[Info-vax] VMS 5.0

[Richard B. Gilbert]

On 11/8/2011 4:33 PM, Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
> On 11/8/2011 2:42 PM, Johnny Billquist wrote:
>> On 2011-11-08 15.50, Bob Koehler wrote:
>>> In
>>> article<e26cf339-adbf-48b1-aaf0-8bf7e6bceac7 at i10g2000vbk.googlegroups.com>,
>>>
>>> abrsvc<dansabrservices at yahoo.com> writes:
>>>>
>>>> The more likely contents are the standanlone backup kit. IIRC, the
>>>> actual VMS software was distributed on magtape,TK50 and removeable
>>>> disk only.
>>>
>>> Some VMS update kits were distributed on TU58.

Yup! We had, for reasons best forgotten, eight-inch floppy drives
with our 11/750.  We were able to install software via 8" floppy!
It saved us a *little* suffering!  We never did use them for their
*intended* purpose.

>>>
>>> One of the 3.x update kits was on several TU58, at the time the only
>>> option for 11/750 owners. (I think it was on 8" floppies for
>>> 11/780). At the time only full installs shipped on 9-track.
>>>
>>> It took so long to ingest from TU58 and DEC got so many complaints
>>> that DEC decided, and loudly declared at the next DECUS symposium,
>>> that in the future _all_ kits would be available on 9-track.
>>>
>>> Then CD became the standard media for Alpha, and available for VAX,
>>> so we immediately ordered a Qbus CD reader for our MV II.
>>
>> I can't even imagine how many TU58 it would take for a full VMS
>> distribution. About 100 tapes maybe? Considering that the standalone
>> backup alone is 5 RX01 floppies, and the capacity of the TU58 is
>> similar, the number of disks/tapes even for some update kit quickly
>> becomes ridiculous as far as the number of media is concerned.
>>
>> Johnny
>
> ISTR that you could die of old age trying to install from TU58!
>
> Just doing a BACKUP /VERIFY to nine track 1600 BPI tape took about
> fourteen hours! At this late date, I understand why DEC gave us
> (Princeton University) an 11/750 with RA-81 disk at an extreme discount!
> Nobody in his right mind would have paid for it if he had to install it
> and/or do full disk backups!
>
> I put in a few fourteen hour days doing BACKUP and RESTORE to remedy
> disk/file fragmentation. I also put in a good deal of time trying to
> convince users that they should allocate a reasonable amount of
> contiguous disk space to hold their data.
>
> Eventually, somebody wrote some software that could defragment an ODS-2
> file system without doing a backup and restore.
>