VMS 5.4 AUTHORIZE issues

[Peter Coghlan]

Kyle Owen wrote:
>
> That seemed to do the trick! I'm now in the system. I'm struggling to
> understand how to switch between making it conversational boot and not. I'm
> assuming the lack of the NiCd battery will mean it won't necessarily
> remember such preferences, but maybe I'm wrong. At this point, I think I'm
> ready for it to boot non-conversationally.
>

The way to do or not do a conversational boot is processor specific and I don't
know what the specifics are for a 3800.  For some other types, something like
SET BFLGS 0 at the console prompt may reset it to non-conversational booting.
Typically putting 1 in the least significant bit of R5 enables conversational
booting and 0 disables it.  As Sue said, there may be online help at the
console prompt which may provide some leads:

>>> HELP

I would suggest removing the battery pack in case it leaks and causes damage
like some of mine have.

>
> Looks like it wasn't really wiped since it was last used in the mid-1990s.
> I'll be reading up on VMS and learn how to do simple things like the
> equivalent of "ls | less" in the *nix world. Not really sure how to read
> the text printed to the terminal (VT320) one page at a time. In some OS/8
> programs, you gave it the /P flag. Hmm...
>

$ DIRECTORY /PAGE

Many other commands also accept /PAGE.  Check the online help:

$ HELP

You might also get away with pressing holdscreen on the terminal, but probably
not on the console port.

>
> It is complaining about DUB0:[RS1R4]RS1LOG.COM, DUB0:[ORACLES]ORAUSER.COM,
> and DUB0:[ECMS4]LOGIN.COM after logging in. Not sure what that's all about.
> %DCL-E-OPENIN, error opening [file]; as input
> -RMS-E-DNR, device not ready, not mounted, or unavailable
>
> How can I tell if it's an issue with the drive itself or something else? I
> think this is one of the two 1.2 GB Sabre drives.
>

If one disk is DIA0 (a DSSI disk) and the two disks are similar types, it is
unlikely the other one is called DUB0 so you probably don't have the disk
it is trying to access.  This should list the disks that you do have:

$ SHOW DEVICE D

Regards,
Peter Coghlan.