INFO-VAX Sun, 20 Jan 2008 Volume 2008 : Issue 39 Contents: Alpha 2100 soon to be available in Kansas City area. Re: Anyone interested in building a vms-like OS? Re: F$UNIQUE library function Mike Magee to leave the INQUIRER Re: RSH service problem Re: RSH service problem Re: Why Writers Buy Asbestos Undies Re: Why Writers Buy Asbestos Undies Re: Why Writers Buy Asbestos Undies Re: Why Writers Buy Asbestos Undies ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 22:15:24 -0600 From: Michael Austin Subject: Alpha 2100 soon to be available in Kansas City area. Message-ID: I am at long last retiring my Alpha 2100/275 and replacing it with a DS10L. I have a second Alpha 2100/200 that is missing the I/O card - I have it, but it is dead :( It has 7x4Gb drives - 6xRAID5 + spare. Has 7.3-2, TCPIP 5.3 and Apache 1.3 +php+Rdb+Oracle OCI client+Mysql 5.something... I am keeping the PCI SCSI card and the external TZ88 :) (already installed in the DS10L) - And of course I will be erasing personal data (del/erase). I will throw in whatever media I can find + the ECU and RAID array configuration utility. Hopefully I will have it cleaned and my new server up and running in a week or so... These things just run forever - it has been running 24x7x365 since it was purchased by a company in Charlotte circa 1994/1995. I bought it from them in '99 and has been running ever since - with the exception of the periodic power outage... but no more than an hour or so... and the 4 days it spent in a truck when I moved to KC in 2002. Best offer... (which could be as little as you coming to pick it up :) ) Michael Austin. email address is real. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 14:48:18 -0600 From: pechter@pechter.dyndns.org (William Pechter) Subject: Re: Anyone interested in building a vms-like OS? Message-ID: <4fadncCWRdGP_w_anZ2dnUVZ_q3inZ2d@comcast.com> In article , Main, Kerry wrote: >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply >> [mailto:helbig@astro.multiCLOTHESvax.de] >> Sent: January 19, 2008 7:23 AM >> To: Info-VAX@Mvb.Saic.Com >> Subject: RE: Anyone interested in building a vms-like OS? >> >> In article >> > t>, >> "Main, Kerry" writes: >> >> > Certainly MUCH less than the time >> > > between the beginning of Free VMS and now. And, of course, Unix is >> > > much >> > > easier to do than VMS. >> > >> > Now these's a statement guaranteed to kick off another OS religion >> war. >> >> Well, Linux has done unix and no-one has done VMS. I rest my case. > >Have no idea what that means. As I recall, most Linux types get upset if you >say Linux is related to UNIX. > > > >Regards > >Kerry Main >Senior Consultant >HP Services Canada >Voice: 613-254-8911 >Fax: 613-591-4477 >kerryDOTmainAThpDOTcom >(remove the DOT's and AT) > >OpenVMS - the secure, multi-site OS that just works. The only Linux types that get upset if you say Linux is related to Unix are GNU Fanboys and Fangirls. Linux is an obvious Unix look-alike clone. It however is not Unix... like Coherent is not Unix. It gets quite interesting when you mention the BSD's that have had the same code base as Ultrix-32 as their start and say that's not Unix because it doesn't meet the requirements for certification from The Open Group. Bill -- "When I think back on all the crap I learned in Vax school It's a wonder I fixed anything at all." (to the tune of Kodachrome) pechter-at-gmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:10:42 -0500 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?= Subject: Re: F$UNIQUE library function Message-ID: <4792c9be$0$90276$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> yyyc186 wrote: > I'm not really interested in looking at anything MS has to say. What > they produce is neither technology nor business quality software. > Like the rest of the world, I'm moving to Ubuntu. Ubuntu is competing for the same customers as Windows. Have you considered something more "different": Centos, Debian, Gentoo or maybe FreeBSD ? Arne ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:09:58 -0500 From: JF Mezei Subject: Mike Magee to leave the INQUIRER Message-ID: <4792ca78$0$16202$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com> Since the Inquirer was the only media outlet with regular news on VMS and that IA64 contraption, this might be relevant: > http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/18/mike-magee-leave-inquirer FOUNDER of the INQ, Mike Magee, is to leave the magazine at the end of February. He started the mag in April 2001, shortly after a fall out with the Rogister, which he co-founded. News ed Paul Hales will become editor of the INQ after Mageek goes. Mageek said: “I really do owe the readers of the INQUIRER and those who supported me when I started it an apology, sorry really big vote of thanks. I’ve enjoyed every day I’ve worked on the INQUIRER apart from the day I had a triple bypass op. "I also want to thank the loyal bunch of hacks who’ve helped turn the mag into the success story it became.” [Who they? Ed.] So is the Mageek going to retire? “It’s not time for me to hang up my boots yet,” he said, enigmatically, as if he owned a pair of boots. He’s believed to be involved in a future project based in foreign climes, but is being uncharacteristically coy about what he’s doing. µ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:41:40 -0500 From: JF Mezei Subject: Re: RSH service problem Message-ID: <47928b10$0$15782$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com> R.A.Omond wrote: > TCPIP> sho serv rsh/full > > Service: RSH > State: Enabled > Port: 514 Protocol: TCP Address: 0.0.0.0 > Inactivity: 5 User_name: not defined Process: TCPIP$RSH > Limit: 300 Active: 0 Peak: 1 > > File: TCPIP$SYSTEM:TCPIP$RSH_RUN.COM > Flags: Case Listen Proxy Rexe IPv6 > Many thanks. For mine, I realised there is a conflict with SYSLOG. SYSLOG takes port 514 for UDP, and RSH is supposed to take only TCP connections at 514. TCPIP services configured the RSH service to have both UDP and TCP and I suspect that this is where a conflict arises and it perhaps didn't complete the service configuration. When TCPIP$CONFIG makes TCPIP> commands, it seems that the output of errors is not displayed to screen so there was no real indication f failure to do the setup. I looked at the SERV command in TCPIP$CONFIG and issued it, and it still created the service with both TCP and UDP, even though the same syntax for other servers (such as IMAP) creates it with only TCP. Looks like some bug in the TCPIP utility. Will have to probably delete the SYSLOG service entry to see if I can then properly create RSH in TCP only and then re-add SYSLOG in UDP only. BTW, the TCPIP$CONFIG uses an undocumented /FLAGS=TCPIP instead of the documented /PROTOCOL=TCP The documentation states that by default, a service is created with TCP protocol only. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:34:29 -0500 From: JF Mezei Subject: Re: RSH service problem Message-ID: <4792b418$0$16189$c3e8da3@news.astraweb.com> Update: This is what the TCPIP$SERVICES.DAT record looks like after the proper setup: Record number 15 (0000000F), 240 (00F0) bytes, RFA(000B,0000,001E) 20202020 20202020 20202020 20485352 RSH 000000 49504354 00000000 00060202 01000100 ............TCPI 000010 000E0054 20202020 20202048 53522450 P$RSH T... 000020 00240002 00000270 001E001E 0000009C ........p.....$. 000030 00300000 00000290 002A0008 0000028E ......*.......0. 000040 00370002 00000298 00360006 00000298 ......6.......7. 000050 003A0018 000002A0 00380000 0000029E ......8.......:. 000060 003C0008 000002B8 003B0000 000002A0 ......;.?.....<. 000070 003E0004 000002C0 003D0000 000002B8 ?.....=.¿.....>. 000080 4C505041 000002C4 00590000 000002C0 ¿.....Y.ƒ...APPL 000090 44474F4C 5359535D 474F4C53 59535B3A :[SYSLOG]SYSLOGD 0000A0 00180FFF 10000001 4D4F432E 4E55525F _RUN.COM........ 0000B0 5B3A4C50 50410000 474F4C53 59530002 ..SYSLOG..APPL:[ 0000C0 4C2E4447 4F4C5359 535D474F 4C535953 SYSLOG]SYSLOGD.L 0000D0 00000000 0000F0FF FFFF0000 000A474F OG.............. 0000E0 TCPIP utility picked up parts of the SYSLOG record to merge it with the RSH record. It appears the TCPIP utility gets mightily confused when two different services occupy the same port, one for UDP and the other for TCP. Definite bug in the TCPIP utility. My solution was to write a little DCL program to extract the good SYSLOG record and then delete it from the TCPIP$SERVICES.DAT, then manually use the TCPIP utiity to define the RSH service, and then use my DCL utility to write the SYSLOG record back. RSH service was started and remains enabled. Now, I just have to figure out why it isn't working. (it times out, I suspect perhaps waiting for a password). > %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 19-JAN-2008 21:30:59.25 %%%%%%%%%%% > Message from user INTERnet on CHAIN > INTERnet ACP RSH Abort Request from Host: 10.0.0.20 Port: 957 > > TCPIP> Now I have to figure ou > %%%%%%%%%%% OPCOM 19-JAN-2008 21:30:59.25 %%%%%%%%%%% > Message from user INTERnet on CHAIN > INTERnet ACP AUXS failure Status = %SYSTEM-F-TIMEOUT ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 11:28:14 -0800 (PST) From: yyyc186 Subject: Re: Why Writers Buy Asbestos Undies Message-ID: <41eb1ad8-01b8-42b4-9373-7eed2c939c54@v4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com> On Jan 18, 4:54 am, IanMiller wrote: > On Jan 17, 6:48 pm, yyyc186 wrote:> Here is what the Kirkus reviewer had to say. I guess this explains > > why there were no OpenVMS books in their review database. > > ... > > or perhaps he just does not like your style. You may find that > reviewer has a particular dislike for books with personality. When you read the review, it reads like it was written by an unemployed college professor that used to teach OOP. Given that OOP has fallen out of favor in the industry and IT enrollment at colleges has vaporized it is easy why they are bitter about anything which isn't purely theoretical. It might be hard to tell from the one I posted here, but the one on the Java book let it shine through like a beacon in the night. He went on and on about the OOP virtues which weren't covered and flamed the mere notion that a language needed to support fixed column width reporting to be useful to business. He/she completely tossed out the fact I was correct and that the Java community agreed with me. They added a sprintf() like function which allowed for fixed width column formatting. Accountants and MBA's won't read financial reports where the decimals don't line up. They don't actually add the numbers to check them anymore, but they simply refuse to read a report which looks like that. Ah well, flame retardant undies are firmly in place whenever I read a review. There are billions of people in the world and I only need to find 5000 of them world wide willing to buy the books. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 22:05:57 +0100 From: "P. Sture" Subject: Re: Why Writers Buy Asbestos Undies Message-ID: In article <41eb1ad8-01b8-42b4-9373-7eed2c939c54@v4g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>, yyyc186 wrote: > On Jan 18, 4:54 am, IanMiller wrote: > > On Jan 17, 6:48 pm, yyyc186 wrote:> Here is what the > > Kirkus reviewer had to say. I guess this explains > > > why there were no OpenVMS books in their review database. > > > > ... > > > > or perhaps he just does not like your style. You may find that > > reviewer has a particular dislike for books with personality. > > When you read the review, it reads like it was written by an > unemployed college professor that used to teach OOP. Given that OOP > has fallen out of favor in the industry and IT enrollment at colleges > has vaporized it is easy why they are bitter about anything which > isn't purely theoretical. The first sentence contained enough warnings to me that the review was headed in that direction (OK, with the added prompt of your post's subject line). "This hefty tome provides brief and rambling introductions to programming on OpenVMS in a number of languages." > It might be hard to tell from the one I posted here, but the one on > the Java book let it shine through like a beacon in the night. He > went on and on about the OOP virtues which weren't covered and flamed > the mere notion that a language needed to support fixed column width > reporting to be useful to business. He/she completely tossed out the > fact I was correct and that the Java community agreed with me. They > added a sprintf() like function which allowed for fixed width column > formatting. Accountants and MBA's won't read financial reports where > the decimals don't line up. They don't actually add the numbers to > check them anymore, but they simply refuse to read a report which > looks like that. You don't need to invoke accountants or MBAs - think of bank and other financial statements read by the public at large. -- Paul Sture Sue's OpenVMS bookmarks: http://eisner.encompasserve.org/~sture/ovms-bookmarks.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:59:44 -0500 From: "Richard B. Gilbert" Subject: Re: Why Writers Buy Asbestos Undies Message-ID: <479272D0.9070504@comcast.net> yyyc186 wrote: > On Jan 18, 4:54 am, IanMiller wrote: > >>On Jan 17, 6:48 pm, yyyc186 wrote:> Here is what the Kirkus reviewer had to say. I guess this explains >> >>>why there were no OpenVMS books in their review database. >> >>... >> >>or perhaps he just does not like your style. You may find that >>reviewer has a particular dislike for books with personality. > > > When you read the review, it reads like it was written by an > unemployed college professor that used to teach OOP. Given that OOP > has fallen out of favor in the industry and IT enrollment at colleges > has vaporized it is easy why they are bitter about anything which > isn't purely theoretical. > > It might be hard to tell from the one I posted here, but the one on > the Java book let it shine through like a beacon in the night. He > went on and on about the OOP virtues which weren't covered and flamed > the mere notion that a language needed to support fixed column width > reporting to be useful to business. He/she completely tossed out the > fact I was correct and that the Java community agreed with me. They > added a sprintf() like function which allowed for fixed width column > formatting. Accountants and MBA's won't read financial reports where > the decimals don't line up. They don't actually add the numbers to > check them anymore, but they simply refuse to read a report which > looks like that. > Don't be too sure! My grandfather was a bookkeeper for GE in Schenectady for all of his working life. If he just *looked* at a column of figures he could tell you the total. If my father's checkbook didn't balance all he had to do was ask grand-dad who would glance at the check book and tell him where the error was. Maybe some of the newer guys can't read a report that's not nicely formatted or do arithmetic without assistance but I suspect they're in the minority. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 23:08:25 -0500 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?= Subject: Re: Why Writers Buy Asbestos Undies Message-ID: <4792c936$0$90276$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> yyyc186 wrote: > Given that OOP > has fallen out of favor in the industry On what planet ? Not this one ! > He > went on and on about the OOP virtues which weren't covered Which is rather silly. I assume it s a book about programming on VMS and not a book about programming in general. None of system services, run time libraries etc. have object oriented API's. Only 1 out of the 6 languages are object oriented. The environment (command syntax, filename syntax, other concepts like logicals etc.) are completely orthogonal to procedural versus object oriented. If people want a book about OOP then they should buy a book about OOP (and that would typical not cover any platform specific stuff). Arne ------------------------------ End of INFO-VAX 2008.039 ************************