How to install ! OS/32 on SIMH?

We can run ! OS/32 on the SIMH ID32 emulator. First, we need to download the ! OS/32 kit.

Downloads

You can download the kit needed to run ! OS/32 from this GitHub repository:

• ! OS/32 kit

Using ! OS/32

tip

If you have not already installed SIMH Interdata 7/32 emulator, see the VirtualHub Setup tutorial on how to do so on Linux and Windows.

Extract the archive you downloaded. Inside you will find a file called several files. Create a folder somewhere to store the files for this VM and move the file named os32.dsk into it.

Now we will create a config file for our VM. Create a text file called id32.ini with the following content in the VM folder:

set cpu 832
set cpu idle
set throttle 50%
set ttp enabled
set pas devno=20
attach pas 1026
set pt enabled
set pt devno=13
attach -e dm0 os32.dsk
attach -n lpt printer.out
set lpt lc
deposit 7c 002
boot dm0

Now open a terminal and move to the VM folder. Run the following command to start the emulator:

id32

After the emulator starts, you will get a * prompt. Run set time 05/16/22,19:00. Set the date and time you want, but make sure the syntax remains the same. Try entering a date from 1970s or 80s to avoid any problem.

Then run mark dsc4:,on, and at last startup. ! OS/32 will start. Run dir to see a list of files on the disk.

That's it! We used ! OS/32 on SIMH Interdata 7/32 emulator. You can now run shutdown to shut down OS/32. Then run mark dsc4:,off. Finally, hit Ctrl + E and run exit to stop the emulator. We can create a shell script to make it easy to launch the VM.

Linux

Create a file called os-32.sh with the following content:

#!/bin/bash
id32

Now make the file executable:

chmod +x os-32.sh

Now you can start the VM using the shell script. For example, on KDE you can right-click the file and choose Run in Konsole or on GNOME, where you can right-click the file and choose Run as executable. The VM will start.

See the manuals section on the main ! OS/32 page to learn how to use it.

Windows

Create a file called os-32.bat with the following content:

id32

Now you can start the VM by double-clicking the shell script. See the manuals section on the main ! OS/32 page to learn how to use it.

Credits

• The disk image and other files used above are from a kit available on this GitHub repository.

Video tutorial

Do you want to follow the tutorial by watching a video? We will post a video on our YouTube channel soon.

Archives of this tutorial are available on Wayback Machine.