[comp.sys.dec] CD-ROM delays

fnddr@acad3.fai.alaska.edu (Rice Don D) (09/13/90)

In article <900911232254.00001A14@MARVIN.CTSS.CO.UK>, VERKADE@CTSS.CO.UK (Herman Verkade) writes...
>While on the subject of CD-ROMs: What is going on within DEC? In the UK they
>started advertising CD-ROM distributions for VMS in October last year. It took
>them until June this year to get me changed from tape to CD. Three weeks ago,
>I got the VMS microfiche update with a nice letter stating that they are now
>also available on CD-ROM. I phoned DEC and nobody knows a thing about it.
>I have given them the order numbers in the letter, I even faxed them a copy
>of what they had been sending out and still no reply what-so-ever. Is DEC
>really committed to CD-ROM or are they just trying to impress people with
>advertising stuff they haven't got?
> ...
>Herman Verkade
Interesting.  I'm still waiting for DS5000s to show up (we've gone from "next
month" to "next week" to "any day now").  The last excuse for delay was that
we had ordered Ultrix on CD and the CD-ROM drive, and they were unavailable.
The order was then broken up so that we would presumably get everything but the
CD stuff in short order.  So I've tried to find out just what we can expect.

So far I haven't been able to determine whether it was the Ultrix CD or the
drive that was being delayed...doesn't really matter, since we can't use one
without the other.  No estimate of how long a delay we're in for, just "not
very long, probably."  The only definite answer I got was that we wouldn't
see the Ultrix 4.0 docs anytime soon because they were currently out of
stock.  Whenever the workstations show up we will have the choice of
borrowing Ultrix 4.0 without docs from DEC, or borrowing Ultrix 3.1 and docs
from other users on campus, via TK50.

I'm hoping that this is just another short-term supply-line snafu, and not
a more fundamental problem like the infamous DEC DAT.  I don't know of anyone
using the SCSI CD-ROM in the Ultrix environment, so I hope I haven't bought
into a vapor product.  Perhaps somebody at DEC could let us know?

Don Rice                                  Internet: fnddr@acad3.fai.alaska.edu
Geophysical Institute                     E-mail:   fnddr@alaska.bitnet
University of Alaska                      Phone:    (907) 474-7569
Fairbanks, AK 99775                       Loran:    64.86N 212.16E
"How bad is it?"  "It's sooo bad, we're ordering a Sparcstation. Really. Sigh."

murphy@ufp.dco.dec.com (Rick Murphy) (09/13/90)

In article <1990Sep12.174134.26414@hayes.fai.alaska.edu>,
fnddr@acad3.fai.alaska.edu (Rice Don D) writes:
>I don't know of anyone
>using the SCSI CD-ROM in the Ultrix environment, so I hope I haven't bought
>into a vapor product.  Perhaps somebody at DEC could let us know?

Presuming by 'SCSI CD-ROM' you mean the RRD40, yup, it works with Ultrix. I've
seen folks install off of it..
	-Rick
--
Rick Murphy, WA1SPT/4			DEC Washington ULTRIX Resource Center
Domain:  murphy@ufp.dco.dec.com -or- murphy@ufp.enet.dec.com
Bang:    decwrl!ufp.enet!murphy
Ding:	 (301) 306-2985
Disclaimer: This nonsense came from an AI program written in TECO. Ignore it.

sritacco@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Steve Ritacco) (09/13/90)

The DEC CD-ROM drive RRD40 exists, and so does RISC Ultrix on CD-ROM.
I have both (UWS 2.1). My guess is that it is the Ultrix 4.0 CD-ROM
that is holding you up.  They probably didn't want to master the CD
until they got things cleaned up a bit.

You didn't buy a non-existant product, in fact loading Ultrix from
CD-ROM is a joy compared to the normal tape stuff.

On the other hand, DEC's comitment to CD-ROM is questionable.
Just try to get anything but Ultrix or VMS on CD-ROM!

 

bruce@ccavax.camb.com (09/14/90)

In article <15500018@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com>, sritacco@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Steve Ritacco) writes:

> On the other hand, DEC's comitment to CD-ROM is questionable.
> Just try to get anything but Ultrix or VMS on CD-ROM!

Could you be a bit more specific? 

The latest CONDIST is actually 3 cdroms
of a few hundred layered product installation kits. 

The current documentation CDROM has a vast number of manuals in bookreader
format (the trees now thank DEC).

And aside from fiche, one can get VMS source listings on CDROM.

Every new CONDIST or DOC distribution seems to have many entries listed
as "NEW" (to the CDROM distribution).

There is a current 'demo' going on where you can get 5 layered products
(one could be VAXSET which itself comprises 6 products - so you would have 10)
and some demo Ed services courses all for 90 day trial FREE. It isn't obscure
stuff, either. Try: NOTES, C, ADA, Pascal, Lisp, just as an example.
This was offered at DECWORLD, and now is opened up to everyone.
Just dial 1.800.343.4040 and ask for the DECworld demo. This is just for 
starters. They are planning many more demo offers. Guess what? It is ALL on
CDROM, and ONLY on CDROM. They are going whole-hog after CDROM. 

You must remember that DEC is a empire of mini-kingdoms each trying to steal
the action from someone else. You may have seen something from someone that
doesn't believe CDROM helps his battle. Tough. 

They sure seem commited to me. What did I miss.

fnddr@acad3.fai.alaska.edu (Rice Don D) (09/14/90)

In article <15500018@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com>, sritacco@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Steve Ritacco) writes...
>The DEC CD-ROM drive RRD40 exists, and so does RISC Ultrix on CD-ROM.
>I have both (UWS 2.1). My guess is that it is the Ultrix 4.0 CD-ROM
>that is holding you up.  They probably didn't want to master the CD
>until they got things cleaned up a bit.
> 
>You didn't buy a non-existant product, in fact loading Ultrix from
>CD-ROM is a joy compared to the normal tape stuff.

I just heard back from our salesguys that the RRD40 is out of stock, and they
can't find a ship date for it, but probably a few weeks.  They also couldn't
get a ship date for the media and docs (also out of stock), but I hope it
is no worse than the Oct 1 date mentioned previously for Ultrix 4.0 docs.
Incidentally, I found out where our workstations have been the last two
weeks when they were supposed to be here.  Someday I will look back and
laugh and write up the whole story for alt.folklore.computers...
> 
>On the other hand, DEC's comitment to CD-ROM is questionable.
>Just try to get anything but Ultrix or VMS on CD-ROM!
> 
I hope they come up with either Bookreader or the general ISO format read
routines for CD-ROM on Ultrix soon...they were the main reasons for specifying
the RRD40.  But right now I'd be happy to see anything from DEC, because we
still have _zip_.

Don Rice                                  Internet: fnddr@acad3.fai.alaska.edu
Geophysical Institute                     E-mail:   fnddr@alaska.bitnet
University of Alaska                      Phone:    (907) 474-7569
Fairbanks, AK 99775                       Loran:    64.86N 212.16E

p576spz@mpirbn.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (S.Petra Zeidler) (09/20/90)

Hi,
at present an installation of Ultrix 4.0 off CD-ROMs is running here.

We had to wait for those CDs, too.
I gather they don't get them made fast enough; 
probably too many people want them.

Greetings,
	spz
---
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