[Info-vax] VMS 5.0

[John Wallace]

On Nov 7, 6:50 pm, Johnny Billquist <b... at softjar.se> wrote:
> On 2011-11-07 17.44, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>
> > I know I said I wouldn't be back, but somethings are important enough
> > that one needs to break even their own rules.
>
> > I have a 5 DECTape II cartridges containing VMS 5.0.  I have never stuck
> > these in a drive so I can only assume they are still readable.  In order
> > to preserve them, I am willing to give them to anyone who wants them.
> > The price?  5 scratch DECTape II cartridges.  Yes, I do have a drive
> > and wish to keep tapes I can play with but would prefer not scratching
> > something as historically valuable as these.
>
> 5 DECtape II? That sounds like just the standalone backup for the
> VAX-11/750, VAX-11/730 and VAX-11/725 to me. The whole of VMS should be
> way more...
>
> However, the standalone program on TU58 is still probably worth
> preserving, if noone have done so yet.
>
>         Johnny

Agreed, given that a DECtape II, aka TU58, is 256KB or so per tape
it's quite possibly standalone backup and/or console firmware for the
systems you mention, and very very unlikely indeed that it's actually
VMS (impossible is a bit strong but in this case the odds are almost
infinitely improbable).

Might still be of interest to someone. A (piece of) directory listing
might be helpful in identifying what's on there.