[Info-vax] InfoServer 150

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2019-01-27 23:49:35 +0000, Bill Gunshannon said:

> I am getting real close to giving up on this.
> 
> I just decided to take a look at the contents of the images provided in 
> Freeware 8.0 Infoserver.
> 
> 3 of them are MSDOS floppy images.
> 4 of them have the statement "IS_KEY_DISK" in the beginning of the img.
> 
> And that leaves two.
> 
> VTX Software V2.1
> InfoServer/VMS
> ag-pjjhh-be.img
> 
> InfoServer/VMS V3.5
> ag-r7lfa-bs.img

There's a file inventory in the text file in that directory, and that 
abstract has been previously posted.

> Both of these have statements in the beginning of the image as well.
> 
> VXT021          is not a system disk
> 
> IS_V35          is not a system disk
> 
> Is it just me or wold this mean none of them are bootable.

The only disk image that matters here is the IS_V35 image.

I would not expect VMB to care about that string.  For details on that 
comment field, see the comment field in BTBDEF.  (I wrote different 
strings in the BTBDEF structures in SET BOOTBLOCK stuff for VAX and 
Alpha.  Yeah, that tool is expected to work on VAX and Alpha, though 
that usage was unsupported.)  And in this case, the VMB primary 
bootstrap is already resident via the ROM, so the contents of the ODS 
boot block aren't particularly relevant.  VMB can find the secondary 
bootstrap without that particular help.

> And, if that is the case, how does one do an initial load of an Infoserver?

Loading the CD and booting.

> There are other anomalies.  Like the readme says VTX Software V2.1 but 
> the disklabel is VXT021.

That's how DEC quite commonly encoded version numbers in kits.

> Is there no one here who ever created an Infoserver 150 from scratch?  
> Did they always come from DEC with all the software loaded and could 
> only be reloaded by a Service Tech from DEC?  Are there no Service 
> Techs here to answer this question?

As for the next step here, please re-rip the CD contents and DIFF the 
CD contents and the original file used to generate the CD.

See if what was written matches what was read back.

You have been provided with the sequence required, and given 
recommendations for specific tools and commands.  More than a few 
alternatives have not worked for various folks.  Please consider using 
what was suggested.

If you're completely stuck, I suspect one of us can generate the image 
and mail it to you.




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