Copyright 1993-2016 by Kevin G. Barkes All rights reserved. This article may be duplicated or redistributed provided no alterations of any kind are made to this file. This edition of DCL Dialogue is sponsored by Networking Dynamics, developers and marketers of productivity software for OpenVMS systems. Contact our website www.networkingdynamics.com to download free demos of our software and see how you will save time, money and raise productivity! Be sure to mention DCL Dialogue! DCL DIALOGUE Originally published March, 1993 Spring Ramblings By Kevin G. Barkes Time to catch up on some issues that have been raised by readers and to offer some warnings and reminders: OpenVMS is OpenVMS is OpenVMS DEC Pro Labs managed to borrow an AXP machine with AXP OpenVMS 1.0, and while I haven't had the chance to play around with it for an extended period of time, my initial reactions were highly favorable. It's one impressive system. Aside from being incredibly fast, it removed all doubt from my mind that OpenVMS on an AXP is, well, OpenVMS. You could spend hours on the system without realizing it isn't a VAX architecture cpu; the OpenVMS implementation is that good. You have to look really closely at certain memory-related commands to realize you're on an AXP and not a VAX. This is a considerable relief to those of us who spent sleepless nights worrying whether our libraries of arcane DCL command procedures would port easily over to AXP. Port, shmort. The differences between OpenVMS/VAX DCL and OpenVMS/AXP DCL are, for all practical purposes, negligible. Oldtime DECcies frequently liked to chant "VMS is VMS" to drive home to the unwashed masses that the OS worked the same on a MicroVAX as it did on a 9600. That OpenVMS can pull off the same trick across architectures (at least at the user level) is really a marvel. One potentially unpleasant surprise, the curse of all RISC architecture machines, is the size of .EXE files. Remember that it can take a whole bunch of AXP RISC instructions to do what a single VAX CISC instruction can do, so executables can get real big real fast. Thank goodness the price of disks is plummeting. An AXP without a gig or so of disk space could be a pretty limited machine, especially for someone doing intensive software development work. ***** Pathworks Gotchas Now that I have Pathworks up and running between my VAXstation and pcs, my productivity has increased tremendously. Especially nice is the ability to back up the pcs to the VAX and then back up the pc files to 9-track tape. Don't let the convenience lull you into complacency, though. Consider: your pc's hard drive gives up the ghost. What do you have to do to get back up and running? It's just a simple matter of backing up your files from the VAX disk to the pc disk, right? Uh huh. First, you have to reinstall DOS on your pc. Then you have to reinstall Pathworks. From scratch. Feeling the cold chill down your spine yet? If you used a backup program that runs under Windows, you have to reinstall Windows and then reinstall the backup program. By this time, you're probably wishing you still used a zillion floppies for backup. Protect yourself. Do the following right now: 1. Copy down your pc's CMOS configuration screen. You can never find the sheet from the hard drive manufacturer listing the settings when you need them. Make a couple copies; stick one in your wallet, stash another one under your desk organizer where you keep your "special" reading material and/or current resume. 2. Make sure you have several reliable, tested diskettes containing MS-DOS system files and critical utilities such as FORMAT and FDISK, as well as your AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files. Also make copies of your DECNET directory and your PC backup program, if you use one. If you do use a third-party backup utility, make certain it has a flavor that can run under plain MS-DOS as well as Windows. 3. Put the diskettes where you can find them. I stick my "main" emergency disk in my VAXstation's 3.5" floppy drive, where I know it's safe. I also keep a disk in my desk, one taped to the bottom of a bookshelf, and in the fireproof safe where I keep my backup tapes. I also have one in my car. To be honest, the place is lousy with MS-DOS backup diskettes. But at least I have peace of mind. 4. If you have the space on a separate hard drive on your system, make copies of your AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS and other critical files. You can boot from floppy, format your C: drive and copy over what you need to be able to fire up Pathworks and your backup program. You can then quickly restore your files from the VAX. But make the floppies anyway; disk disasters have a way of spreading, and backups on different media are the only way to protect yourself. Certain PC utility packages, like Central Point's PC Tools, can create "emergency disks" to get you back up and running quickly. But most of these are geared only to the MS-DOS part of the problem. Always make sure you have separate copies of those applications whose configurations took you weeks of cumulative effort to perfect, like Pathworks and Windows. While we're talking about backups, have you ever actually tried to recover files from your backups, whether on the VAX or on your pc? It's a good idea to have a drill now and then to see if you're backing up everything you think you are. Otherwise, you may get that sinking feeling in your stomach when you realize that when you changed all those logical names three months ago, you forgot to update your backup .COM files, and all those automated warning messages have been directed to NL:... ++++ Just Call Me Sparky. At some unknown time in the past, a small metal ruler dropped unobserved into the innards of my VAXstation's monitor, where it remained undetected. Undetected, that is, until that fateful evening when I noticed the image on the screen randomly jerking and flashing. I reached behind the screen to hit the power switch. Instead, I touched the small exposed part of the metal ruler, which in turn touched some high-voltage components within the terminal. Suffice it to say it is not a pleasant experience to stagger into your bedroom at midnight, miscellaneous anatomy smoking, to ask your slumbering spouse to drive you to the local emergency room. Fortunately the VAXstation was unharmed, the monitor having used my central nervous system and body hair as an effective overvoltage protection device. To appreciate the constant pain I've been having for the past few weeks, conduct this simple experiment: whack your elbow sharply and repeatedly on a hard surface every five minutes or so. The emergency room doctor (who bore an unsettling resemblance to Dr. Victor Ehrlich from the old "St. Elsewhere" television series), said it could take up to six weeks for a complete recovery, gave me a sling and some anti-inflammatory drugs. Suffice it to say I'm using some rather unorthodox contortions to move my mouse around. I should have listened to my mother and become a missionary. ********************** Kevin G. Barkes is an independent consultant whose recent high-voltage encounter with the business end of a VAXstation CRT makes him comment that he'd "give his right arm to be ambidextrous." Kevin lurks on comp.os.vms and can be reached at kgbarkes@gmail.com.