[Info-vax] Making a VMS 4.0 Install Tape

[JF Mezei]

Robert Jarratt wrote:
> I have the backup savesets for VMS 4.0 on disk. I have tried doing a 
> BACKUP/IMAGE to a spare disk and booting from that,

If you begged sufficiently, I might be convinced to part with 2 8meg
boards for your all mighty microvax II. But you'd have to pry it out of
my hands and beg plenty :-)

If the c.o.v. community agrees and convinces me, I might be able to part
with one delqua. (yes folks, I had a spare MVII for parts). But you'd
have to pay shipping costs.




the tape would start with standalone backup files. then the saveset.A
which is used for upgrades. Then saveset.B which contains a core
bootable environment, saveset.C contains many more files (more
utilities, help files etc) etc etc.


> think this may be because the disk is SCSI and I am not sure which is the 
> first VMS version to support SCSI.

When you say "does not boot" can you specify ? Based on my
understanding, the early portion of VMS purrs along using the hardware
drivers and eventually loads its own drivers. Not sure how VMS behaves
if it doesn't have its own driver for a type of hardware.

Note that I have a SCSI dilog board which presents devices as RA drives
(MSCP) and thus don't need any special driver for VMS. (you can't pry
that one off me because it is still in use). Perhaps this is how someone
 was able to use some SCSI drives circa 1986/87 when 4.7 was around.

Perhaps there were patches to 4.7 to allow it to be used on the 3100
series workstations when they came out, but it is my understanding that
those came out after 5.0 came out.


> The reason I am doing this is to try to get a 4.0 system disk on my 3100 
> Model 80 which I can then use to MOP boot my MicroVAX II. However since I 
> cannot get 4.0 onto my 3100

Yes you can. The trick is to put your 4.0 disk as a second disk on your
3100. (remove cover and plug in it temporarily if you have to).

Then you work with LANCP to define the MVII node's parameters and
specify the boot disk being the second drive.

I booted an Alpha from a VAX that way. When the MVII sends its MPP
request, the 3100, running a modern VMS, will just hand over the files
from the disk containing 4.0.

You will get warnings about incompatible versions in the cluster and not
all cluster functions will work.


> 3100, but I do have a TK50, I would like to try to create a bootable tape to 
> install VMS 4.0 directly on the MicroVAX II.

TK50s should be included in UN documents  listing devices used to
inflict torture :-)

To make a bootable TK50, you need to make standalone backup. If you
can't do that, then don't waste time trying to make a TK50 distribution
tape. There is/was a command VMSKITBLD in sys$update. But that file
seems devoid of all documentatio.


According to a VMS history book that was made available a year or two
ago, NI interconnects for clustering came in 1986. It say that VAX VMS
4.0 came in 1984.  It says that support for the MVII came with 4.1

A MicroVAX II shipped in june 1987 came with microvax 4.6. 47 came along
a couple months later.

5.0 came in May 1988.



an MVII running 7.2 or 7.3 is usable. An MVII with 4.0 would be just a
novelty.