8 Oct
2009
8 Oct
'09
4:27 p.m.
On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 4:03 PM, Rob Jarratt <robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com> wrote:
If you ever image the floppies I would love to get a
copy, even though I am
not sure how I would get them to install on my MVII. Could you let us know
if and when you do this?
These are original distro floppies from the late 1980s. I'm honestly
not expecting 100% success on reading them, but fortunately, the
content is far from unique.
As to how you might use them - I'd expect that you'd need a stack of
RX50-formatted 5.25" floppies and the disk image files and an
Intel-based PC running Linux (or perhaps Windows) to apply the image
files to the physical media. Armed with a stack of floppies, you'd
install VMS the way we did it in the old days - spending an afternoon
feeding floppies to SABACKUP.
I have many other things on my plate, so I wouldn't expect to get to
this before the Holidays.
-ethan
8 Oct
8 Oct
4:52 p.m.
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009, Ethan Dicks wrote:
These are original distro floppies from the late
1980s. I'm honestly
not expecting 100% success on reading them, but fortunately, the
content is far from unique.
My thinking is that if you image the set, then the next step is to try to
find people with copies of the floppies you have that aren't readable.
Isn't the stack something like 50 RX50 floppies?
Zane
5:03 p.m.
On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 4:52 PM, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote:
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009, Ethan Dicks wrote:
That would be the next step, I'd think.
These are original distro floppies from the late
1980s. ?I'm honestly
not expecting 100% success on reading them, but fortunately, the
content is far from unique.
My thinking is that if you image the set, then the next step is to try to
find people with copies of the floppies you have that aren't readable. Isn't the stack something like 50 RX50 floppies?
I'd have to go count, but ISTR that uVMS 1.0 is around 35 floppies.
50 is a good rough count (and might be more accurate for uVMS 4.0,
say)
It sure was a pain loading it in the old days - nothing like loading from tape.
-ethan
7:24 p.m.
On 10/8/09 4:03 PM, "Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 4:52 PM, Zane H. Healy
<healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote:
I have some incomplete sets that I've already imaged, so I would be willing
to share.
Richard
On Thu, 8 Oct 2009, Ethan Dicks wrote:
That would be the next step, I'd think. These are original distro floppies from the late
1980s. ?I'm honestly
not expecting 100% success on reading them, but fortunately, the
content is far from unique.
My thinking is that if you image the set, then the next step is to try to
find people with copies of the floppies you have that aren't readable. 
5:15 p.m.
No rush, I don't have an RX50 at the moment in any case.
Regards
Rob
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Ethan Dicks
Sent: 08 October 2009 21:27
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Free VAX/Alpha hardware
On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 4:03 PM, Rob Jarratt <robert.jarratt at ntlworld.com>
wrote:
If you ever image the floppies I would love to get a
copy, even though I
am
not sure how I would get them to install on my MVII.
Could you let us know
if and when you do this?
These are original distro floppies from the late 1980s. I'm honestly
not expecting 100% success on reading them, but fortunately, the
content is far from unique.
As to how you might use them - I'd expect that you'd need a stack of
RX50-formatted 5.25" floppies and the disk image files and an
Intel-based PC running Linux (or perhaps Windows) to apply the image
files to the physical media. Armed with a stack of floppies, you'd
install VMS the way we did it in the old days - spending an afternoon
feeding floppies to SABACKUP.
I have many other things on my plate, so I wouldn't expect to get to
this before the Holidays.
-ethan
5473
days inactive
5473
days old
4 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
healyzh＠aracnet.com -
richardlynch3＠tx.rr.com -
robert.jarratt＠ntlworld.com