[Info-vax] SPM 3.4 installation issue on VMS 6.1

[William Pechter]

In article <mailman.2.1453039466.15674.info-vax_info-vax.com at info-vax.com>,
Kerry Main  <kerry.main at backtothefutureit.com> wrote:
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Info-vax [mailto:info-vax-bounces at info-vax.com] On Behalf Of
>> abrsvc via Info-vax
>> Sent: 15-Jan-16 5:54 PM
>> To: info-vax at info-vax.com
>> Cc: abrsvc <dansabrservices at yahoo.com>
>> Subject: Re: [New Info-vax] SPM 3.4 installation issue on VMS 6.1
>> 
>> >    OBTW, the last set I got was the white shelves.  But I rely on my
>> >    old CDs more often.
>> 
>> If you really want to use old technology, I still have the
>manuals on fiche.
>> I think I was 1 of only a few that used this option back in the day...
>> 
>> Dan
>> _______________________________________________
>
>Under topic of semi-related war story and walk down memory lane-
>
>As an ex Field Service type, I can say there were 4 things you
>always had
>In your trunk - your scope (oscilloscope for youngsters), your
>tool case,
>your ufiche reader, and the box of ufiche.

And in the PDP realm the fiche were extremely importand. 
Running diags without the fiche to see error codes and what called
what routine would leave you screwed.

XXDP diags before the Diag Supervisor left you with some homework to
do to interpret failures.  The stuff after the DS> days wasn't too
bad at giving you better error messages.

I miss the days of linking DECX11...

>
>Another fond memory was filing new ufiche updates and throwing out
>the old ufiche.

Yup... did it quarterly at home or when things in the office got slow.

>
>All the FS manuals, IPB's, print sets, diagnostic program info
>and listings, 
>etc. were all on ufiche, so they were an essential component of
>what any 
>self-respecting FS type had in their trunk.

Any DEC FS guy who didn't carry their stuff into the computer room
was either working just Vaxes and big 11's (where they could and 
often used the Remote Diag folks for support).  I always brought the
diag fiche in for stuff beyond the 11/34 2 board cpu set and 
simple memory errors.

I also had most of the peripherals I dealt with in hard copy manual
form to use. (Wrote in alignment and troubleshooting procedures on the 
paper margins of the books -- since you couldn't update the fiche
with your favorite shortcuts and tips).


>
>This was really critical for those who worked on systems like PDP8's,
>PDP11's etc. where board level replacement from a kit full of
>spares was 
>not always possible and you had to find the bad module using diags and 
>your scope.
>
>:-)

>Regards,
>
>Kerry Main
>Kerry dot main at starkgaming dot com
>

Pretty much board swap by the time I got their in '82...
Too much pressure to close tickets, file the LARS report and get
to the next ticket.  Scope was mostly an alignment tool by then as
well as power issues.

Once had an Engineer from the US Navy's Trenton Naval Propulsion
site call in a trouble ticket on a bad TE16 not going on line.

He told be chip U-(whatever) on the TM03 wasn't going high
when the on-line tape registered on line on the front panel so the OS
saw the drive as offline.

I told him I'd see him in 3 weeks when the single chip he wanted me to 
replace got in from logistics -- or in 15 minutes plus 5 travel he'd 
be running when I replaced the LAW (logic & write board) on the drive.

Love when engineers want to rub it in to techs that they can 
troubleshoot too. (He settled for board swap...)


Bill

-- 
-- 
Digital had it then.  Don't you wish you could buy it now!
pechter-at-gmail.com  http://xkcd.com/705/