rx2660 OpenVMS USB DVD ROM Drive

[Martin Vorlaender]

@Colin:

just tried it again (though not with the system that triggered http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1133578 ) and failed again.

I'm appending the system EFI's INFO ALL output for reference.

@Hoff:

I'm in the process of remastering the 8.3 DVD with VMS83_UPDATE V2.0, but PRODUCT INSTALL tells me I can't have a destination with a patch kit...
Exactly how do I integrate the ECO with the DVD?

@L.Ron:

Sorry for hijacking your thread...

cu,
Martin

[Colin Butcher]

Hello Martin,

Here's the information from this rx2660 - see attached output from from OpenVMS and from EFI: INFO ALL, DEVICES and DRIVERS).

It's a TEAC DVD-RW drive. I don't know for certain, but as with the PCI bus modules - are there drives that are OS specific for device support?

Cheers, Colin.

[Hoff]

>>>Exactly how do I integrate the ECO with the DVD?<<<

Ok; you can't do this on the system you need to boot from here. You need another system around to support this sort of thing. (I'd offer to re-master it for you, but I don't want to run afoul of HP copyrights. If an HP rep clears it, that's another matter.)

Here's how to do it: if you're rolling your own distro, you'll be cloning the distro kit over onto an LD or onto a scratch disk, apply the ECO kits onto that there, and then use it to burn the disk.

(This is the basic re-mastering process I mentioned.)

Here's a detailed description of creating and booting bootable disks for OpenVMS.

http://64.223.189.234/node/28

Here, I'd probably use an external SCSI disk and build the system disk on another system. Haul one of the little bricks somewhere else to load it, or haul over another SCSI brick from somewhere else (if you've a PCI SCSI bus).

Alternatively, call up HP and ask for details of and a copy of this apparent re-mastered V8.3 DVD, or ask of the V8.3-1H1 stuff on the roadmap might be useful here.

Re-mastering has been a comparatively rare process (probably due to the costs and confusion?), and the disks were usually (always?) labeled to indicate which of the two versions were on which distribution medium.

>>>I don't know for certain, but as with the PCI bus modules - are there drives that are OS specific for device support?<<<

Individual CD and DVD drives can and do have differing personalities. Some of the drives out there in the market are close to the center of the compatibility spectrum, and some are far out toward the fringes.

This CD drive happens to be USB, and some of these are pretty good and some are, well, not so good. One of the worst drives I've ever seen was an IDE/ATAPI drive sold with a USB bridge.

[Martin Vorlaender]

Thanks, Hoff & Colin.

I now have a remastered OE DVD that includes VMS83_UPDATE V2.0 and, using it, I have successfully booted the rx2660.

Fortunately, I do have access to an rx2600 that includes a DVD+-RW drive and a spare SCSI disk, so the remastering was relatively easy; sketching the necessary steps:
- Boot DKA0: (standard 8.3 system disk)
- Insert OE DVD in DQA0:
- BACKUP/IMAGE DQA0: DKB200:
- Boot DKB200: -flags 0,1 - Setting WRLKSYS to 0 for this boot
- Remove the UPDATE V2.0 kit ESW file (the DVD-booted system can't cope with it)
- Apply UPDATE V2.0
- Reboot into DKA0:
- BACKUP/IMAGE DKB200: LDAx:
- SET BOOTBLOCK /BLOCK_SIZE=2048 /I64 LDAx:
- Insert empty DVD+R medium into DQA0:
- COPY /RECORD LDAx: DQA0:

I am a happy camper. Thanks everyone.

cu,
Martin

[Jon Pinkley]

Martin,

Thanks for the summary of the steps you used to get a working "patched" boot DVD. We don't currently have any IA64 systems, but this looks like it could be a handy thing for many people to have.

Jon