INFO-VAX Sun, 17 Feb 2008 Volume 2008 : Issue 95 Contents: Another Alpha turned off... Re: DIBOL to Re: Does dism/unload spin down a disk? Re: HP OpenVMS Tele-Marketing?!? Re: HP OpenVMS Tele-Marketing?!? What's in the H4010-AA kit? Or, what's the pinout for the BA44x/H7874 power bus? Re: What's in the H4010-AA kit? Or, what's the pinout for the BA44x/H7874 power ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:17:33 -0600 From: Michael Austin Subject: Another Alpha turned off... Message-ID: It was a sad day for me today as I completed the final backup and making sure everything I needed was removed from my trusty Alpha 2100 that has been running firstdbasource.com and spacelots.com for the past 8-9 years. I purchased (or traded services for systems) 2 Alpha 2100's during 1999. Both had just been retired at 2 separate Charlotte-based companies and had been running at those sites for 4-5 years at that time. I lost one of them about 3 years ago - bad I/O board and it has been sitting silent acting as storage unit for a monitor/keyboard of the other server. During Christmas week, I found 2 inexpensive DS10L's that have taken the place of the 2100's. The "good" 2100/275 may live yet again as a small Samba file server for a local law firm, but that is still being negotiated. (hey, I may even make back the $1K I paid for it :) ). The other will be taken to a local computer recycling center for disposal after cannibalizing any remaining boards. (The SCSI card is now in my DS10L :)) DEC made the very best hardware in the business. I do not see ANY vendor that even comes close to competing. Along with the 2 2100's, I also have been running a |d|i|g|i|t|a|l| Starion 266MhzPentI+32Mb mem. I purchased it in '97 from a Frye's Electronics in Phoenix and it had been a floor demo that ran from the time they received it in 1995 until I bought it. In 1999, I wiped Windows95 off of it and installed Caldera Linux. It's sole purpose in life since 1999 is to keep my DSL IP address in sync with my Dynamic DNS provider ZONEEDIT.COM In 2000 the primary port on the IDE controller died in such a way that there was no more "C:" drive. I created a boot-floppy that stays in the floppy drive and boots, then turns control over to the D: drive... It has been doing this now for 8+ years - headless. I have a feeling the Starion is dying as the fan gets loud at times and the box reboots itself every couple months. I have a feeling my 6 year old Dell box will replace its functionality - but do not think it will last as long as the Starion has... almost 13 years - almost as long as the 2100's. They have served me well -please pause for a moment of silence... Long Live Alpha. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 11:33:26 -0800 (PST) From: Doug Phillips Subject: Re: DIBOL to Message-ID: On Feb 16, 9:36 am, Tad Winters wrote: > Doug Phillips wrote innews:642ee80e-dfef-4774-a89f-9a72f28a5dfd@j20g2000hsi.googlegroups.com: > > > > > On Feb 13, 6:49 pm, Tad Winters > > wrote: > >> Doug Phillips wrote > >> innews:eebcffae-f4a5-4df2-b84e-7a213c405caf@s12g2000prg.googlegroups > >> .com: > > >> [..snip..] > > >> > I've become so accustomed to the power of DBL that using any > >> > other language for business apps seems painful, so I guess I am a > >> > bit biased. 8^O > > >> So you're still coding in DBL? > > > From a fairly typical DBL customer's source directory: > > > $ search/stat *.dbl;0 "~all~the~code~" > > > Files searched: 2091 > > Records searched: 757326 > > Characters searched: 16122920 > > Records matched: 0 > > > $ search/stat/since=1-jan *.dbl;0 "~the~new~stuff~" > > > Files searched: 36 > > Records searched: 37208 > > Characters searched: 943955 > > Records matched: 0 > > >> If I could find some more companies in my > >> area in need of someone to maintain their DBL code, I'd be pretty > >> happy. > > > It looks like you're "out east" and I'm in the mid-west. You might > > want to call Synergex and talk to them. Not saying they will help, > > and they'll likely want to tell you about their reseller program, > > but it never hurts to get to know the people who drive the bus. If > > nothing else, they might put you in touch with someone in your area. > > Actually, I'm in Oregon. Right. I just went back and I see where you said that. Nice area, if HostIP.info is close to being right. (just installed their Firefox Plug-in; pretty neat!) For some reason I was thinking east-coast. > I've talked with Synergex a number of times > in the past. At one point, I was hoping they would let me know of > other companies in my area who might be in need of some code > development, but nothing came of it. > They probably won't give you user-company names because the ones they know about are customers of their customers. What they might do is give you the names of some of their resellers in your area, or give your name to them, and you might be able to form a relationship with one of them. > > Minor changes and new features take much of my time, too. Many of > > those lead to larger projects if I can spend time with the right > > people. It does depend on the level of IT knowledge within the > > company, and whether "the boss" has realistic expectations. Keeping > > in contact with the customers is important. > > > Having an old reliable VAX can give the company a distorted view of > > what they should be (and once were) spending on IT as a percent of > > their budget, even though some of the real costs of keeping the old > > system aren't as apparent. > > Agreed. I've seen relationships with customers ruined when you try to > explain they're not spending enough on IT. There's a range of comfort > among people when it comes to conflict, from "bring it on" to "head in > the sand." I'm somewhere in the middle, where I don't really like it, > but I'll deal with it as it comes up. Yea, it can be tough. I never tell a company they aren't spending enough. I do hint at what their industry peers (without giving names) might be spending as a percent of income if the subject comes up and I know they're way below that number. If they're all about the bottom line, then you might be able to show them how they can reduce other costs by doing something more efficiently, or how an upgrade can actually save money in the long term. As someone else pointed out, a new IA is pretty affordable. And, they'll have no maintenance cost during the warranty period; The VAX is most likely fully depreciated so it's not helping their balance sheet; Interest rates on a loan or lease are pretty low right now; They are eventually going to *have* to do something that will cost money. Now is the time to at least start planning for that day. Whoa! Where'd that salesman's hat come from? :-) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 05:32:40 GMT From: Tad Winters Subject: Re: Does dism/unload spin down a disk? Message-ID: tadamsmar wrote in news:2248d527-676b-4f72-96aa- dd797a45a596@h11g2000prf.googlegroups.com: > I have a noisy disk in a shadows set and I a trying to figure out > which one. > > Is there a vms command that will spin down a disk? > > I know I can physically pull each one out, but I was looking for an > easier way. For RZ disks, look in SYS$ETC for RZTOOLS. One of the options lets you send a spin down command, among other things. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 05:16:35 GMT From: Tad Winters Subject: Re: HP OpenVMS Tele-Marketing?!? Message-ID: billg999@cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) wrote in news:61lk68F1vg4qrU2@mid.individual.net: > In article , > koehler@eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob Koehler) writes: >> In article >> <979ddef3-e47e-4925-8270-eaf7860a4622@e25g2000prg.googlegroups.com>, >> AEF writes: >>> >>> The do-not-call list worked for me. Maybe it just doesn't work in >>> PA. ;-) >> >> The do not call list works for me. Since getting on it back >> when it was new, I think I've gotten 3 sales calls. I've >> threatened to "help the government bring a $20,000 fine" against >> them if I ever hear from them again, and I never have. >> >> The fine is stiff enough that it works. You do have to get >> involved in order to get prosecution. *69 in many areas is a >> good step, if you do't have it then tell your state legislator >> you demand it. > > Hmmm..... Let's see, they fake their phone number. won't tell you > who they are and won't let you speak to a supervisor. How do you > propose to prosecute them? > > bill Your best bet is to waste their time. Try these out: - Let them get started on their pitch and then interrupt them, acting as though you are "slow". Ask them to repeat their name, at which point they usually do that and take off again. Let them get going again and interrupt in the same fashion, asking them to repeat their company name. If they haven't haven't hung up by then, continue to ask them for relevant facts like what they're calling about and for whom they're calling. Also, you can return to asking their name again, as if you've forgotten (and I know you have.) - Act really excited that they've called and make some excuse to set down the phone, like you need to get your wallet, or you need to pick up the line on another extention. Then quietly set down the phone and go back to what you were doing. In 5 to 10 minutes, you just hang up the phone. - If you have an older teen, who has nothing better to do (that's all of them, right?), just hand them the phone and let them play with them. (Hey, what better way to have your kids enjoy phone pranks than to be called for a prank.) Telemarketers usually don't get that far with me. If I pick up the phone and hear background noise, like I'm on speakerphone, I just hang up. If I say hello and I don't immediately get a response, I hang up. That probably keeps me from talking to 90% of them. I also like Phillip's whistle response, but if they're calling with a fake number, they may try to respond in kind from some other number in the near future. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 01:05:30 -0500 From: JF Mezei Subject: Re: HP OpenVMS Tele-Marketing?!? Message-ID: <47b7cedb$0$14031$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com> Tad Winters wrote: > Your best bet is to waste their time. Try these out: How would they react if you were to start asking them questions as if you were the one doing the survey ? Don't even give them the opportunity to start asking their questions :-) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:52:45 -0800 (PST) From: Bob Armstrong Subject: What's in the H4010-AA kit? Or, what's the pinout for the BA44x/H7874 power bus? Message-ID: Does anybody know exactly what's in the "H4010-AA BA2XX TO BA4X CABLE CONNECTOR KIT" ? This is used to connect the power control bus in a BA440 H7874 power supply to the older DEC 861/874 style power controllers. Alternatively, does anybody know the pinouts for the MO/SI/SO power bus connectors on the H7874? I've searched everywhereI can think of online, and there's no information on either the H4010 or the H7874. Thanks! Bob Armstrong ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 01:03:38 -0500 From: JF Mezei Subject: Re: What's in the H4010-AA kit? Or, what's the pinout for the BA44x/H7874 power Message-ID: <47b7ce6d$0$14031$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com> Bob Armstrong wrote: > Alternatively, does anybody know the pinouts for the MO/SI/SO power > bus connectors on the H7874? from a document: 498abmgb.pdf KA681/KA691/KA692/KA694 CPU System Maintenance Order Number: EK–498AB–MG. B01 Power bus connectors : Three power bus connectors allow you to configure a power bus for systems expanded with a system expander. The power bus allows you to turn power on and off for the system through one power supply designated as the main power supply: this way, one power switch can control power for an expanded system. MO The main out connector sends the power control bus signal to the expander. One end of a power bus cable is connected here; the other end is connected to the SI (secondary in) connector of the expander power supply. SI The secondary in connector receives the power bus control signal from the main power supply. In a power bus with more than one expander, the power bus signal is passed along using the secondary in and out connectors. SO The secondary out connector sends the signal down the power bus for configurations of more than one expander. > > I've searched everywhereI can think of online, and there's no > information on either the H4010 or the H7874. > > Thanks! > Bob Armstrong > ------------------------------ End of INFO-VAX 2008.095 ************************