running. Error
codes usually indicate serious errors,
as most minor
errors during Lisp operation are handled within the
Interlisp-D Break Package. Thus an error code
generally indicates a software error in a part of the
system where it would be dangerous to signal a
normal Lisp error.
When
Lisp encounters such an error, it halts,
displays a cursor code indicating
the type of error,
and waits
for you to take some action. You have a
choice
of two actions: (1) you can press the UNDO
key, which calls a debugging program called
TeleRaid
(a Ubrary Module); from which it is
possible to inspect the halted machine's state from
another (network connected) workstation; or (2)
you
can press the STOP key, inwhich case the system
attempts a "Hard Reset", which dears
the state of
any active computation and restarts all processes
from
the top.
If the failure persists, please note the cursor code
and
notify Xerox AISupport. It is also helpful to
gather additional information by running TeleRaid.
Occasionally there are fundamental problems
during booting signaled by a combination of red
lightsabove
the boot button.
Refer to chapter 7, Diagnostics for more
information about errorcodes and boot lights.
XEROX 1186 USER'S GUIDE

INTRODUCTION
Booting the Xerox 1186
Booting Lisp or other software on the Xerox 1186 is
a two-stage process" First, press the boot button
(labeled B Reset) on the front of the processor. The
screen will display
the boot icons (The boot icons
are also displayed when you first
power up the
Xerox 1186, or after performing a (LOGOUT) in
Lisp). Then press one of the 10 keyboard function
keys, labeled F1 through F10. Each key specifies a
different mode of booting. Some ways of booting
are:
F1 Resumes running Interlisp-D from the most
recent
session. When you press Fl the display
will darken and the cursor will cycle numbers
in the upper left-hand corner while the system
initializes memory.
If you have aborted the
previous Interlisp-D session without logging
out, an Fl-boot may fail; a typical cursor code
in this case is0217.
F1 0 Invokes the System Tools which allow you to
install a newenvironment on a volume, or run
the saved environment from a different
volume than the most recent one used. To do
this, press Fl, then immediately press and
release tbe zero key.
F2 Boots software from an appropriately
configured floppy disk. The Installation Utility,
supplied with the Xerox 1186, is such a floppy;
the Lisp Library Packages floppies are not.
F6 Boots the Boot Diagnostics floppy, which runs
a comprehensive set
of machine diagnostics
(See chapter 7, Diagnostics).
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INTRODUCTION
The Ethernet
The Xerox 1186 is equipped with a controller for a
10MHz Ethernet. This permits
the Xerox 1186 to
utilize the services of file serverst print servers, and
other equipment that speak the Xerox Network
Services (NS) protocols. The Ethernetalso allows the
Xerox 1186 to communicate with other Xerox 1100
series workstations on the network.
Each Xerox processor is uniquely identified with a
48-bit host number. This number
is used to identify
the Xerox 1186 in every NS network transaction.
Interlisp-D can also use PUP protocols to
communicate with certain servers. The PUP
protocols use 8-bit host numbers unique only within
one network. These numbers are not hard-wired in
the processor itself, but are usually assigned to each
machine by a system administrator.
If you find that
you need a PUP number please consult your system
administrator.
Occasionally devices on the Ethernet may fail to
communicate, either due to a hardware problem
with the network, or the network software on some
server.
If you should experience trouble consult
your system administrator.
Copying Files Between Machines
12
On a network that lacks a file server, it is sometimes
convenient
to be able to transfer files directly
between
two Xerox 1186 workstations. The Library
module
FTPServer provides such a capability. Please
consult the documentation of the module
FTPServer in the Lisp library Packages manual.
XEROX 1186 USER'S GUIDE