VMS 5.0 Standalone Backup on 8" floppies - save or reuse?

[leegleason]

So I recently got 5 RX01 diskettes to use in my PDT-11/150's. It's a VMS 5.0 standalone backup set, from DEC, presumably for an 11/780. Looks unused. Before I reuse them for RT11, does anyone have an opinion on whether I should go to the considerable time and effort to image and save them? Anyone think they have any value as is and shouldn't be re-used for RT? If anyone needs 'em, I'd be glad to swap them for 5 RX01's in good condition.

 

[F11ACP]

Hi @leegleason ,

Looking at bitsavers, it does not seem like VMS5.0 standalone RX01 backup set has ever been archived.

Index of /bits/DEC/vax/vms/VMS_5.x

So maybe you can save the floppy images prior to reusing them, and then submit the images to Al Kossow. You can just copy them with VCP (if you have RSX11M+) in device mode, I suppose, onto the local file system (into a virtual drive backed by a file), and then transfer the files out. RX01s are 256K each, IIRC, so it should not take too long (even with the slow serial connection).

My only thought is that how VMS was able to fit onto just 5 RX01s (even if it was standalone)? In other words, whether the set is actually complete? As otherwise, archiving it would make very little sense, if at all. But maybe it is...

Thx

 

[leegleason]

Hi @leegleason ,

Looking at bitsavers, it does not seem like VMS5.0 standalone RX01 backup set has ever been archived.

Index of /bits/DEC/vax/vms/VMS_5.x

So maybe you can save the floppy images prior to reusing them, and then submit the images to Al Kossow. You can just copy them with VCP (if you have RSX11M+) in device mode, I suppose, onto the local file system (into a virtual drive backed by a file), and then transfer the files out. RX01s are 256K each, IIRC, so it should not take too long (even with the slow serial connection).

My only thought is that how VMS was able to fit onto just 5 RX01s (even if it was standalone)? In other words, whether the set is actually complete? As otherwise, archiving it would make very little sense, if at all. But maybe it is...

Thx

Thare are all labelled as "VMS 5.0 S/A BKUP RX01 n/5", where n goes from 1 to 5, so it's the complete set. I reckon I'll go ahead and just save them as images, if no one needs them as original DEC diskettes.

 

[F11ACP]

I'll go ahead and just save them as images

Great! Can you please make them available for download as well?

 

[leegleason]

Great! Can you please make them available for download as well?

Will do. It'll take a while - my only RX01s are the ones on the PDT's. It takes a little effort to transfer things off of them.

 

[Terri Kennedy]

My only thought is that how VMS was able to fit onto just 5 RX01s (even if it was standalone)? In other words, whether the set is actually complete? As otherwise, archiving it would make very little sense, if at all. But maybe it is...

It should be - look at SYS$UPDATE:STABACKIT.COM. It's just the basic kernel plus disk/tape drivers and a slimmed-down version of BACKUP. No DCL (the $ prompt is fake) or libraries not needed by Standalone BACKUP. The list of what gets put on which volume is in SYS$UPDATE:STABACKIT-TABLE.DAT. Both files are well-commented.

While I'm talking about console media (RX01 / RL02 / TU58) there's also SYS$UPDATE:UPDATE_CONSOLE.COM which puts the latest version of VMB.EXE on your console device.

Of course, with systems that have VMB in ROM and don't have a "console disk", you can build the kit on any floppy or tape media attached to your system. You can also do that if your system has a console disk, but in that case you normally use the same disk drive (if you're a glutton for punishment) or a tape.

 

[oktology]

Image! Image! Image!