Boot CD - The last LAP - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

15 Jun 2007

At 07:12 PM 6/14/2007, Rod Smallwood wrote:

...
 So back to the original question:

    If I want to build a Linux system I go to a distribution site (one of
many), download an .iso image, burn it into a standard 600Mb CD, boot
the CD and create a system. No funny block sizes, no odd file extensions
and no special SCSI drives. So what can I not do this for VMS without
the pantomime? A step by step known to work checklist would be a start. 
A process known to work (I used this to copy the VMS Hobbyist CD:

dd if=/dev/cdrom of=vmscd.iso bs=32768
cdrecord vmscd.iso

VMS CDs use 2048 byte sectors, just like everything else so there's 
nothing to worry about there.
You don't need to use a magic "512 byte" capable drive to burn the 
disk, but you do need a drive that will remap if you're going to boot it.

You apparently already have the image, so get cdrecord, available for 
Unix and Windows.

I do find myself wondering how you created the disk image in the first 
place, and if it's actually usable; you can't just copy a ODS-2 hard 
disk block-for-block onto a CD and end up with anything usable.
Why not just get yourself a copy of the Hobbyist CD and avoid the 
pantomime?
         -Rick