[Info-vax] InfoServer 150

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 1/28/19 9:31 AM, John E. Malmberg wrote:
> On 1/28/2019 8:03 AM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> On 1/28/19 4:17 AM, hb wrote:
>>> On 1/27/19 11:44 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>>>>> it does matter. You can't mount the .iso or the CD you have created as
>>>>> a drive on  Windows or Linux so it will look like a coaster,
>>>> Right.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Not that it solved the initial problem, but there are a couple of tools
>>> to access/mount an ODS-x disk/CD on Windows or Linux.
>>>
>>
>> The coasters were because instead of loading the image on the
>> CD/R it created a directory and copied the .img (or renamed
>> .iso) file to the newly created directory.
>>
>> For those still following I have installed imgburner and it says
>> the .img file is "invalid or unsupported image file format".  I
>> tried the wodim command offered and it burned a CD that, when
>> examined, appears to be identical to the .img file.  It also
>> does not boot.  LED on the drive flashes a few times, goes
>> out and the system just sits there until I hit the reset button.
>> I have even tried waiting for over an hour because, after all,
>> it is a very small, slow VAX  (KA41-2).
>>
>> So, I have now tried a combination of 9 different OS/Applications
>> for burning CD's.  It still doesn't boot.  Either the images are
>> not what we all seem to think they should be or the Infoserver is,
>> in fact, dead.  Even if it seems to go through the startup just
>> fine.
>>
>> I don't think I am going to win this one.
> 
> I just remembered that the VAXen CD-ROM drives of that era were very 
> picky about what recordable media that they would read.  They may not be 
> able to completely read the more modern media.

All the CDROM drives I have used have successfully booted and installed
other OSes on the VAX from CD/R's.

> 
> But you do not need a CD-ROM image.  You can temporarily replace the 
> CD-ROM with a hard drive that contains the infoserver boot image. 
> Preferably write locked.

Tried that, too.  No success.

> 
> A linux system should be able to create the disk image or 
> backup/physical should also.

I did it using dd on a BSD box.  A VAX, no less.  :-)
But it still doesn't boot.  You would think I would at
least get some kind of error message but it is as if the
drive was just empty.

I did figure out how to do the MODE stuff with IMGBurn (and
learned what the CUE file is all about) and burned yet another
CD making sure the MODE was right.  It would not use the .img
file but it did accept the same file with the extension changed
to .iso.  It still won't boot, but then, I still don't think
just changing the extension would be enough to make an invalid
file suddenly valid.

bill