[Info-vax] InfoServer 150

[Mark DeArman]

On Monday, January 28, 2019 at 2:34:19 PM UTC-8, hb wrote:
> On 01/28/2019 11:10 PM, Mark DeArman wrote:
> > On Mon, 28 Jan 2019 16:20:11 -0500, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> > 
> >> (snip)
> >>
> >>
> >> Another data point....
> >>
> >> I ran all the diagnostics on the Infoserver and if the results are to be
> >> accepted it passed with flying colors.  So I guess I can eliinate
> >> hardware as the problem.  Don;t know what to do next.
> >>
> >> bill
> > 
> > I'm trying a closer approximation to your steps right now.
> > I'm unpacking the infozip.zip on VMS7.3 VAX under simh,
> > with Unzip 6.0.  
> > 
> > I also recall, there were some problems with
> > the pre-5.5 versions unpacking newer (PC) Zip archive versions.
> > Although I typically saw that fail out as a checksum issue during 
> > decompression on the VAX.
> > 
> > I'll then use Bin mode FTP to move the img file back onto the PC and 
> > compare the binaries.  Otherwise, I'll assume its just an issue with the 
> > older CD Drive.  It is not like I haven't seen that before.
> > 
> > I am kind of interested in the issue here, as I was thinking I might want 
> > to restore some VAX hardware in the future.
> > 
> > Steps:
> > 
> > 1) On rx2620 VMS8.4 
> > wget https://www.digiater.nl/openvms/freeware/v80/infoserver/infoserver.zip
> > 
> > 2) Use ftp mode Image, move to Simh
> > 
> > 3) Use Unzip 6.0 to decompress
> > 
> > 4) set file /attrib=(rat:none, rfm:fix, lrl:512) AG-R7LFA-BS.IMG
> > 
> > 5) ftp mode image back to PC
> > 
> > Files are identical.  CRC32 F8E5A32A
> > 
> > Mark
> > 
> 
> FWIW:
> 
> # wget
> https://www.digiater.nl/openvms/freeware/v80/infoserver/infoserver.zip
> ...
> HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
> Length: 47909376 (46M) [application/zip]
> Saving to: ‘infoserver.zip’
> ...
> # unzip infoserver.zip ag-r7lfa-bs.img
> Archive:  infoserver.zip
>   inflating: ag-r7lfa-bs.img
> #
> # mount -o ro,loop ./ag-r7lfa-bs.img /mnt
> (snip)

Yes, I believe the issue here is that the infoserver.zip was made with
the VMS attribs striped so it would work on DOS. It extracts fine on Windows, which is normally a no-go.  Should have thought of this earlier.

Seem to recall there was something about 512 vs 2048 CD 
Drives booting on VAX too, but I don't recall how/if that was an issue
with burning them.

Mark