[Info-vax] V/I64 R/W USB mass storage boot support?

[VAXman- at SendSpamHere.ORG]

To all following this thread, I received an email from Forrest Kenney.
Over many years, Forrest had helped me out immensely with the terminal
drivers and, later, USB.  Forrest is still a brilliant VMS resource. ;)


Quote Forrest (from private email):

|OK, I knew that that it had been slipped in by Fred a parting gift on
|his way out.  I only have read only access to comp.os.vms.  Can you
|post a note saying the official position is that USB booting is only
|suppoted for the systems that have USB DVD's.  That is it and no one
|will lift a finger to help beyond that.  There is no magic required to
|boot a VMS system off a USB pen drive or disk drive.  You need to back
|up a working system to the device and make sure that the boot block
|gets updated.  That is it, for DVD's you have to set the sysgen
|paramter write lock sys to boot. 
|
|    If it hangs in the boot in mount verify the run time drivers are
|having a problem with the device, there is a complex dance that
|happens to determine data about the disk.  In fact Fred rewrote much
|of it about 12-16 months ago to make it work with more devices.  That
|code should be in recent patch kits. 
|
|     But if that does not help they will get nothing out of HP there
|is no one home who understands how it all works.  There is a complex
|set of steps and interlocks that all have to go correct to boot off a
|USB mass storage device any one messes up and you hang or crash.  It
|took me weeks to make it all work the first time and even then it was
|fragile. 
|
|Forrest

So there you have it folks!

-- 
VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker    VAXman(at)TMESIS(dot)ORG

All your spirit rack abuses, come to haunt you back by day.
All your Byzantine excuses, given time, given you away.