Re: VAX 4000/500 general questions

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Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 21:19:59 +0200

Jeroen,

A VAX 4000-500 was reasonably popular so it won't be to difficult to obtain
an owner's guide. Try eBay.

1) the procedure to deal with a lost SYSTEM account is wel documented in the
FAQ:
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/wizard/openvms_faq.html

2) Two ways to do this:
 a) log in as SYSTEM (so fix problem #1 first :-) and edit
SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM; add one line at the top of the file: $ exit
b) >>> B/1
    SYSBOOT> SET STARTUP_P1 "MIN"
    SYSBOOT> CONT
This way VMS does not run the site specific startup routine and you get a
minimal (read limited) system.

3) Put a PC on the serial port and run Kermit on both ends. The good news
is: the 4000-500 has a built-in ethernet controller. The bad news: it is
thinwire ethernet (RG58) only. So you might need a repeater to convert from
thinwire to UTP. Once you've got that, look at the output for the command $
SHOW LICENSE
If UCX or NET-SUPP-nnn (where nnn>=200) is loaded then you have a license
for TCP/IP. If not then have a look at CMU-IP, a freeware TCP/IP stack from
Carnegie Mellon University.
Alternatively, if your PC runs linux then you can load LAT and DECnet on it
and talk to VMS. If the PC runs W95 or W98 then somebody might give you
Pathworks, with DECnet and LAT included. LAT is only useful for terminal
emulation, no file transfer facility available over LAT.

4) Try this when SYSTARTUP_VMS.COM did run: $ SHOW NET
That will tell you the DECnet and IP address in use. There are several
commercial IP stacks available for VAX/VMS. DEC/Compaq/HP sells TCPIP
services for VMS, previously known as UCX. V6.1 probably runs UCX.
@UCX$CONFIG lets you configure the IP stack

You wrote that you connected the VAX directly to the PC. To the PC's
ethernet card? If so, how did you wire them together?
The reason I ask is that the 4000 series came with a cable that had one MMJ
connector and one RJ45 connector. That is a terminal cable, NOT an ethernet
cable.

5) for hobbyist use VMS is free. Decus/Encompass associate membership is
free and once you're an associate member Montagar will issue a VMS license
and >100 layered product licenses, also free of charge. A VAX/VMS CD, with
IP and a few other tools (C) is $30. But if you have a license then you may
use a copy of a VMS kit. You're in the Netherlands, contact me off line if
you need a VMS kit.
>>> SHOW DEV
will tell you how many disks are present in the system. The VMS command $
SHOW DEV D as well.
VMS cannot share a disk with another os. You need to backup to tape (if
there is one).

6) The 4000 series has a Q-bus backplane. It came with DSSI disks (your disk
devices are probably called DIAn:, right?). DSSI is not SCSI, there are no
DSSI CDdrives. OTOH there are Q-bus controllers for a SCSI bus.
Perhaps others can help you with that issue.

Hans

Gefeliciteerd met de 4500 :-)
Verwijder .nieuw uit mijn email adres

"Jeroen Lodewijks" <google@wondercool.com> schreef in bericht
news:68baa2fe.0310141527.55dafec8@posting.google.com...
> 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

• Previous message: Slavko Vorkapitch: "Re: How to boot a micro PDP-11 (newbie question)"
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• Reply: Luca_B: "Re: VAX 4000/500 general questions"
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