[Info-vax] Write Alpha kits on Windows PC for OpenVMS

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2019-11-08 20:04:38 +0000, David Turner said:

> NERO MAYBE BUT YOU WANT A SIMPLE ISO
> I have VMS 8.4 as an iso

The term "ISO" is confusingly used for different concepts and formats.

The term is used both for ISO-9660, and (among the ancients) for a raw 
sector copy, a disk image, or ilk.

The two are quite different, and different tools have different 
expectations and interpretations.

OpenVMS I64 distribution media is a dual-format volume, using both 
ISO-9660 El Torito volume, and an ODS-2 or ODS-5 volume, overlaid. 
Burning that hybrid dual-format as just an ISO-9660—a format which is 
present on the media—won't produce a useful result, if the burner burns 
only the ISO-9660 portion of the media.

OpenVMS Alpha distribution media is not dual-format volume; it's ODS-2 
or ODS-5.

Copying all sectors in the image will produce a useful result, modulo 
the usual problems with optical media.

VSI would be better served by referring to these as images (.IMG, .DMG, 
etc), and banishing the (confusing, variously ambiguous) usage of ISO 
here.

Or getting rid of optical media entirely, but that likely can't and 
won't happen until OpenVMS is fully x86-64 at the earliest.

> YOu need to use something like ISOBURNER.EXE for windows or use Brasero 
> for Linux (best by far)

Or the built-in burners in macOS (name it .IMG, burn it), or in Windows 
10, or in "recent" OpenVMS (COPY/RECORDABLE_MEDIA)

CDBurnerXP Pro on other Windows versions as was mentioned, just don't 
select and install add the adware.

The add-on cdrtools and dvdrtools also work, and have been ported to 
various platforms. Including an older version found in older OpenVMS.

OpenVMS support for ISO-9660 is also old and variously lacking, which 
adds another wrinkle in media-interchange-related discussions.





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