=;The OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)D

The OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)



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@In order for OpenVMS to officially support a particular device, Dintegration and testing work is mandated. There can be no certainty Fthat any particular device will operate as expected in any particular ?configuration without first performing this (non-trivial) work.

HIt is quite possible to find two devices---both entirely compliant with <applicable standards or interface documents---that will not interoperate.

AThe same general statement holds for OpenVMS bootstrapping on an Bunsupported VAX or Alpha platform. It might or might not work. In Fparticular, please see the OpenVMS Software Product Description (SPD) ?for the list of platforms supported by OpenVMS. OpenVMS is not Gsupported on the Personal Workstation -a series, on the Digital Server Cseries platforms, on the AlphaServer 2100 series 5/375 CPU, on the GMultia, on the AlphaServer DS20L, and on a variety of other platforms. D(You might or might not see success booting OpenVMS on any of these platforms.)R

14.24.1 Lists of third-party widgets on OpenVMS?



BVarious folks have successfully used common third-party disk disk Edevices with OpenVMS, such as the ATA (IDE) and SCSI variants of the $Iomega Zip250 removable disk device.

HCommon SCSI CD-R/CD-RW devices such as the Plextor PlexWriter 12/10/32S SCSIB series and the HP DVD200i series (recording CD-R) have also been I successfully utilized with various AlphaStation and VAXstation systems, @ and with tools such as CDRECORD. (A Plextor PlexWriter burn of I 614400000 bytes (300000 sectors) requires just over six minutes at 12x, H using an AlphaStation XP1000 666 MHz EV67 system UltraSCSI host.) (See h Section 9.7 for detailed discussions of recording optical media on # OpenVMS, and the available tools.)

EIf you choose to attempt to use third-party devices, ensure that you Fhave the most current OpenVMS version and the most current ECO kit(s) Dapplied. In the specific case of the ATA (IDE) Iomega Zip250 drive, ?ensure that you have the most current revision of SYS$DQDRIVER installed.Y

14.24.2 Are the 2X-KZPCA-AA and SN-KZPCA-AA LVD Ultra2 SCSI?

HYes. Both of these controllers are Ultra2 low-voltage differential (LVD) SCSI controllers.I

14.24.3 Resolving DRVERR fatal device error?



HIf this is on an OpenVMS version prior to V6.2, please see the AWRE and XARRE information included in section Section 14.24.d

14.25 Looking for connector wiring pin-outs?



HThe DECconnect DEC-423 Modified Modular Jack (MMJ) appears similar to a Ctelphone or network modular jac, though with the key offset to one mside. The DECconnect MMJ connector pin-out is listed in Table 14-5, Fwith an end-on view of the connector pins and the connector key shown below.

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Table 14-5 DEC MMJ Pin-out
Pin Description
 1  Data Terminal Ready (DTR)
 2  Transmit (TXD)
 3  Transmit Ground (TXD-)
 4  Receive Ground (RXD-)
 5  Receive (RXD)
 6  Data Set Ready (DSR)


 

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   +------------------+    | 1  2  3  4  5  6 |    +------------+    ++                 +____+ 




DThe BC16E-nn (where the "-nn" indicates the cable length) cabling andF keying "flips over" or "crosses-over" the signal C wires, and this allows all DECconnect MMJ connections to be wired > identically; the ends of the BC16E are symmetrical and fully E interchangeable, and allows either end of the cable to be connected C either to the terminal or to the host. Specifically, the BC16E-nn # cross-over wiring looks like this:

 

"
.        Terminal                         Host -        MMJ                              MMJ  9     DTR 1 --->---------->----------->--- 6 DSR 9     TXD 2 --->---------->----------->--- 5 RXD ,         3 ------------------------------ 4 ,         4 ------------------------------ 3 9     RXD 5 ---<----------<-----------<--- 2 TXD 9     DSR 6 ---<----------<-----------<--- 1 DTR 




@DECconnect parts and connections are available from HP, and MMJ Ecrimping dies for use in typical telco-style crimping tools, and MMJ 'connectors, are available from Blackbox1 and from other communications equipment vendors.

The PC-compatible DB9G connector pin-out found on Alpha and Integrity COM serial ports---and X on most PC systems is listed in Table 14-6.

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Table 14-6 PC DB9 Pin-out
Pin Description
 1  Data Carrier Detect (DCD)
 2  Received Data
 3  Transmit Data
 4  Data Terminal Ready (DTR)
 5 Ground
 6  Data Set Ready (DSR)
 7  Request To Send (RTS)
 8  Clear To Send
 9  floating


The MicroVAX DB9G console connector pin-out predates the PC-style DB9 pin-out (adapters f discussed in Section 14.26), and uses a then-common (and older) ' standard pin-out, and uses the EIA-232Xseries standard signals shown in Table 14-7.

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Table 14-7 MicroVAX DB9 Pin-out
Pin Description
 1  Protective Ground
 2  Transmited Data
 3  Received Data
 4  Request To Send (RTS)
 5  Data Terminal Ready (DTR)
 6  Data Set Ready (DSR)
 7  Signal Ground
 8 9 Shorted to pin 9 on MicroVAX and VAXstation 2000...
 9 1 ...series systems, otherwise left floating.


DWhen pin 8 is shorted to pin 9, this is a BCC08 (or variant) cable, ?most commonly used as a console cable on the MicroVAX 2000 and ?VAXstation 2000 series. (Other systems may or may not tolerate connecting pin 8 to pin 9.)

The BN24H looks like this:

 

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     MMJ       RJ45        1---------8       2---------2       3---------1       4---------3       5---------6       6---------7 




The BN24J looks like this:

 

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     MMJ       RJ45        1---------7       2---------6       3---------3       4---------1       5---------2       6---------8 




Also see:

p

14.26 What connectors and wiring adapters are available?



FThe H8571-B and H8575-B convert the (non-2000-series) MicroVAX DB9 to Gthe DECconnect DEC-423 Modified Modular Jack (MMJ) pin-out; to the MMJ DECconnect wiring system.HThe MicroVAX 2000 and VAXstation 2000 requires a BCC08 cable (which has fthe 8-9 short, see Section 14.25) and the H8571-C or the H8571-D ,DB25-to-MMJ adapter for use with DECconnect.H(For a discussion of the console bulkhead on the MicroVAX II series and ion other closely-related series systems, please see Section 14.3.3.4.)

GSomewhat less ancient HP (HP, Compaq or DIGITAL logo) systems will use Eeither the DECconnect MMJ wiring directly or---on most (all?) recent Gsystem designs---the PC-compatible DB9 9-pin pin-out; the PC-style COM %serial port interface and connection.

FThere are two DB9 9-pin pin-outs, that of the H8571-B and similar Afor the MicroVAX and other and older <systems, and that of the H8571-J for the PC-style COM port, EAlphaStation, Integrity, and other newer systems. The older MicroVAX >DB9 and the PC-style DB9 pin-outs are not compatible.

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Table 14-8 DECconnect MMJ Connectors and Adapters
Part Converts BC16E MMJ male to fit into
H8571-A F EIA232 DB25 25-pin female (common). Functionally similar to the ; H8575-A, though the H8575-A has better ESD shielding.
H8571-B L Older MicroVAX (other than the MicroVAX 2000) DB9 EIA232 serial port. M Functionally similar to the H8575-B, though the H8575-B has better ESD  shielding.F Note: Cannot be used on a PC, Alpha nor Integrity DB9 9-pin  connector.
H8571-C + 25 pin DSUB Female to MMJ, Unfiltered
H8571-D & EIA232 25 pin male (modem-wired)
H8571-E ) 25 pin DSUB Female to MMJ, Filtered
H8571-J F PC, Alpha, Integrity 9 pin (DB9) male (PC-style COM serial port)M Note: Cannot be used on the older MicroVAX DB9 9-pin connector
H8572-0 , BC16E MMJ double-female (MMJ extender)
H8575-A F EIA232 DB25 25-pin female (common). Functionally similar to the ; H8571-A, though the H8575-A has better ESD shielding.
H8575-B L Older MicroVAX (other than the MicroVAX 2000) DB9 EIA232 serial port. M Functionally similar to the H8571-B, though the H8575-B has better ESD  shielding.F Note: Cannot be used on a PC, Alpha nor Integrity DB9 9-pin  connector
H8575-D . 25 Pin to MMJ with better ESD Protection
H8575-D 2 25 Pin to MMJ with better and ESD Protection
H8575-E 7 25 Pin Integrity rx2600 Management Processor (MP) & & & / port to MMJ, with ESD Protection
 H8577-AA " 6 pin Female MMJ to 8 pin MJ
 BC16E-** = MMJ cable with connectors, available in various lengths


HNumerous additional adapters and cables are available from the (now out =of print) OPEN DECconnect Building Wiring Components and GApplications Catalog, as well as descriptions of the above-listed parts.

HThe DECconnect wiring system has insufficient signaling for modems, and 5particularly lacks support for modem control signals.

EThe H8571-A and H8575-A are MMJ to DB25 (female) and other connector wiringBdiagrams and adapter-, cable- and pin-out-related discussions are available at:



JamecoF has offered a USB-A to PS/2 Mini DIN 6 Adapter (as part 168751), for > those folks wishing to (try to) use PS/2 Keyboards via USB-A connections.

The LK463 USBF keyboard is also a potential option, for those wishing to connect an G OpenVMS keyboard to USB systems or (via the provided adapter) to PS/2 G systems. The LK463 provides the classic OpenVMS keyboard and keyboard F layout on USB-based system configurations, including operations with I the USB connection on specific Alpha systems (and specifically on those : with supported USB connections) and on Integrity servers.

GFor information on the Alpha console COM port(s) or on the VAX console Dport, please see Section 14.3.h

14.27 What is flow control and how does it work?



%XON/XOFF is one kind of flow control.

DIn ASCII, XON is the [CTRL/Q] character, and XOFF is the [CTRL/S].

GXON/XOFF flow control is typically associated with asynchronous serial Gline communications. XON/XOFF is an in-band flow control, meaning that +the flow control is mixed in with the data.

ACTS/RTS is another type of flow control, and is sometimes called Ghardware flow control. Out-of-band means that seperate lines/pins from <the data lines (pins) are used to carry the CTS/RTS signals.

HBoth kinds of flow control are triggered when a threshold is reached in >the incoming buffer. The flow control is suppose to reach the Etransmitter in time to have it stop transmitting before the receiver Ebuffer is full and data is lost. Later, after a sufficient amount of Ethe receiver's buffer is freed up, the resume flow control signal is (sent to get the transmitter going again.

GDECnet Phase IV on OpenVMS VAX supports the use of asynchronous serial $communications as a network line; ofD asynch DECnet. The communication devices (eg. modems, and drivers) @ must not be configured for XON/XOFF flow control. The F incidence of these (unexpected) in-band characters will corrupt data H packets. Further, the serial line device drivers might normally remove H the XON and XOFF characters from the stream for terminal applications, B but DECnet configures the driver to pass all characters = through and requires that all characters be permitted. (The C communication devices must pass through not only the XON and XOFF H characters, they must pass all characters including the 8-bit E characters. If data compression is happening, it must reproduce the G source stream exactly. No addition or elimination of null characters,  and full data transparency.

DAn Ethernet network is rather different than an asynchronous serial Fline. Ethernet specifies the control of data flow on a shared segment Gusing CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access, with Collision Detect) AnGEthernet station that is ready to transmit listens for a clear channel B(Carrier Sense). When the channel is clear, the station begins to Gtransmit by asserting a carrier and encoding the packet appropriately. BThe station concurrently listens to its own signal, to permit the Cstation to detect if another station began to transmit at the same Gtime---this is called collision detection. (The collision corrupts the Csignal in a way that can reliably be detected.) Upon detecting the Gcollision, both stations will stop transmitting, and will back off and Etry again a little later. (You can see a log of this activity in the DECnet NCP network counters.)

DECnetHprovides its own flow control, above and beyond the flow control of the Ephysical layer (if any). The end nodes handshake at the beginning to Destablish a transmit window size---and a transmitter will only send Gthat much data before stopping and waiting for an acknowledgement. The Hacknowledgement is only sent when the receiver has confirmed the packet Dis valid. (A well-configured DECnet generally avoids triggering any 1underlying (out-of-band) flow control mechanism.)_

14.28 CD and DVD device requirements?



HRead access to DVD-ROM, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, CD-ROM, and CD-R/RW devices on ATAPI (IDE) connections isGgenerally handled transparently by SYS$DQDRIVER, and SYS$DQDRIVER will Gtransparently de-block the media-native 2048 byte disk blocks with the C512-byte blocks expected by OpenVMS and by native OpenVMS software.

HRead access to DVD-ROM, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, CD-ROM, and CD-R/RW devices 3on SCSI is handled by DKDRIVER, though SYS$DKDRIVERFwill not transparently de-block the native 2048-byte disk blocks into Hthe 512-byte blocks expected by OpenVMS. The drive or external software Fis expected to provide this de-blocking, thus either a 512-byte block Gcapable drive (such as all RRD-series SCSI CD-ROM drives) is required, For host software is required for a 2048-byte block drive. Third-party HSCSI drives with UNIX references in their support documentation or with Gexplicit 512-byte selectors or swiches will generally (but not always, of course) operate with OpenVMS.

HAt least some of the Plextor PlexWriter SCSI drives can be successfully "accessed (for read and write) fromHOpenVMS, as can at least one Pioneer SCSI DVD drive (for CD media). The PioneerB SCSI DVD drive switches to 2048 byte blocks for DVD media, and a I block-size conversion tool (written by Glenn Everhart) or other similar  tool can be applied.

AOpenVMS also has supported HP DVD drives for the ATAPI (IDE) bus.

CFor some related information (and details on a commercial DVDwrite package), please see:



CNo device driver currently presently permits direct block-oriented ?recording on DVD-RAM nor DVD+RW media, nor other recordable or rewritable media.

HRecording (writing) of CD and DVD optical media requires a recording or =media mastering application or tool, and both commercial and fnon-commercial options are available. See Section 9.7 for related Fdetails on CDRECORD (both non-DVD and DVD versions are available, and Eat least one commercial version is available), and also see DVDwrite ((commercial) or DVDRECORD (open source).

.For information on the GKDRIVER (SYS$GKDRIVER)6generic SCSI device driver and of the the IO$_DIAGNOSEC$qio[w] interfaces (of SYS$DKDRIVER, SYS$DNDRIVER and SYS$DQDRIVER)Fthat are utilized by most CD and DVD recording tools to send commands Bto SCSI, USB or ATAPI devices (most USB and ATA devices---or more Dcorrectly, most ATAPI devices---can use SCSI-like command packets), -please see the SYS$EXAMPLES:GKTEST.C example,-and see DECW$EXAMPLES:DECW$CDPLAYER.C exampleBand please see the various associated sections of the OpenVMS I/O User's Reference Manual.

FFor information on creating bootable optical media on OpenVMS, please ;see Section 9.7.3.




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