As of this writing (January of 1999) there is some known software for OpenVMS for writing CD-ROMs. This can be done using DOS/Win, Win/9x, Win/NT or UN*X, also. There is also a technique which involves using an InfoServer; however, documentation is scarce.
We are aware of the CDWRITE and CDRECORD software (freeware) for OpenVMS. These are programs that can be used to write CD-R discs using a CD recorder attached to an OpenVMS System. We will be posting links to the software soon. Right now, we'd need to refer you to a link on a Geocities site (much advertising, many cookies), and that runs against our principles.
There is also an instance of the MKISOFS program which has been ported to OpenVMS. Links to the software can be found on Brian Schenkenberger's OpenVMS CD writing information page. MKISOFS_VMS, to our knowledge, adds no functionality such as storing RMS file attributes so that OpenVMS can find them when the CD is MOUNTed using /MEDIA_FORMAT=CDROM. As far as this author knows, it simply provides the basic functionality of writing OpenVMS files into an ISO-9660 filesystem, regardless of the nature of the files or their contents. It is assumed, therefore, that all RMS attributes are lost, as is the ODS version number.
Here are a couple of links to some other CD-ROM / CD-R pages we've discovered for OpenVMS:
http://www.cd-info.com/CDIC/Technology/CD-R/vms.html - Information Page describing Istvan Dosa's (Doffy's) DFY$VMSCD program.
http://www.tmesis.com/CDrom/ - Brian Schenkenberger's OpenVMS CD writing information page.
The first step in writing an OpenVMS CD is to prepare a disk image. This includes building the directory tree and, if the disk will be bootable, writing the boot block. When the disk image is ready to be "cast in stone", transfer the resulting disk image file to the system where you have software for burning the CD-ROM. Remember that all the file transfers MUST be done using BINARY mode (where appropriate).
There are at least two ways to prepare a disk image. We
will discuss these two here:
The easiest way to prepare the "image" of a CD-ROM disk is to copy your files onto a small disk drive, such as an RZ25 (about 450 MB). You can even use something as small as an RD54 (about 154 MB), if that's all you need.
Just prepare your directory tree on a small disk drive. When you're satisfied that you're ready to "cast in stone" the work you've prepared, DISMOUNT the disk (preferably /NOUNLOAD), MOUNT it /FOREIGN and COPY the device to a file:
Example:
$ MOUNT/NOASSIST/FOREIGN ddcu:
$ COPY ddcu: CDROM.DSK
$ DISMOUNT/NOUNLOAD ddcu:
Although the COPY command will terminate with an error, the output file is complete and intact. Transfer the resulting file to the system where you have software for burning the CD-ROM. Remember that all the file transfers MUST be done using BINARY mode (where appropriate).
You can also prepare your directory tree on a logical disk - a file on disk which can be logically connected to a virtual disk device.
First, you will need to install the Logical Disk software (freeware from Digital).
Simply create the logical disk container file and connect it to an LD device.
Creating the Logical Disk Container File
There are 2048 disk blocks in a megabyte. A full 650 MB CD-ROM would represent 1,331,200 disk blocks.
The size of your Logical Disk container file MUST
be a multiple of 96 blocks. This satisfies three important criteria:
Example:
$ LD CREATE CDROM.DSK/SIZE=921600 ! 450 MB
$ LD CONNECT CDROM.DSK LDA1:
$ INIT LDA1: CDROM/CLUS=1/SYSTEM
$ MOUNT/NOASSIST LDA1: CDROM
(Create your directory tree on LDA1:)
$ DISMOUNT/NOUNLOAD LDA1:
$ LD DISCONNECT LDA1:
When you're satisfied that you're ready to "cast in stone" the work you've prepared, transfer the resulting logical disk container file to the system where you have software for burning the CD-ROM. Remember that all the file transfers MUST be done using BINARY mode (where appropriate).
Note that OpenVMS expects its system (boot) disk to be writeable. This is not the case with CD-ROMs. Although you can boot from a properly made CD, the system will be only marginally usable.
There is something you can use for OpenVMS-VAX. One good application for this is what was once known as "stand-alone BACKUP". The STABACKIT.COM procedure which is found in the SYS$UPDATE path doesn't care if you try to build the SYSE root on a logical or virtual disk, so go for it!
If you're trying to build a bootable "stand-alone" interactive VMS on a CD, however, you'll need to find some way to overcome the "ROM" nature of CD-ROM.
We're looking into the "minimal OpenVMS" environment found on the newer installation CDs for VAX and Alpha. When we come up with a way to build such an environment, we'll post details here.
As mentioned at the top of this page, there is some software available for OpenVMS. Primarily, this is the CDRECORD program which has been ported to OpenVMS from the Linux world. Documentation on CDRECORD remains a bit scarce, and this author has no first hand experience with CDRECORD.
For Windows/9x, there exists Adaptec's Easy CD Creator, a program called Gear, and some other programs. Easy CD Creator will only process ODS (ODS-2 or ODS-5) images if they have an embedded ISO-9660 filesystem. See the dual-format area of this section for more information. For this discussion, we'll focus on Gear for Windows and Easy CD Creator.
Gear is the only program of which this author is aware that will burn any file system container onto a CD-R, regardless of it's contents. There is Adaptec's Easy CD Creator; however, Easy CD Creator will only process "foreign" CD images if they have an embedded ISO-9660 filesystem. See the following section on burning dual-format (ISO-9660 and ODS) CDs. Gear is a commercial program and must be purchased. It is not freeware or shareware.
Gear can also be used to generate an ISO-9660 disk image. Here, we'll discuss how to use Gear to burn an ODS (only) disk image onto a CD-R.
After transferring your disk image file to your Windows machine, open the Gear program.
From the "Gear Project" drop-down list, select the "Open external physical image" option.
Under "Output Device", select the "Settings" button. This opens the "Recorder Settings" dialogue box. Under the "Common" tab, for the recording method, select "Disk at once" from the drop-down list; select the appropriate "Writing Speed" (no more than double speed (2x) is recommended).
Under "Gear Project", select the "Open" button. This opens a file-open dialogue box. Select the appropriate disk image file, and click "OK". This brings up the "External image parameters" dialogue box. From the "Image type" drop-down list, select "CD-ROM mode 1, sector size 2048". Then, click "OK".
At this point, the "Test" and "Write" buttons are no longer greyed-out. Select the appropriate button for the function you wish to perform.
The Easy CD Creator program for W/9x ships with many CD-R and CD-RW recorders. So, while it's not "free", at least it's a "no additional cost" item, sort of. Gear is also a commercial program and must be purchased. Easy CD Creator is a commercial program and must be purchased, though it is included with some CD-R and CD-RW recorders.
The Easy CD Creator program for W/9x will burn "Joliet" format CDs for DOS/Win, of course, but also has the ability to burn ISO-9660 format CDs. To burn CDs for OpenVMS using Easy CD Creator, you must have at least a small ISO-9660 filesystem embedded in your disk image.
When transferring your disk image file to your Windows machine, give the output file a ".ISO" filetype extension. Then, open Easy CD Creator, select "Create CD from Disk Image" from the File menu, and use the file open dialogue box to select the disk image file you want to burn onto a CD-R. (Note that you should select "ISO Image Files (*.iso)" in the "Files of type" list in order to find your disk image file.)
Then, set your CD recorder options as needed. In our experience, we've had the best luck using no more than double speed (2x) when burning CDs for OpenVMS.
Note:
You must select the "Disk at once" option under the "Advanced"
tab on the "CD Creation Setup" dialogue box.
Dual-Format (ISO-9660, ODS) CDs
You can burn ODS (ODS-2, ODS-5) only CDs using the Gear program for Windows. See the reference above. You can burn dual-format (ISO-9660 and ODS-2 or -5) CDs using both Gear and Easy CD Creator.
Because of the way the ISO-9660 standard defines the format, dual-formatting is possible by building an ISO-9660 disk image and then embedding that within an ODS disk image.
Brian Schenkenberger's Dual Format CD-ROM page details how the embedding of an ISO-9660 filesystem into an ODS image is done.
We have a DCL procedure that can be used to perform the task of embedding an ISO-9660 filesystem into an ODS image. The procedure, called MKISOCD.COM, can be used to perform the calculations and do the actual embedding. See the README.TXT file within the compressed archive for specifics of how to use the procedure.
There are a few ways known to create an ISO-9660 image.
For OpenVMS, there's the MKISOFS_VMS program. It requires a minimum of OpenVMS V7.1 and may be a bit tricky to compile under most versions of DEC-C. It's freeware, so you can get it inexpensively. However, like most freeware, it's unsupported.
The MKISOFS_VMS program is ported from and native to the UN*X world. Pre-compiled binaries are sometimes available for *BSD and Linux. The MKISOFS_VMS link here points to an archive containing a pre-compiled and linked executable for use on OpenVMS-Alpha V7.1 and later.
Another way to create an ISO-9660 image would be to use a W/9x or W/NT machine to run a program such as Easy CD Creator to create an ISO-9660 image, then transfer that disk image file to your OpenVMS system. (Remember to transfer the disk image file as BINARY!)
In any case, once you have your ISO-9660 image, you can then following Brian's instructions to embed it manually into an ODS disk image, or you can use the MKISOCD DCL procedure to do this for you.
The ODS-2 and ODS-5 filesystems were designed to accomodate the RMS file system, including file attributes, among other features. ISO-9660, however, was designed to accomodate no specific file structures or formats, but has certain accomodations built into the specification.
However, to this author's knowledge (as of this writing, Aug-1999), there is no software available which provides for storing RMS attributes within the ISO-9660 filesystem in such a way that RMS can find them in an ISO-9660 filesystem MOUNTed to an OpenVMS system.
Thus, while ISO-9660 provides a common filesystem for OpenVMS and other operating systems, there is (to this author's knowledge) no direct, compatible interface between OpenVMS / RMS and other operating systems which do not natively support RMS.
As far as is currently known, for any non-OpenVMS operating system, no versions of MKISOFS currently exist which provide for embedding file attributes such as text or binary into an ISO-9660 filesystem, with such attributes encoded such that RMS can detect and respond to them.
As far as is currently known, for any version of the OpenVMS operating system, no versions of MKISOFS currently exist which provide for embedding file attributes, either RMS attributes or simple attributes such as text or binary, into an ISO-9660 filesystem, with such attributes encoded such that operating systems which do not natively support RMS can detect and respond to them.
If information contrary to these statements is discovered, details will be posted here as soon as they become available.
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