monkey@ATHENA.MIT.EDU.UUCP (03/27/87)
Can anyone tell me if there is a way to read BRU tapes under VMS? We need to move large volumes of data from a PDP11/70 (RSX+) to a Vax and are using BRU (Backup/Restore utility) to write multiple directories, much like backup does. I've tried reading the BRU tapes with Backup but with no success. -Ike.
carl@CITHEX.CALTECH.EDU.UUCP (03/28/87)
> Can anyone tell me if there is a way to read BRU tapes under VMS? > We need to move large volumes of data from a PDP11/70 (RSX+) to a Vax and > are using BRU (Backup/Restore utility) to write multiple directories, much > like backup does. I've tried reading the BRU tapes with Backup but with > no success. This question makes me nostalgic for the days when VMS was VMS and a VAX was a VAX (complete with a floppy drive for mass storage, even though the floppies for 750's looked sort of strange). The answer to your question is "Yes, there is a way to read BRU tapes under VMS, but no, I'm not at all certain that you can do so on your computer." If you're running VMS on a VAX-11 series machine, then there is a known way to do it. If the machine in question is old enough, it doesn't even cost you any money. The VAX-11 series has this alternate instruction set called "compatiblity mode", in which a part of your VAX thinks it's a PDP-11. Furthermore, there's a file in SYS$SYSTEM called MCR.EXE that you can use to activate compatibility mode images, and the image BRU.EXE also exists. If you're system was around back in the days when much of VMS was written in compatibility mode, you should have received a (free) initial version of the RSX product to run under VMS about the time you got 4.0 VMS, which is when it stopped being a required part of VMS. It still seems to work under VMS 4.5. The bad news, of course, is that uVAX-II's don't have compatibility mode. You might be able, however, to get someone who has both RSX and a DECnet path to your machine to agree to convert the tapes from BRU format to BACKUP format for you, at least if he's got a relatively empty Files-11 disk volume to use as an intermediary between BACKUP and BRU.
cetron%utah-ced@UTAH-CS.ARPA.UUCP (03/28/87)
the only known way (short of writing a whole new native bru) is to use bru under vax-11/rsx -ed
LEICHTER-JERRY@YALE.ARPA.UUCP (03/29/87)
Can anyone tell me if there is a way to read BRU tapes under VMS?
We need to move large volumes of data from a PDP11/70 (RSX+) to a Vax and
are using BRU (Backup/Restore utility) to write multiple directories,
much like backup does. I've tried reading the BRU tapes with Backup but
with no success.
BRU format and BACKUP format have nothing to do with each other.
Short of writing your own program - I don't recall seeing one floating around
the net, or in DECUS - your best approach is to get the VAX RSX product, which
should include rule RSX BRU. Unless, as someone mentioned, you have an old
VAX with a grand-fathered license, this will cost you.
Of course, given the number VAXes around MIT, it's highly likely SOMEONE has
a copy - now all you have to do is borrow some time on their machine.
-- Jerry
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