[comp.sys.dec.micro] reading PRO 3xx disks on a PC/AT

EVERHART%ARISIA.DECnet@GE-CRD.ARPA (04/28/88)

 So your friend went back to the late-60's style, eh?
 There are some pieces around which may help him/her get files across, but
it'll take a bit of work.
 First, reading the RX50 media. There's a driver for msdos (RX50.arc on
various BBSs) which will read and write (but NOT format) RX50 media on
the PC/AT's 1.2 meg diskette drive. That works nicely and will handle
media from Rainbows out of the box.
 However, on a Pro one runs either RT11 or POS, which uses the RSX-11
file structure. In the case of RT11, there are sources around in the
CP/M world at least (on simtel20?) that let you read RT11 media under
CP/M. These ought not to be TOO hard to hack up.
 Under RSX, a program called GETRSX is available. It has even appeared
somewhere in the DECUS library, though probably on a SIG tape (read those
abstracts CAREFULLY). Its purpose in life is to read ODS-1 file
structures (which the pro uses) and grab files off them under different
OS's. It was written for unix or rt-11 (don't know which), but again
since the C sources ARE available, some hacking ought to get it across.
  You'll need to add ability to use named directory files of up to 9
characters, instead of the numbered 6 character octal directories;
P/OS shares with the newer RSX versions the use of named rather than
numbered directories. You also may want to figure out something to do
with filename and version conflicts; the RSX namespace of 9.3 chars
and version numbers introduce problems where you just try to copy
things over.
 These look to me like the most promising approaches. If the pro is still
available, of course, I suggest simply Kermiting over whatever is
desired.
 Glenn Everhart
Everhart%Arisia.decnet@ge-crd.arpa

mark@sickkids.UUCP (Mark Bartelt) (05/10/88)

In article <Added.4WRopoy00Ui3IziE8e@andrew.cmu.edu>  [ I just *love* those
	EVERHART%ARISIA.DECnet@GE-CRD.ARPA writes:      andrew Message-IDs! ]

>    [ ... ]  a program called GETRSX is available. It has even appeared
> somewhere in the DECUS library, though probably on a SIG tape (read those
> abstracts CAREFULLY). Its purpose in life is to read ODS-1 file
> structures (which the pro uses) and grab files off them under different
> OS's. It was written for unix or rt-11 (don't know which), but again
> since the C sources ARE available, some hacking ought to get it across.

It was originally written for UNIX (by me, based on an earlier version by
Rob Pike), and submitted to the DECUS UNISIG and RT-11 SIG tapes.  The RT
submission was simply a copy of the UNIX version, with nothing done to it
to make it actually work under RT-11.  I just put it there in hopes that
someone would feel motivated to make the (minor(?)) changes that would be
needed, as people had been harping at DEC for years to give RT-11's FILEX
the ability to read RSX disks, so it seemed likely that there would be some
demand for it.  Sure enough, some guy in Florida did it (and also, I recall,
provided an RT-style command line syntax to replace the UNIX-style one that
the original program had), and submitted that version to the DECUS library.
You can get it by ordering 11-646.  Or, if you'd prefer, I'll gladly send
the original UNIX version to anyone who wants it (e-mail only, please).  By
the way, there is also a "getvms" program which reads ODS-2 volumes, though
I believe that ODS-2 has changed somewhat since I wrote the program (seven
or eight years ago, I think), so I can't guarantee that it will work without
a bit of twiddling.

Mark Bartelt                         UUCP: {utzoo,decvax,ihnp4}!sickkids!mark
Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto  BITNET: mark@sickkids.utoronto
416/598-6442                         INTERNET: mark@sickkids.toronto.edu

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