Installing / generating SINTRAN III onto mass storage — evidence from the distribution media¶

Scope of this document. Everything below is derived only from the ND distribution diskettes, opened read-only. No manual was used. Where the media do not answer a question the answer is written as NOT FOUND rather than reconstructed.

Every statement is tagged:

[VERIFIED] — the exact file and the exact text read out of it is quoted.
[INFERRED] — the reasoning is shown.
NOT FOUND — the media do not contain it.

Floppy boot-loader analysis is deliberately out of scope.

0. Sources actually read¶

Extracted read-only with ndtool.exe -x -o <outdir> <image> (E:\Dev\Ronny\norskdata-ndfs\ndfs-c\build-win\ndtool.exe).

Do not add -p to a whole-image extract. -p strips the top bit of every byte (cmd_extract.c, ctx->do_parity). That is right for even-parity text and destroys binaries — these images carry :BPUN files such as MACM-1718L:BPUN, and every byte with bit 7 set is silently corrupted. Extract clean, then strip parity per file, only where the file is known to be text. The quotes in this document are all ASCII so they were unaffected, but the recipe was published as a general one and is not safe as such. Flagged in DOC-AUDIT.md (lines 44, 52, 107-119, edit #4); applied 2026-08-02.

image	volume label	files
`D:\ND\S\VSXK1.img`	`N-220046K03--01D`	`MACM-1718L:BPUN`, `SINTRAN:DATA`
`D:\ND\S\VSXK2.img`	`N-220046K03--02D`	`NEW-SYSTEM:PROG`, `DMAC-1915F:BPUN`, symbol lists
`D:\ND\S\N-250306K05--01D.img`	`N-250306K05--01D`	`MACM-1718L:BPUN`, `SINTRAN:DATA`
`D:\ND\S\N-250306K05--02D.img`	`N-250306K05--02D`	`NEW-SYSTEM:PROG`, `DMAC-1915F:BPUN`, symbol lists
`D:\ND\S\N-250306K05-patch.img`	`ND-PATCH-SIN-K`	`PATCHES-10200:PATC`, `START-PATCH-FILE:MODE`, `PATCH-FILE:MODE`, `SYMBOLS-10200:FADM`, `REFERENCE-10200:FADM`, `NEW-SYSTEM:PROG`
`D:\ND\S\VSXL1.IMG`	`250305L07-XX-01D`	`MACM-1718L:BPUN`, `SINTRAN-L-1:DATA`
`D:\ND\S\VSXL2.IMG`	`250305L07-XX-02D`	`SINTRAN-L-2:DATA`
`D:\ND\S\VSXL3.IMG`	`250305L07-XX-03D`	`NEW-SYSTEM:PROG`, `DMAC-1915G:BPUN`, symbol lists, XMSG
`D:\ND\S\250306M06-XX-01D.image`	`250306M06-XX-01D`	`MACM-1718L:BPUN`, `SINTRAN-M-1:DATA`
`D:\ND\S\250306M06-XX-02D.image`	`250306M06-XX-02D`	`SINTRAN-M-2:DATA`
`D:\ND\S\250306M06-XX-03D.image`	`250306M06-XX-03D`	`NEW-SYSTEM:PROG`, `DMAC-1915G:BPUN`, `ND500-MONITOR:BPUN`, symbol lists

[VERIFIED] — ndtool -t listings of all eleven images.

There is no *:MODE, README, INFO or install-script file on any of the SINTRAN K / L / M system diskettes. The only :MODE files on the whole media set are XMSG-STARTEX:MODE (VSXL3, 250306M06-03D — XMSG startup, unrelated) and START-PATCH-FILE:MODE / PATCH-FILE:MODE on the K patch floppy. [VERIFIED — full ndtool -t listing of all eleven images, reproduced above.]

Consequence: the operator-facing installation procedure exists on the media only as (a) banner text embedded in the SINTRAN*:DATA MACM command stream and (b) prompt text compiled into MACM-1718L:BPUN.

Reusable extractor: E:\Dev\Ronny\NDInsight\tools\boot-floppy\tools\extract_media_install_evidence.py

1. Large-disc install (288 Mb-class SMD and everything else that is not SCSI)¶

1.1 What the media show the operator typing¶

All quotes are from the printable header / trailer of the SINTRAN*:DATA MACM command stream, and from literal strings inside MACM-1718L:BPUN.

Step A — MACM asks for the disc type. MACM-1718L:BPUN contains, as parity-stripped ASCII (byte offsets in VSXL1.IMG copy):

14543  PLEASE DEFINE THE DISC TYPE (MSTYP) !
14584  MSTYP  SINTRAN DEVICE NAME
14617  REMOVABLE OR FIXED (R/F): '
14647  ENTER MSTYP: '
13987  INITIALIZED FOR: 'REMOVABLE
14016  'FIXED

and, separately:

11949  GIVE DISK TYPE AS ONE OF THE FOLLOWING OCTAL NUMBERS:
12620  DISK TYPE: '

[VERIFIED — strings over (SYSTEM)MACM-1718L:BPUN from VSXL1.IMG, bit 7 masked. Identical strings, at different offsets, in the VSXK1.img, N-250306K05--01D.img and 250306M06-XX-01D.image copies of MACM.]

Step B — MACM lists its own commands:

14669  REMEMBER THE MACM COMMANDS:
14700  )REDEF => REDEFINE DISC TYPE
       )HENT  => GET SINTRAN FROM SAVE-AREA
       22!    => START SINTRAN
14793  10,0$  => LOAD SINTRAN FROM DISKETTE
       TYPE ANY MACM COMMAND:

[VERIFIED — same file.]

Step C — the stream banner tells the operator to start loading. From (SYSTEM)SINTRAN-L-1:DATA (VSXL1.IMG), printable header, lines 300–312:

10,1$
%%====================================================================%%
%%  SINTRAN-III/VSX  VERSION L   LOAD  SINTRAN-DISKETTE 1             %%
%%====================================================================%%
10,0$

)MCDEF VOLNA
 000072/MSTYQ  %%
]
"DEBUG;10,1$;"
POPST
10,0,10$
)9READ

[VERIFIED.] The K stream says LOAD SINTRAN-DISKETTE-I and its VOLNA macro deposits at 004655 instead of 000072 (N-250306K05--01D.img/VSXK1.img, SINTRAN:DATA, header line 36 and 221–225). [VERIFIED.]

Step D — diskette change. End of SINTRAN-L-1:DATA:

"DEBUG;10,1$;"
POPST
VOLNA
PCCST
)HENT

10,1$
%%====================================================================%%
%% INSERT SINTRAN-L DISKETTE 2  IN FLOPPY-DISK UNIT 0                 %%
%% AND TYPE: 10,0$  TO CONTINUE LOADING.                              %%
%%====================================================================%%
)9SBLO 2

[VERIFIED — SINTRAN-L-1:DATA text lines 16150–16161. The M stream is identical with INSERT SINTRAN-M DISKETTE 2 (SINTRAN-M-1:DATA lines 17427–17434). The K distribution is a single system diskette and has no such banner.]

Step E — optional patch macros, then start. End of SINTRAN-L-2:DATA (and of the single K SINTRAN:DATA):

PCCST
10,1$
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%%                                                                    %%
%% THE  SINTRAN  III  SYSTEM  MAY  NOW  BE  STARTED  BY  TYPING:  22! %%
%%                                                                    %%
%% LATER  COLD  STARTS  MAY  BE  DONE  EITHER  BY  LOADING  MACM FROM %%
%% SINTRAN DISKETTE I,  TYPE:  )HENT (CR), WAIT  FOR  LINE  FEED  AND %%
%% TYPE: 22!,  OR  BY  PERFORMING  THE  SINTRAN  COMMAND:  COLD-START %%
%%                                                                    %%
%% DISKETTE III CONTAINS  A PROGRAM CALLED NEW-SYSTEM. THIS PROGRAM   %%
%% SHOULD  BE STARTED AS SOON AS THE MAIN DIRECTORY HAS BEEN ENTERED. %%
%% THE PROGRAM WILL GUIDE YOU THROUGH SOME OF THE PROCEDURES          %%
%% THAT HAVE TO BE PERFORMED AFTER LOADING A NEW SYSTEM.              %%
%%                                                                    %%
%% DISKETTE  III  CONTAINS THE SYMBOL-LISTS FOR YOUR SYSTEM.          %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
)LINE

[VERIFIED — SINTRAN-L-2:DATA text lines 5050–5067. The K stream carries the same banner with DISKETTE II CONTAINS A PROGRAM CALLED NEW-SYSTEM (SINTRAN:DATA text lines 13927–13941).]

The patch-macro list the operator may run before 22! is printed at the very top of every stream, e.g. L:

%% BEFORE 22! IS TYPED, PATCHES TO THE SYSTEM CAN BE DONE BY CALLING
%% A  SET OF MACROES FOR THIS PURPOSE.
...
%%     - PEND                RESET CORE-IMAGE BEFORE STARTING!
%%     I M P O R T A N T !
%%     THE MACRO / PCCST/ MUST ALWAYS BE USED BEFORE STARTING
%%     IF ANY OF THE OTHER MACROES HAVE BEEN USED.

[VERIFIED — SINTRAN-L-1:DATA header lines 5–35. In K the same block ends THE MACRO / PEND / MUST ALWAYS BE USED BEFORE STARTING.]

1.2 Where the disc type is actually chosen¶

Choice is made once, at the MACM prompt, not in the stream. The stream only reads the result, through MAC library-mark conditionals:

A=175777     % CRMAX
FA=177677
UA=077777    %CRMAX FOR U-CODE
F=MSTYP      % MASS STORAGE TYPE
D=0          % DUMMY PARAMETER

% DEVICE NUMBER
"BD288+BDFIX -MADEF
G=1540
"W8INC+REMOV+FIXED -MADEF
G=500
"SCASI -MADEF
G=144300

% BIT 17 IS SET IF FIXED DISK
"BD288+W8INC+REMOV+SCASI -MADEF
FR=0
"BDFIX+FIXED
FR=100000


"BD288+BDFIX+W8INC+SCASI -MADEF
H=1@1 FR
POP=PPOP@1 FR
EP=PEP@1 FR
...

[VERIFIED — SINTRAN-L-1:DATA header lines 125–179; byte-identical structure in SINTRAN-M-1:DATA lines 125–179 and, without the -MADEF term, in K SINTRAN:DATA lines 90–145.]

F=MSTYP — the first )9BYTT parameter is the symbol MSTYP. Nothing in any stream assigns MSTYP a value. [VERIFIED — grep of all five streams.]
MSTYP and MSTYQ are defined by MACM, from the ENTER MSTYP: answer. [INFERRED] — reasoning: MACM contains the prompt ENTER MSTYP: and the table header MSTYP SINTRAN DEVICE NAME; the stream consumes MSTYP and MSTYQ without defining them; no other file on the media defines them (grep over every extracted file: MSTYP/MSTYQ occur only in the MACM binaries and the :DATA streams).
Likewise, exactly which of BD288 / BDFIX / W8INC / SCASI / REMOV / FIXED is a defined symbol (making the guard false) versus an undefined library mark (making it true) is set by MACM from the MSTYP + R/F answers. [INFERRED] — same reasoning; these six names appear nowhere on the media except in the five stream headers. In particular they are not in LIBRARY-MARKS:SYMB, which holds SINTRAN's own device marks (8BD1, 8WDIS, 8MD1, 8F1U0, …). [VERIFIED — grep over all extracted files.]
The exact MSTYP → mark mapping (which MSTYP numbers select BD288 rather than W8INC, etc.) is NOT FOUND in the media as text. It is encoded in MACM's machine code.

The K stream writes the guards bare ("BD288+BDFIX); L and M append -MADEF and add 0/MADEF^ after the conditional block closes. [VERIFIED — K header lines 96–145 vs L header lines 132–146 and line 298.]

L and M dropped removable/cartridge support from the address arithmetic. K has a second address block:

"REMOV+FIXED
H=1@4 FR
EP=PEP@4 FR
...
"

L and M have only the @1 block and then close with ". [VERIFIED — K SINTRAN:DATA header lines 128–145; L SINTRAN-L-1:DATA header lines 146–180; M SINTRAN-M-1:DATA lines 146–180.] REMOV/FIXED still appear in the L/M DEVNO block (G=500) and in the FR block.

1.3 The ten `)9BYTT` parameters¶

%%  )9BYTT PARAMETRES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
%%  NO  1:  MSTYP  - SYMBOL USED:  F
%%  NO  2:  DEVNO  - SYMBOL USED:  G
%%  NO  3:  CORAD  - SYMBOL USED:  D  (DUMMY)
%%  NO  4:  LONG   - SYMBOL USED:  D  (DUMMY)
%%  NO  5:  CLM    - SYMBOL USED:  D  (DUMMY)
%%  NO  6:  BLST   - SYMBOL USED:  D  (DUMMY)
%%  NO  7:  DRES   - SEE BELOW
%%  NO  8:  CRMAX  - SYMBOL USED:  A
%%  NO  9:  MACAD  - SYMBOL USED:  D  (DUMMY)
%%  NO 10:  DASA   - SYMBOL USED:  H

[VERIFIED — identical in all five streams.] CORAD, LONG, CLM, BLST and MACAD are passed as the dummy value 0 (D=0) in every stream — i.e. no disc geometry is passed through )9BYTT. [VERIFIED.]

DRES (parameter 7) is a block address, and the header states explicitly:

%%  NOTE THAT THE ABOVE SYMBOLS STATES BLOCK ADDRESSES FOR THE
%%  RESPECTIVE AREAS AND MUST BE CALCULATED FROM PAGE NUMBER
%%  DEPENDING ON DISK TYPE.

[VERIFIED.] The page→block conversion is the @n shift: @1 for BD288+BDFIX+W8INC+SCASI, @4 for REMOV+FIXED (K only). [VERIFIED, quoted above.]

FR=100000 (bit 17) marks a fixed disc; FR=0 a removable one. The comment in the stream is literally % BIT 17 IS SET IF FIXED DISK. [VERIFIED.]

1.4 ALD / thumbwheel / device-address settings¶

NOT FOUND. No ALD value, no thumbwheel setting and no controller device address other than the three DEVNO constants (1540, 500, 144300) appears anywhere on the K, L or M media. Those would have lived in the operator manual or on the boot floppy, neither of which is in scope here.

1.5 After the system is on disc¶

NEW-SYSTEM:PROG (diskette 2 for K, diskette 3 for L/M) is the guided post-install program. Readable strings inside it:

MultiFunction Program
SINTRAN III/VSX L-version installation L02
WRITE-MESSAGE CHECK-WORKMODE WRITE-SYSINFO UPDATE COPY-FILES CPU-UPDATE
FILE-TEST LIST-IMPLEMENTED-PATCHES RUN-PATCHFILE HELP
@CC ==== D E F I N E  S E G F I L 0 ====
@SINTRAN-SERVICE-PROGRAM
@DEFINE-SEGMENT-FILE Y Y 0 SEGFIL0:DATA
@CC ========= L O A D  D M A C =========
@RT-LOADER
YES
READ-BINARY DMAC 7
YES
Exit
ENTER-DIRECTORY,2--,FLOPPY-DISC-1,0
RELEASE-DIRECTORY 2--
$Insert SINTRAN diskette (no. B1 IF more than one floppy).
$Copying files from SINTRAN floppy(ies) to user SYSTEM...
> Give CPU number (in Decimal):
> Give CPU type (in Decimal):

[VERIFIED — (SYSTEM)NEW-SYSTEM:PROG from VSXL3.IMG, parity-stripped strings. 250306M06-XX-03D.image carries the same strings.]

The K patch floppy shows the same shape as an actual command script ((SYSTEM)START-PATCH-FILE:MODE, N-250306K05-patch.img) [VERIFIED, full text read]:

@RTENTER
@SIN-SER-PROG
@DEF-SEG-FILE YES YES 0 SEGFIL0
@EXIT
@RT-LOADER
Y
READ-BINARY DMAC-1915F 7
Y
EXIT
@DMAC
)9EXIT
@MODE (ND-PATCH-SIN-:SYST)PATCH-FILE:MODE,,,
...
---Patching OF Sintran-III successfully  completed ---
$Please do a cold start (@COLD-START) of your SYSTEM to get
the patches into effect.Please remember to run the
program S3-CONFIG to check your configuration $

2. SCSI install¶

Everything in section 1 applies unchanged; SCSI differs only in what MACM is told and in the three constants the stream then selects.

2.1 The SCSI-specific values in the generation stream¶

item	value	evidence
conditional guard	`"SCASI`	present only in K, L, M streams; absent from H and J [VERIFIED]
DEVNO (`)9BYTT` param 2)	`144300` octal	`"SCASI -MADEF` / `G=144300` [VERIFIED]
fixed-disc bit	`FR=0` — SCSI is grouped with the non-fixed set `"BD288+W8INC+REMOV+SCASI` [VERIFIED]
page→block shift	`@1` (`"BD288+BDFIX+W8INC+SCASI` block) [VERIFIED]
`MSTYP` value	`23` octal — MACM's table line reads exactly `23 SCSI` [VERIFIED]
MACM "DISK TYPE" value	`24` octal — table line `24: SCSI` [VERIFIED]

"SCASI occurs exactly three times in each stream, all three inside the header parameter block (DEVNO, FR, address block). There is no other SCSI-conditional region in any generation stream. [VERIFIED — grep of the complete SINTRAN-L-1:DATA, SINTRAN-L-2:DATA, SINTRAN-M-1:DATA, SINTRAN-M-2:DATA and K SINTRAN:DATA.]

2.2 What `144300` means¶

144300 is the value handed to )9BYTT parameter 2, whose documented name in the stream header is DEVNO. [VERIFIED.] Beyond "it is the device number MACM and SINTRAN use for the SCSI disc controller", the media contain no further decoding of it. Any bit-field interpretation would be a guess — NOT FOUND.

For comparison, from the same block: 1540 for BD288/BDFIX (the big-disc / SMD path) and 500 for W8INC/REMOV/FIXED. [VERIFIED.]

2.3 SCSI unit / sub-unit selection¶

The SINTRAN image contains the mass-storage device-name table with explicit SCSI names, e.g. from SINTRAN-L-1:DATA at byte offset 901832 onward:

DISC-SCSI-1'   DISC-2-SCSI-1'  DISC-3-SCSI-1'  DISC-4-SCSI-1'
DISC-5-SCSI-1' DISC-6-SCSI-1'  DISC-7-SCSI-1'  DISC-8-SCSI-1'
DISC-SCSI-2'   ... DISC-8-SCSI-2'   ...  up to DISC-8-SCSI-14'

[VERIFIED — parity-stripped strings from (SYSTEM)SINTRAN-L-1:DATA.]

Enumerated per distribution:

media set	leading numbers present	trailing unit numbers	distinct SCSI names
`VSXK1.img` (`N-220046K03`)	2 3 4 5	1–14	70
`N-250306K05--01D.img`	2 3 4 5 6 8	1–14	98
`VSXL1.IMG` (`250305L07`)	2 3 4 5 6 7 8	1–14	112
`250306M06-XX-01D.image`	2 3 4 5 6 7 8	1–14	112

[VERIFIED — enumeration of every DISC-…SCSI-… string in each image.] Note N-220046K03 stops at 5 and 250306K05 is missing 7; L and M carry the full 2–8 set.

Meaning of the two numbers: [INFERRED]. By analogy with the SMD names in the same table — DISC-70MB-1, DISC-2-70MB-1-F, DISC-4-70MB-1-R, DISC-6-70MB-1-N, where the leading number is the count of spindles combined into one logical mass-storage unit and the trailing number is the unit number — DISC-n-SCSI-u is n SCSI drives forming SINTRAN mass-storage unit u. The media do not state this; nothing on the media contradicts it.

The SCSI target ID / LUN is NOT FOUND as a MACM or )9BYTT parameter. The running system does prompt for unit and sub-unit — from the same image:

DEVICE NAME: 'DEVICE UNIT: 'DEVICE SUB-UNIT: 'FIXED(F) OR REMOVABLE(R): '

(SINTRAN-L-1:DATA @549514; the M image reads DEVICE OR POOL NAME: @555823) plus the commands DEFINE-MASS-STORAGE-UNIT, DELETE-MASS-STORAGE-UNIT, LIST-MASS-STORAGE-UNITS. [VERIFIED.] That is a SINTRAN-runtime configuration step, not part of the MACM generation.

The L and M images also carry a full SCSI driver with its own error text (SCSI domino driver, SCSI domino device level, SCSI bus parity error in the Data In phase. Retry in progress, Error in reading configuration from "(SCSI-DOMINO)DEVICES:CNFG"). [VERIFIED — SINTRAN-L-2:DATA @268599, @339813, @350526.] The reference to a DEVICES:CNFG file implies SCSI device configuration is read from a file at run time, not baked in at generation. [INFERRED from the error-message text.]

2.4 SCSI size limits¶

NOT FOUND. No maximum page count, block count, bit-file size or directory size limit for SCSI (or for any other disc type) appears anywhere on the media. The )9BYTT size-ish parameters (LONG, CLM, BLST, CORAD, MACAD) are all passed as the dummy 0. CRMAX (A=175777, FA=177677, UA=077777) is the core-image maximum used by the patch macros, not a disc size. [VERIFIED.]

3. Supported disc units table¶

3.1 Is disc size a free parameter?¶

No — not at MACM generation time. The operator does not type a capacity, cylinder count or page count anywhere in the )9BYTT block.

Scope corrected 2026-08-02. Absence of a size parameter at GENERATION time is equally consistent with "size is supplied later" — and it is: CARVED-DISC-SUPPORT.md carves the prompt ID NUMBER OF PAGES:, the operator-supplied size that reaches GSIZE and thence ALBIT at directory-creation time. The )9BYTT dummies cannot see that stage, so they cannot speak to it. He types one octal number from a table that is compiled into MACM, in answer to ENTER MSTYP:, plus R or F in answer to REMOVABLE OR FIXED (R/F):. [VERIFIED — the prompt strings, and the absence of any size parameter in the )9BYTT block, where all five candidate parameters are the dummy 0.]

3.2 Table 1 — `MSTYP` → SINTRAN device name¶

Printed by MACM under the heading MSTYP SINTRAN DEVICE NAME. Verbatim from MACM-1718L:BPUN on VSXL1.IMG (offsets 13238–13975); the 250306M06-XX-01D copy is identical.

 2 DISC-10MB-1
 3 DISC-33MB-1,    DISC-66MB-1
 4 DISC-38MB-1,    DISC-70MB-1,      DISC-75MB-1
 5 DISC-288MB-1-R, DISC-3-75MB-1,    DISC-4-70MB-1-R, DISC-225MB-1-R
 6 DISC-30MB-1,    DISC-60MB-1,      DISC-90MB-1
 7 DISC-2-75MB-1
10 DISC-21MB-1,    DISC-14MB-1
11 DISC-45MB-1
12 DISC-23MB-1     DISC-16MB-1
13 DISC-74MB-1     BUTTERFLY: DISC-36MB-C, DISC-49MB, DISC-77MB
14 DISC-28MB-1
15 DISC-140MB-1-F, DISC-2-70MB-1-F
16 DISC-288MB-1-F, DISC-225MB-1-F,   DISC-4-70MB-1-F
17 DISC-288MB-1-E, DISC-225MB-1-E,   DISC-4-70MB-1-E
20 DISC-450MB-1-F, DISC-2-225MB-1-F, DISC-6-70MB-1-F
21 DISC-450MB-1-N, DISC-2-225MB-1-N, DISC-6-70MB-1-N
22 DISC-288MB-1-N, DISC-225MB-1-N,   DISC-4-70MB-1-N
23 SCSI

[VERIFIED.] Numbers are octal (the sequence runs 7 → 10). There is no MSTYP 0 or 1 in the table. That this is the MSTYP table (rather than the other one) is [INFERRED] from the adjacent column header MSTYP SINTRAN DEVICE NAME and from the fact that its entries are SINTRAN device names.

The K copies differ slightly. N-250306K05--01D.img matches L/M except 13 DISC-74MB-1 BUTTERFLY: DISC-36MB-C, DISC-49MB, DISC-77MB — same. VSXK1.img (N-220046K03) is older and narrower:

13 DISC-74MB-1     DISC-36-C (BUTTERFLY)
16 DISC-288MB-1-F, DISC-4-70MB-1-F
17 DISC-288MB-1-E, DISC-4-70MB-1-E
22 DISC-288MB-1-N, DISC-4-70MB-1-N

i.e. no DISC-225MB-* aliases at 16/17/22. [VERIFIED.]

3.3 Table 2 — MACM's own "DISK TYPE" enumeration¶

A second, differently numbered table, printed after GIVE DISK TYPE AS ONE OF THE FOLLOWING OCTAL NUMBERS: and answered at the prompt DISK TYPE:. Verbatim from MACM-1718L:BPUN on VSXL1.IMG (offsets 12006–12608):

 0: DISC-14MB
 1: DISC-21MB
 2: DISC-23MB
 3: DISC-28MB
 4: DISC-30MB    (DISC-60MB/DISC-90MB)
 5: DISC-33MB
 6: DISC-38MB
 7: DISC-45MB
10: DISC-66MB
11: DISC-70MB
12: DISC-74MB    (BUTTERFLY: DISC-36MB-C, DISC-49MB, DISC-77MB)
13: DISC-75MB
14: DISC-140MB   (DISC-2-70MB)
15: DISC-2-75MB
16: DISC-288MB-R (DISC-225MB-R/DISC-3-75MB/DISC-4-70MB-R)
17: DISC-288MB-F (DISC-225MB-F/DISC-4-70MB-F)
20: DISC-450MB-F (DISC-2-225MB-F/DISC-6-70MB-F)
21: DISC-288MB-E (DISC-225MB-E/DISC-4-70MB-E)
22: DISC-450MB-N (DISC-2-225MB-N/DISC-6-70MB-N)
23: DISC-288MB-N (DISC-225MB-N/DISC-4-70MB-N)
24: SCSI

[VERIFIED.] VSXK1.img's copy again lacks the 225MB aliases at 17/21/23 and reads 12: DISC-74MB (DISC-36MB-C (BUTTERFLY)). [VERIFIED.]

Which MACM command consumes this second table, and how the two numberings relate to each other, is NOT FOUND on the media.

3.4 Cylinders / heads / sectors / bytes-per-sector / page counts¶

NOT FOUND. No geometry table — no cylinder counts, head counts, sectors per track, bytes per sector, or per-unit SINTRAN page counts — exists as readable text on any of the eleven images. The stream passes only dummy zeros for the geometry-shaped )9BYTT parameters. Any such table must live in MACM's or SINTRAN's machine code, which was not decoded for this document.

The one capacity-ish enumeration that is on the media is in the SINTRAN M image, in a configuration display screen:

Available WINCHESTER sizes: 14 16 21 23 28 45 74

alongside the column headers 2-75 3-75 2-225 F/N, UNIT 0 1 2 3, M A G T A P E S : FLOPPY: BIG :, PERTEC / STC. [VERIFIED — SINTRAN-M-2:DATA @581160 and repeated per screen instance.] These are Winchester capacities in MB, matching MSTYP 10/12/10/12/14/11/13.

3.5 The SINTRAN device-name table itself¶

The full mass-storage device-name table is present in every system image and is the authoritative list of names SINTRAN will accept. Non-SCSI portion, from SINTRAN-L-1:DATA @897753 onward (unit-1 entries only; the table repeats the same family for units 2, 3, 4):

DISC-38MB-1  DISC-75MB-1  DISC-288MB-1-R  DISC-225MB-1-R  DISC-90MB-1
DISC-60MB-1  DISC-30MB-1  DISC-3-75MB-1   DISC-2-75MB-1   DISC-4-70MB-1-R
DISC-70MB-1  DISC-2-70MB-1-F  DISC-140MB-1-F  DISC-4-70MB-1-F
DISC-288MB-1-F  DISC-6-70MB-1-F  DISC-2-225MB-1-F  DISC-450MB-1-F
DISC-14MB-1  DISC-21MB-1  DISC-45MB-1  DISC-74MB-1  DISC-28MB-1
DISC-23MB-1  DISC-16MB-1
FLOPPY-DISC-1  FLOPPY-DISC-2
DISC-225MB-1-F  DISC-225MB-1-E  DISC-288MB-1-E  DISC-4-70MB-1-E
DISC-6-70MB-1-N  DISC-2-225MB-1-N  DISC-450MB-1-N  DISC-288MB-1-N
DISC-225MB-1-N  DISC-4-70MB-1-N
DISC-SCSI-1 … DISC-8-SCSI-1

[VERIFIED.] DISC-10MB-1 (MSTYP 2) does not appear in the L device-name table; it is only in MACM's MSTYP list. [VERIFIED.]

4. Anything the media declare INVALID or unsupported¶

Any MSTYP outside the printed table: the media give no error text for it, so the failure mode is NOT FOUND. The tables are however finite and MACM re-prompts via )REDEF => REDEFINE DISC TYPE. [VERIFIED that )REDEF exists.]
Removable / cartridge discs are unsupported from version L onwards in the address arithmetic: the "REMOV+FIXED block with the @4 page→block shift exists in K and is gone from L and M. [VERIFIED — see §1.2.] The REMOV/FIXED marks still appear in the L/M DEVNO and FR blocks, so the media do not say the marks were removed outright, only that no block addresses are computed for them. This means selecting a REMOV/FIXED disc under L/M would leave every area address undefined. [INFERRED from the missing block.]
SCSI is unsupported before K. "SCASI is absent from the H and J generation streams and present in K, L and M. [VERIFIED — the H stream (H-10-203-I, SINTRAN-I:DATA) contains only "BD288 "W8INC "BDFIX "REMOV "FIXED at header lines 49/65/81/93/105 and the J stream (J-900-188-I, SINTRAN-I:DATA) only the same five at lines 82/96/110/119/128, with no "SCASI. Note: these two H/J text extracts were already present in the working directory and were not re-extracted from their source images in this pass; the K/L/M side of the comparison was re-extracted here.]
SCSI leading-number coverage grew: N-220046K03 2–5, 250306K05 2–6 and 8 (no 7), 250305L07 and 250306M06 2–8. Anything outside that range has no device name and therefore cannot be defined. [VERIFIED by enumeration.]
Addressing / bit-file / directory size limits: NOT FOUND on the media.

5. Open questions (what the media could not answer)¶

Disc geometry per unit — cylinders, heads, sectors, bytes/sector, page count. Not present as text. Would require disassembling MACM's disc-type table (MACM-1718L:BPUN) or SINTRAN's mass-storage descriptor table.
The MSTYP → BD288/BDFIX/W8INC/SCASI/REMOV/FIXED mapping. Only MACM's code knows it. This is the single most valuable missing piece: it is what turns "MSTYP 16 = DISC-288MB-1-F" into "BDFIX, DEVNO 1540, FR=100000".
Meaning of the second table (GIVE DISK TYPE … 0–24) and which MACM command reads it, and how its numbering relates to MSTYP.
Decoding of DEVNO 144300, and where the SCSI target/LUN is set. The "(SCSI-DOMINO)DEVICES:CNFG" error string suggests a run-time config file that is not on these diskettes.
ALD / thumbwheel / load-descriptor values. Nothing on the media. These would be in the operator documentation or on the boot floppy.
Maximum addressable disc size. No limit stated anywhere on the media.

6. How to reproduce every quote above¶

# 1. extract (read-only) — repeat per image
#    NO -p: it strips bit 7 of every byte and corrupts the :BPUN binaries on this image.
E:\Dev\Ronny\norskdata-ndfs\ndfs-c\build-win\ndtool.exe -x -o <outdir> D:\ND\S\VSXL1.IMG

# 2. pull out headers, disc-type tables and device-name tables
python E:\Dev\Ronny\NDInsight\tools\boot-floppy\tools\extract_media_install_evidence.py <media-root> --out <evidence-dir>

extract_media_install_evidence.py masks the even-parity bit 7 (ND text convention) and writes, per stream, a .header.txt (MACM command text up to the first NUL) and a .devicenames.txt, plus a .disctypes.txt per MACM binary.