9 Nov
1999
9 Nov
'99
3:20 a.m.
At 08:27 PM 11/8/99 -0500, Tim wrote:
Hmm, you said XXDP in the title, then you ask about VAX
in the body.
But no, I don't know of any net-bootable diagnostics for -11's or VAXen.
:-) You know what I meant though. Basically a test harness that contains
lots of tests for various subsystems in a VAX. You raise another
interesting question which is, "Was there no way to boot an -11 over the
networK?" I suspect the answer to that is no, there was no way. Too bad DEC
didn't build a NMSCP that could be implemented on a network board. I
suspect for -11s the easiest way to do this is to put something like a
DR11-W on the bus, toggle in where you want the program to go and then send
it over the parallel port.
The easiest way to do this, I think, would be to boot
full-fledged VMS from
another VMScluster member. You know, VMS, that OS that has had clustering for
fifteen years or so now? :-)
Perhaps you are right. It is difficult for me to embrace VMS as I don't
have the experience with it that I do with other systems (UNIX in
particular but I am more familiar with RSX-11M for example than VMS). I do
have the full set of documentation for VMS though so it would make sense to
pursue this path. And since I've got a "spare" :-) VAX with the VLC its
probably a good point to start.
--Chuck