🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Aug18.154708.21277@ncsu.edu> ms@ncsu.edu (Mark Stubbs) writes:
>
>Hello,
>
>We have recently acquired a VAX 11/730 with RL02 and RA80 disk drives,
>and a TU58 tape drive.  What we need to know is this:  
>
>    - How can you install ULTRIX on this beast,  given the only
>      seemingly usefull installation media is the ethernet.

I think you're overlooking a far more useful installation media which you
just detailed above: the RL02. Years ago, when I used to suffer on a 11/730
(I think I could make better progress trying to kick a dead whale down the
beach than I could trying to compile on a 11/730), VMS was installed off two
RL02 packs. As for Ultrix, I would assume (silly me) that if the 730 was
supported by Ultrix that some similar installation configuration existed.

In any event, if you could find an existing Ultrix system with an RL02 drive
on it, I'm sure that it wouldn't take too much to create a minimal boot pack,
spin & boot it on the '730, get the RA80 configured to also boot some minimal
configuration and then shuffle the rest over to the RA80, one RL02 at a time.

Don't laugh; I did install VMS 4.4 and 4.6 this way on more than one '730 with
no tape drive. And I used to do backups onto RL02's as well.

>    - Are there any bootstraps on TU58 tape for doing a kind of network
>      boot? (IE Attempt to configure it as a diskless machine at first?)

No idea. Interesting tidbit tho; the interface from the TU58 to the system is
a DR-11W at 9600bps. So when you have alot of stuff to transfer to/from that
little tape drive, stick in the tape and go get a cup of coffee. Or two.

>Any help or experience with these machine will be greatly appreciated.

My experience was that it was a kinda funky VAX, cute, but oh-so-slow. Pretty
well documented tho.

dsa