VAX 4000/500 general questions

From: Jeroen Lodewijks (google_at_wondercool.com)
Date: 10/15/03

  • Next message: Alan Winston - SSRL Admin Cmptg Mgr: "Re: VAX 4000/500 general questions" 
    Date: 14 Oct 2003 16:27:18 -0700

    Hi all,

    I recently became the proud owner of a VAX 4000/500 running OpenVMS
    6.1

    The computer came from a company which went bust and has no manuals.
    I downloaded some PDF's from HP's website but could use some instant
    advice anyway.

    So here I post some burning questions, some of you might know an
    answer to.

    1) The computer came without the SYSTEM account password.
    I do have a user account which can do most (all??) administrative
    tasks but clearly
    this is not a desirable situation. Can I retrieve/reset the SYSTEM
    account?

    2) The boot process loads lots of programs and tries to make the
    computer part of a non-existent DECnet network. Also, it starts a lot
    of auditing programs and a database. (10 min bootup time!)
    I had a quick peek in the System Manual PDF and had a look at some
    boot files, but all seemed to be empty (except for the usual standard
    comments)
    Which file is the most likely place to find the startup commands, so
    that I can disable some commands and speed up the boot process

    3) The VAX is currently not on a network. How do I move programs/data
    on to it??
    At the moment the only way to access the VAX is through a VT320
    terminal

    4) Related to 3) How do I get it to connect to my PC? I am pretty
    sure it loads up some sort of Telnet server, but how do I find out
    what the IP adress and port is?
    Do I need to connect it to a hub? At the moment I do have it connected
    directly to my PC network card, is that enough?

    5) Is OpenVMS free? (as in beer?) If not, how do I preserve the OS if
    I want to experiment with NetBSD.

    6) Is it possible to connect a cdrom or any more modern storage device
    to it?

    Any answers, pointers to, etc are welcome.

    Thanks,

    Jeroen Lodewijks

  • Next message: Alan Winston - SSRL Admin Cmptg Mgr: "Re: VAX 4000/500 general questions"

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