[Info-vax] VMS 5.0

[Bill Pechter]

In article <X7udndDIALKHPSTTnZ2dnUVZ_hSdnZ2d at giganews.com>,
Richard B. Gilbert <rgilbert88 at comcast.net> 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.
>>>
>>> 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!

What tape drive was this -- a TapeStretcher-11 or TE16. 

The TU77 was much faster.  Backup/verify at 125 ips was a lot better
than anything off the Unibus in the day.

>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.


I remember doing DSC on VAX/VMS 2.x when doing installs... Not too bad
with a string of TU77's.  OK when going disk to disk on RP06's too.

(Long time since Princeton.  Was there a year ago at a meeting.  They're
moving to a new datacenter.  Time flies.

Bill


-- 
-- 
Digital had it then.  Don't you wish you could buy it now!
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