6 Jun
2000
6 Jun
'00
2:47 p.m.
I have online documentation for most things DEC
*software* I have now, and
most of the time, I can even figure out how to install it! However, I have
nearly zero documentation for the hardware...
So I've been hunting (fairly hard) for the last few days trying to find
documentation on the hardware on the World Wide Waste-o-time... with few
results. I did find a really interesting page here:
http://www.digital.com/lists/QB_archive_HD.html
but most of the MicroVAX links are dead, and the few that work don't seem
to help me.
To put it mildly the Compaqazation of the DEC Websites is more than a little
irritating. They went from being fairly nice and easy to use, to a
nightmare.
Here is a trick. Go to the OpenVMS web page and figure out how to search
the site, tell it you want to search all sites. Not sure that's the exact
trick I use (it seems to change every time), but I have fairly good luck
along those lines.
Ontopically, the main problem I'm having with my
MicroVAX is: I finally got
several pieces of software installed, not the least of which is BASIC. I
Smile, and point your browser at the following:
http://www.openvms.digital.com/commercial/basic/basic_index.html
It has manuals for the latest version of BASIC, which will unfortunatly be
newer than what you have.
even have the licenses entered, so it'll actually
*run*! ;-) However, I've
tried EDIT with every /SWITCH I can see, and I haven't a clue how to run
the line editor, and the screen editor abends with a "terminal unknown"
I just gave up in disgust and put the following in my login.com
$ set term /dev=vt100/insert
I'm sure someone has a better solution, but at any given time I might be
accessing my cluster from a VT420, DECterm, NiftyTelnet on a Mac, or an
xterm and Unix Telnet. You might want to skip the /insert, I like that
behavior.
type of error. FYI: I have the 2Meg 8-plane Graphics
card, and VMS 7.1
installed... VMS seems not to understand what type of terminal emulation
will work with the card, and I've monkeyed with the SET TERMINAL jazz until
I'm blue in the face (and you thought I was ugly before! ;-). A really
quick pointer there would be *fantastic!*
Wait a minute.... You've got a graphics card, which indicates you're not
using a terminal, yet you're not using DECwindows? In that case I'm not
sure the above trick will work for you.
(oh, and one other quick thing on the MV: Are there
any DOS/Linux utils to
read/write to a MV formatted floppy?)
Maybe. ISTR, something about reading ODS-2 disks on Linux. Though I've no
idea what format VMS uses for floppies, I've never bothered to mess with
them.
Offtopically, the DEC 3000 model 300 has *got* to be
the hardest DEC piece
Which model is it? Is it a straight Model 300, or is it a 300L, 300X, or
300LX? If it's the 300LX, I might be able to help answer quesitons *IF* I
can figure out where my manual is.
of equipment to find info for... I can't seem to
find anything *at all*
about the hardware other than processor speed, which the 'puter is more
than kind enough to tell me during the boot-up process.
Is the printer port serial or parallel, and depending upon which, what type
of cable do I need to hook it to either an: Epson Photo 700 (yes, I know
I'll be limited to text only -- that's o.k.) or an Epson EPL-7000 laser
which has both parallel and serial, and from what I was told, a 3Meg buffer
upgrade which also includes PostScript.
How about a Ethernet-to-Localtalk converter with DCPSplus and Appletalk
running on the OpenVMS box? That is how I print to my HP 5MP printer. In
fact the OpenVMS system is acting as the print server for the OpenVMS
Cluster, Unix Boxes, and Windows. The Mac's just print direct to the
printer. ISTR that you've got a complete set of VAX CD's so this could be
an option for you.
Anywho, thanks a lot, especially if it get's my
MicroVAX programming in
BASIC soon...
BTW, I've got some of the ancient DECUS BASIC programs on my FTP site that
I've updated to work with OpenVMS. Right now I'm working at learning how to
write DCL programs though.