[Info-vax] VAXStation 3100

[Michael Moroney]

Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon at gmail.com> writes:

>On 1/16/19 1:27 PM, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
>> In article <ga9a1pFj4muU1 at mid.individual.net>, Bill Gunshannon
>> <bill.gunshannon at gmail.com> writes:
>> 
>>> What is the smallest size disk one would recommend for
>>> VAX/VMS 7.3 and all the layered products the Hobbyist
>>> Program provides Keys for?
>> 
>> 4 GB is luxury.  2 should be enough.  I ran 2-GB system disks on VAXen
>> for about 15 years.  Maybe 1 GB if you are careful, but go with 2.

>4GB and 2GB will not boot on a VS3100.  Not really sure about 1GB
>I was hoping maybe 340M as I have a bunch of them.

1G will boot on a 3100.  Use a 1G disk if at all possible. Larger disks won't
boot.

(with *very* clever file placement a disk larger than 1G can be made
to boot on a 3100. But any upgrade and many patches will make it unbootable
unless you repeat the hackery...)


>> 
>> If you have no disks other than the system disk, go with 4.

>I can have lots of bigger disks after it boots.

>> 
>>> And, I guess I need to go get a current set of Hobbyist
>>> PAKs as I am sure when I fire up the boxes in a few
>>> minutes here I will find them all expired.  :-)
>> 
>> Indeed.
>> 
>> I really, really, really, really recommend HBVS.  The only real
>> disadvantage on VAX is that MINICOPY doesn't work.  (Well, technically
>> it works between disks which have direct connections only to VAX systems
>> as long as the corresponding (DIS)MOUNT commands are issued from a
>> non-VAX in the same cluster.)

>Let's bhe realistic here.  It's just going to be me.  I doubt I
>will be setting up a cluster.  Haven't had one of those since I
>got rid of the Big iron at the University.  Even in an environment
>with potentially 50-60 simultaneous users I don't really think it
>was necessary.

>Realize, I  have something building on a Sparc64 right now that
>has been running for over 24 hours.  I'm retired, I have all the
>time in the world.  Unless someone is going to offer me a job I
>can actually accept (based on location, not salary! :-)


>> 
>> Just set the system up on a single disk, change MODPARAMS to turn on
>> HBVS, shut down, enter both disks as the boot device, and reboot.
>> 
>> At least I think the above will work.  What definitely works is the
>> above without adding a second disk as the boot device at the console,
>> then MOUNT/SHADOW to add a new disk then, after the copy is complete,
>> shut down, add the second disk (and the first, of course, if not there
>> already) as boot device, and reboot.  The shadow set will automatically
>> reconstruct itself after a reboot (i.e. don't have any MOUNT commands
>> for the system disk in the startup---but you do need them for other
>> shadow sets).
>> 

>I suspect you may not have much experience with he VS3100.  It's
>more of a toy than a mainframe. Although there was a time I and
>others considered it quite the system.  :-)

>bill



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