> > Do either of:
> >
> > $ REPLY /ENABLE
> > $ SHOW ERROR
> >
> > show up any problems? You might need:
> >
> > $ SET TERMINAL /BROADCAST
> >
> > and/or
> >
> > $ SET BROADCAST=ALL
> >
> > with REPLY /ENABLE if you are doing this on the console and something has
> > disabled broadcasts on the console.
>
> Any of these would probably be great, but I should probably be a little
> more clear; it's not really responding at all to input after I respond
> to a prompt. After the carriage return, it just sits there and doesn't
> even echo anything, though as I mentioned, anything running elsewhere
> (like MONITOR) still seems to keep going.
>
It's me who should have been clearer.
Do the REPLY /ENABLE and friends before the problem shows up in the hope of
seeing a message giving details about the problem when it does show up.
You might see something like "Mount verification is in progress." for example.
Do the SHOW ERROR anytime and if anything (other than a tape drive, terminal
or any sort of virtual device) shows a non-zero error count, investigate the
reason for it. Particularly watch for MEMORY or CPU errors. If your disk
device starts clocking errors just before the system stalls, that would tend
to point the finger in its direction.
$ SHOW SYSTEM
is the one command I know of that will usually execute when almost all others
fail due to resource starvation. Using it to look at what states processes
are in will give clues about what resources they might be waiting for.
> > $ SHOW MEMORY /POOL /FULL
> >
> > will give a vast number of figures. If "Free space" is low and "Current size"
> > is much bigger than "Initial size" and approaching "Maximum size", you may be
> > running into problems with non-paged pool.
>
> The free space numbers seem fine and always have, but I haven't run
> it while doing something like an install. I'll have to try that.
> The pool space numbers don't seem terribly large, but I'm not quite
> sure what nominal ones are.
The numbers will vary depending on your hardware and configuration. What
matters is that that "Free space" is not approaching zero when "Current size"
is already as big as "Maximum size" which means there is no scope for further
automatic expansion of the pool size. If you have plenty of free space, you
are ok. If you don't have any free space but "Current size" is less than
"Maximum size", you are still ok.
Another approach to this sort of thing is to crash the system when it becomes
unresponsive and analyse the resultant crash dump afterwards. Probably better
to try the AUTOGEN first though.
Regards,
Peter Coghlan.
It doesn't say if they're free, for sale cheap or what but there is a
goodly stack of IBM documentation available in the Albuquerque area:
http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/bks/3766923247.html
(not mine, not in the area)
-j
The subject says it all, is anyone working on archiving TI-99/4A software?
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh at aracnet.com | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| | Photographer |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| My flickr Photostream |
| http://www.flickr.com/photos/33848088 at N03/ |
| My Photography Website |
| http://www.zanesphotography.com |
hi. I was on the list, for two boards, but am on vacation. Will contact you in a 11 days
Andrew Lynch <LYNCHAJ at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>Hi!
>
>Here is an update on available S-100 board PCBs! I've sent out many of the
>PCBs and they are almost gone.
>
>There are 21 of the S-100 IDE V2 reorder PCBs and 2 of the new S-100 bus
>terminator/prototyping board PCBs.
>
>There are 2 of the S-100 LAVA PCBs available.
>
>http://s100computers.com/My%20System%20Pages/IDE%20Board/My%20IDE%20Card.htm
>
>http://n8vem-sbc.pbworks.com/w/browse/#view=ViewFolder¶m=S-100%20bus%20t
>erminator
>
>http://s100computers.com/My%20System%20Pages/Lava-10%20Board/LAVA-10%20Board
>.htm
>
>The S-100 PCBs cost the same as before ($20 each).? However due to
>unforeseen extreme price increases in shipping by USPS I am forced to change
>shipping costs.
>
>Shipping in the US will be $3 for a single PCB and $2 for each additional
>PCB.? Shipping internationally will be $10 for a single PCB and $3 for each
>additional PCB.? This is for the bare basics USPS first class postage with
>no tracking or insurance.? The builder assumes all risk of delivery as per
>usual arrangement.
>
>I apologize for the large price increase on shipping but this is out of my
>hands.? The USPS is in dire financial trouble and is raising prices on
>shipping.? It affects us all and is most unfortunate.? These boards are
>provided "at cost" so there is no margin to absorb any shipping price
>increases.? I have to pass them along.
>
>If you would like one or more S-100 PCBs please send a PayPal to
>LYNCHAJ at YAHOO.COM
>
>Thanks and have a nice day!
>
>Andrew Lynch
>
>
Having got the PSU repaired in my recently acquired MV/2500 I now find
(as expected) that the disks are u/s and I need the microcode etc.
Does anyone know of a functioning example?
Steve
--
/Stephen Merrony
Email: steve at stephenmerrony.co.uk
http://stephen.homedns.org/dg//
>
> > VMS has a process called ERRFMT which logs errors in a binary file called
> > sys$errorlog:errlog.sys - the way to get a detailed human readable report of
> > the contents of that file used to be ANALYZE /ERROR but I don't think that
> > works any more. Maybe someone else can chime in and suggest what the current
> > way is.
>
> Nope, that DEFINITELY still works. Many, many screens full of error
> log printing. :-) I'll pore over those, then.
>
Good stuff. It must be only Alpha (and maybe Itanium?) it's messed up on then.
You can rename sys$errorlog:errlog.sys to .old for example if you want to
get rid of the accumulated errors and start afresh. ERRMFT will create a new
errlog.sys the next time it has something to log. Alternatively,
$ ANALYZE /ERROR /SINCE=time
will only report on errors after the specified time (or date), or just plain:
$ ANALYZE /ERROR /SINCE
will report on errors logged today.
>
> > Keep an eye out also for operator messages relating to the PU and DU devices
> > after doing a REPLY /ENABLE, SET TERMINAL, SET BROADCAST etc.
>
> Should those not be enabled on the main console at boot? That's
> what I'm conversing with. Just for fun, I'll make double sure.
>
In principle, yes. However, exactly what happens varies depending on the VMS
version and the type of hardware it is running on (workstation type machine
versus server type machine) so it's best to confirm that something has not
disabled operator messages when booting completed.
Regards,
Peter Coghlan.
I have a DECWriter II that needs a new home. It's located near
Portland, local pickup only.
I have no idea if it works or not, as I've never tried to power it on
in the 15 or so years I've owned it. The plans I had for it have
evaporated, and it takes up room I need.
Zane
--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh at aracnet.com | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| | Photographer |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| My flickr Photostream |
| http://www.flickr.com/photos/33848088 at N03/ |
| My Photography Website |
| http://www.zanesphotography.com |
>
> > I suspect the manual is saying that a typical workload on a more capable VAX
> > than an MVII would need 24 MB for good performance. I think you should be able
> > to get by with rather less memory than that, particularly if you don't have a
> > graphics card.
>
> That was essentially my assumption as well, but I'm just not 100%
> sure if the pool adjustments I made to install it threw things
> out of whack for my system. This is a slight bit beefier than an
> MVII, but not by a lot. At some point in the near future, I'm
> acquiring a VAX4000, which has a bit more to it; this one is
> probably mostly going to be a curiosity or at most a file/DNS
> server.
>
Apologies - I don't know where I picked up MVII from - I must have been reading
something else and confused myself. I should have paid more attention to the
subject line.
>
> > It should not be necessary to reinstall to see the effect of not running
> > TCP/IP services. Just comment out the command to start it
> > (probably in sys$manager:systartup_vms.com) and reboot.
>
> That part was simple, but I have no clue as of yet how to back out
> the adjustments I made to the pool to run TCP/IP because I don't
> fully understand AUTOGEN yet. I'll get there eventually, but I
> need a stable system first and I can afford to throw the baby out
> with the bathwater at the moment. :-) It's all in the Essentials
> manual, but that's 500 pages, so it'll be a while before I'm done
> reading it.
>
The purpose of AUTOGEN is to get your system parameters set to appropriate
values for your workload and to make them consistent with each other and with
the resources available on your system. Once you get your system stable,
you don't need AUTOGEN any more :-)
It's not necessary to back out previous changes - just tell AUTOGEN what
parameters you need updated for software you have installed (by adding records
to sys$system:modparam.dat as recommended in the appropriate installation
manual) and then letting AUTOGEN sort it all out.
If you have never run AUTOGEN, you might get a few surprises the first time you
do but in the long run, I think it is better to make a habit of running it after
any changes to the system. That way you have a better idea what to expect each
time and there is less lightlyhood of big dramatic changes which might result
when you have made many changes and put off doing an AUTOGEN for some time.
Maybe it might be worth while trying it out in simh to get a feel for it?
It's certainly possible to modify system parameters manually but I think it's
better to build up experience by watching what AUTOGEN does before going down
that road.
Regards,
Peter Coghlan.
