[comp.unix.ultrix] Making the DS3100 floppy do stuff

flanagan@lisbon.stat.washington.edu (Jim Flanagan) (11/29/90)

  I recently got a DS3100 with a RX23 floppy drive. I have some questions
  on how to make it go.

  I don't have my Ultrix 4.0 Docs yet (fun! Ultrix is wierd.). I do have
  dome documentation called "Ultrix Software Update Installation Kit for
  the DECstation 2100/3100 with an RX23 drive" which contains the
  instruction :

	"... To support the RX23 floppy drive, your system must be
	running ULTRIX operating system Version 3.1 or ULTRIX Worksystem
	Software Version 2.1 prior to installing this update.

	"... If the operating system is ULTRIX Worksystem Version 2.2 or
  	higher, do not use this update."

  Is ULTRIX Worksystem different from the ULTRIX operarting system? Anyways
  the kernel doesn't seem to recognize the device.

  Second question: Once the drive is up and running, is there any utility
  to format and write DOS floppies (without SoftPC or something like that)?

  Third question: Rebuilding the kernel by hand was FUN! Why did DEC take
  this away from us? (If you try to do it by hand under 4.0, it rarely works)

--- 
Jim Flanagan, Sys. Programmer = flanagan@stat.washington.edu
Dept. of Statistics	      =          stat.washington.edu
University of Washington      =               washington.edu

mellon@fenris.pa.dec.com (Ted Lemon) (11/29/90)

  Third question: Rebuilding the kernel by hand was FUN! Why did DEC take
  this away from us? (If you try to do it by hand under 4.0, it rarely works)

Jim, could you be more specific?   I rebuild my kernel "by hand" all
the time, and it seems to work just fine.

			       _MelloN_

hoyt@wreck.alf.dec.com (Kurt Hoyt) (11/29/90)

In article <11862@milton.u.washington.edu>, flanagan@lisbon.stat.washington.edu
(Jim Flanagan) writes:
|>   I recently got a DS3100 with a RX23 floppy drive. I have some questions
|>   on how to make it go.
|> 

DO NOT apply the patch. If you are using ULTRIX 4.0, you would be using
UWS 4.0. UWS 2.2 ran on ULTRIX 3.1. As of 4.0, the version numbers are in
sync.

|>   Is ULTRIX Worksystem different from the ULTRIX operarting system? Anyways
|>   the kernel doesn't seem to recognize the device.

Is the rz device for the floppy configured in? The RX23 is a SCSI drive on
the DS3100.

|>   Second question: Once the drive is up and running, is there any utility
|>   to format and write DOS floppies (without SoftPC or something like that)?

To format, use rzdisk(8). To make a filesystem, use newfs(8). I don't know
if the disks produced are MS-DOS compatible: they appear to have a BSD
file system on them after the newfs and the drive is a SCSI drive, not a PC
drive.

--
Kurt in Atlanta         | Atlanta
hoyt@decatl.alf.dec.com | Site of the 1996 Olympics
hoyt@wreck.alf.dec.com  |  

pavlov@canisius.UUCP (Greg Pavlov) (12/02/90)

In article <11862@milton.u.washington.edu>, flanagan@lisbon.stat.washington.edu (Jim Flanagan) writes:
> 
>   Third question: Rebuilding the kernel by hand was FUN! Why did DEC take
>   this away from us? (If you try to do it by hand under 4.0, it rarely works)
> 
   I am not sure what you mean.  I have been rebuilding ULTRIX kernels the
   same general way from version 2.1 on thru 4.0 .  Tho I admit I never tried
   putting together my own makefile for the task.....

    greg pavlov, fstrf, amherst, ny
    pavlov@stewart.fstrf.org

pat@orac.pgh.pa.us (Pat Barron) (12/02/90)

In article <11862@milton.u.washington.edu> flanagan@lisbon.stat.washington.edu (Jim Flanagan) writes:
>  Third question: Rebuilding the kernel by hand was FUN! Why did DEC take
>  this away from us? (If you try to do it by hand under 4.0, it rarely works)

Dunno - it seems to work for me just fine.  One thing to remember is that,
at least under Ultrix 3.1, if you change your config file and re-run "config"
on it, remember to do a "make clean" in the kernel build directory first,
or things aren't likely to work right.

--Pat.

flanagan@lisbon.stat.washington.edu (Jim Flanagan) (12/04/90)

In article <3052@canisius.UUCP> pavlov@canisius.UUCP (Greg Pavlov) writes:
>In article <11862@milton.u.washington.edu>, flanagan@lisbon.stat.washington.edu (Jim Flanagan) writes:
>> 
>>   Third question: Rebuilding the kernel by hand was FUN! Why did DEC take
>>   this away from us? (If you try to do it by hand under 4.0, it rarely works)
>> 
>   I am not sure what you mean.  I have been rebuilding ULTRIX kernels the
>   same general way from version 2.1 on thru 4.0 .  Tho I admit I never tried
>   putting together my own makefile for the task.....
>
>    greg pavlov, fstrf, amherst, ny
>    pavlov@stewart.fstrf.org

  Well, unless I use the "doconfig" when making the kernel (which has been
  known to give unpredictable results, like removing important device drivers
  entries, &c.) I get a whole lot of undefined symbol errors. I thought I was
  doing something stupid, asked a few other programmers on campus who complained
  of the same problem. Maybe we're ALL doing something stupid.

  Most of the departmants on campus (due to our site agreement) are using the
  same set of tapes to install... copies made by a campus agency... I don't
  know.

  Thanks for the rebuttal,



--- 
Jim Flanagan, Sys. Programmer = flanagan@stat.washington.edu
Dept. of Statistics	      =          stat.washington.edu
University of Washington      =               washington.edu

mellon@fenris.pa.dec.com (Ted Lemon) (12/08/90)

Jim,

It doesn't help us for you to assert that you can't build the kernel
if you won't tell us what it is that you're doing that's not working.
Could you please post a copy of the config file you're trying to
build, along with the commands that you're using to build it?   A copy
of the output of the make command might also be useful.

Believe me, it is possible to make it work.

			       _MelloN_

flanagan@lisbon.stat.washington.edu (Jim Flanagan) (12/11/90)

  Thanks to all who replied to my posting about getting the DS3100 floppy
  and building the kernel hy hand with more information than "Hmmm. Works
  for me."

  My specific problem in building the kernel was the simple failure to do
  a make clean in between builds. Imagine that... What is the bug number
  for this? (SMILE when you type that, pardner!) :)

  I still think it is worth it to appeal to the net for help, even though
  you have to wade through all of the "Lord, are you an IDIOT!" mail. 

  -- Jim "Unsupported Configuration" Flanagan 
--- 
Jim Flanagan, Sys. Programmer | flanagan@stat.washington.edu
Dept. of Statistics	      | 
University of Washington      | It's okay to be an idiot.