tody@noao.edu (Doug Tody CCS) (07/27/90)
Our DECstation 3100, purchased about 9 months ago, came configured with
the DEC CD-ROM reader. We subsequently discovered that there was no
software in the system to access this device, and the latest word we
get from DEC is that there will still be no support in Ultrix 4.0 (which
we haven't seen yet). Can this be true? Is DEC really selling hardware
without the software to access it? If anyone knows of a driver which
we can use to access the CD-ROM reader, from DEC or a third party, I would
appreciate hearing about it. Thanks.
--
Doug Tody, National Optical Astronomy Observatories, Tucson AZ, 602-325-9217
UUCP: {arizona,decvax,ncar}!noao!tody or uunet!noao.edu!tody
Internet: tody@noao.edu SPAN/HEPNET: NOAO::TODY (NOAO=5355)mellon@fenris.pa.dec.com (Ted Lemon) (07/27/90)
Not true. Here's the text that my RIS server printed last time it booted: Ultrix Worksystem V2.1 (Rev. 14) System #1: Fri Jan 19 13:57:10 PST 1990 real mem = 8388608 avail mem = 5562368 using 204 buffers containing 835584 bytes of memory KN01 processor - system rev 1 cpu0 ( version 1.6, implementation 2 ) fpu0 ( version 1.5, implementation 3 ) rz0 ( RZ55 ) rz1 ( RZ55 ) rz4 ( RRD40 ) tz5 ( TK50 ) se0 ( ethernet address 8-0-2b-e-d6-d5 ) As you can see, there's an RRD40 attached. If you have an RRD40, you should also be able to use it under Ultrix 3.1. I'm running standard bits on this machine, so there's nothing special you need to do. In fact, you should be able to boot from the RRD40. If you're having trouble, you've probably either cabled it up wrong, set the unit number and options switches incorrectly (I can never get them right either), or the unit is defective. I suggest that you double-check your installation, and then call Field Service if that doesn't work. I'd be interested to know who told you that the RRD40 doesn't work... _MelloN_
sritacco@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Steve Ritacco) (07/27/90)
There is clearly some misunderstanding here. The RRD40 is a supported device on the DECstations and VAXstations. You can obtain Ultrix and VMS CD-ROMs from DEC, and yes you can even boot from the device. As a matter of fact, you can get Ultrix or VMS delivered on CD-ROM. What you can not do though is read High Seirra or ISO format CD-ROMs which most everyone else that has a CD-ROM reader can do. As I understand it DEC is in the process of correcting this, but I have no idea when (certainly not in 4.0). Hope this helps.
jg@crl.dec.com (Jim Gettys) (07/28/90)
At the moment, you can access an RRD40 as a raw block device. If you had one written to look like a Ultrix file system, you could even mount it... It looks just like a disk. There is a different question, which you may or may not be asking, of how to read ISO9660 formatted CD-ROMS, and indeed, 4.0 does not have support to read disks in that format directly. Things are going on here, but I don't know (or if I do, I could not admit) to what or when. - Jim