Installing an OS on my little friendly VAX-11.

[Michael Sokolov]

Jeff Johnson <jeff+pups at websitefactory.net> wrote:

> I've got a VAXstation 2000 with 12MB of RAM, and two RD54 drives,
> one of which is developing bad sectors (the secondary).  I've got the
> eight bitplane graphics card and no terminal available.

Two RD54s? At least one of them must be external then, as there's only room for
one full-height device in the VS2K box itself. I'm going to assume that you
have the standard DEC configuration with one RD54 internal and an expansion
adapter (pizza box) at the bottom with the 2nd external RD54 connected to it.
Hey, except for the lack of TK50Z, you've got pretty much the maximum
configuration from DEC for VS2K: maximum memory, maximum number of disks of
top-of-the-line type, expansion adapter, and top-of-the-line graphics card!

On your expansion adapter, right next to the connector for the external RD54,
you should see a 50-lead Amphenol (aka Centronics) SCSI connector. It is indeed
real SCSI, but the boot ROM, VMS, and Ultrix only support one SCSI device on
it, the TK50Z.

> I also don't have a TK50 or any external storage,

Note that if you can get hold of a TK50Z (a box just like your external RD54,
but with a TK50 drive and a TK50-to-SCSI adapter inside), you can readily plug
it into the connector I just described. I don't think a TK50Z would be that
expensive. Here in Dallas, TX, USA I get bare TK50 drives for $75 apiece and
TK50 drive + TQK50 controller (for Q-bus) pairs for $100 apiece, and I don't
think a TK50Z would be much more expensive.

> so it looks like I'll be netbooting.

Sorry, can't help you with that, I and netbooting have never been able to
successfully coexist in the same machine room at the same time.

> The machine currently has OpenVMS 7.2 on it which I can re-license and get
> running if it would help for an install.

If you have VMS running on one disk, you can use it to install Ultrix on the
other. Talk to me directly for the instructions.

--
Michael Sokolov		Harhan Engineering Laboratory
Public Service Agent	International Free Computing Task Force
			International Engineering and Science Task Force
			615 N GOOD LATIMER EXPY STE #4
			DALLAS TX 75204-5852 USA

Phone: +1-214-824-7693 (Harhan Eng Lab office)
E-mail: msokolov at ivan.Harhan.ORG (ARPA TCP/SMTP) (UUCP coming soon)

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