Installing and Operating 2.11BSD on the PDP-11

This document provides comprehensive instructions for installing, operating, and upgrading the 2.11BSD UNIX system on a PDP-11. It emphasizes that 2.11BSD is not filesystem-compatible with earlier PDP-11 UNIX versions due to significant changes like support for longer filenames and 4-byte block numbers, thus requiring a full bootstrap for installation or upgrade.

The document details the supported hardware, including various disk drives (RK06/07, MSCP, SMD) and tape drives, and specifies memory requirements (1MB+ with separate I&D). It outlines the distribution format, which includes bootstrap programs, standalone utilities (disklabel, mkfs, restor), and system source archives, noting the minimum disk space required (75MB for full distribution, 4MB for the root partition).

A nine-step bootstrap procedure is provided, covering loading the bootstrap monitor, creating disk partition tables with disklabel, creating filesystems with mkfs, restoring the root and /usr filesystems from tape, booting UNIX, and extracting kernel and user-level sources. It explains UNIX device naming, the distinction between block and raw devices, and considerations for disk layout, recommending specific partition sizes for root and swap areas to optimize performance.

For existing systems, the guide advises making full backups and saving specific configuration files before a full bootstrap. It also describes how to configure the kernel, including device drivers, set up terminals, add users, tailor network settings, and manage the mail system (using sendmail and uucp). Finally, it covers routine system operations such as booting and shutdown procedures, diagnosing hardware errors, performing filesystem backups (dump, tar, dd), recompiling system software, managing accounting, and controlling system resources. An appendix offers an in-depth example of using the standalone disklabel program.