12 Oct
2000
12 Oct
'00
8:33 a.m.
This machine has "What looks like" a normal
floppy cable. It is not SCSI. I
don't really _need_ a floppy but the machine has a big hole in the front where
a floppy went and someone removed it. They left the cable though. I would like
to mount a floppy here just in case it's needed and to close the hole. :^)
OK, that's a good reason :^)
I tried the only old floppy I had laying around. The
light stayed on on the
front. I don't know if that means it worked or it didn't. I didn't have time
to
do much else with it and I didn't have any OS media to try out. I only have VMS
for my VAXen and I don't have True64Unix. Don't mention WinNT for Alpha.
I've *NEVER* used the floppy on any of my Alpha's running VMS, only on the
two running OpenBSD, and I've since learned the trick of having a external
SCSI Hard Drive that I just use in place of the floppy. I've got one system
that has run Tru64 and NT also, but I've never had a need for the floppy
(the only reason it's run NT is NT actually handles a GUI on a 96MB system
(always check what memory costs before buying a Alpha) better than OpenVMS,
and way better than Tru64, that system is now running VMS without DECwindows
installed and is my server).
I guess I'll experiment some more...
Since it sounds like you're most concerned about cosmetics I'd just leave
the floppy disconnected and keep your eye out for a cheap RX23L.
Zane