[Info-vax] analyze/disk errors

[Simon Clubley]

On 2013-12-06, David Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
> Simon Clubley wrote:
>
>> And some of us "end user" programmers have written ODS-2 readers for fun
>> in the past (so we can read ODS-2 volumes under other operating systems)
>> and hence understand this stuff at a deeper level than what's in the
>> documentation the OP is referencing.
>
> Yes, that might be some fun.
>
> But, I would write it on VMS, and, what's the use ???

There's no point writing it on VMS.

The point of writing it on other operating systems is that you can then
read VMS volumes on that other operating system. :-)

And as for the use, there was no real use other than I _really_ enjoyed
doing it, in the exact same way there was no real use for when I dropped
a WinTV PCI card into a VMS box and wrote a device driver for it so I
could read teletext in a VT terminal session instead of pressing buttons
on the television across the room. :-)

That's my way of saying that not everything has to have a immediate
goal and the journey of exploration, research and overall learning can
be a very rewarding and pleasurable goal in it's own right - at least
I certainly find it to be so.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world