INFO-VAX Mon, 20 Oct 2008 Volume 2008 : Issue 567 Contents: Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Re: Bypass mount/system request at boot time? Re: Enhancing DCL, was: Re: How do I add 2 letters to a long Re: Enhancing DCL, was: Re: How do I add 2 letters to a long Re: Enhancing DCL, was: Re: How do I add 2 letters to a long Re: How to make a java memory dump More cheap PC offers OpenVMS Book Wins award Re: OpenVMS Book Wins award Re: PC Systems for sale RE: PC Systems for sale RE: PC Systems for sale Re: PC Systems for sale Linux/XP Pro Re: Selective record extraction/copy? Re: Selective record extraction/copy? Re: Selective record extraction/copy? Re: Selective record extraction/copy? Re: Selective record extraction/copy? Re: Selective record extraction/copy? Re: Using Fortran to generate graphics Re: Using Fortran to generate graphics Re: Using Fortran to generate graphics Re: Using Fortran to generate graphics ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:14:15 -0700 (PDT) From: johnwallace4@yahoo.co.uk Subject: Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Message-ID: On Oct 20, 1:16 am, JF Mezei wrote: > VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote: > > It's been quite a while since I touched a 1000 but I believe that pulling > > the kbd and mouse would make it default to serial console. > > And wouldn't the graphical display go blank during serial console bootup > until decwindows was started and started sending billions and billions > of colour pixels to it ? My recollection is that the VGA BIOS on the graphics card is executed fairly early on in the powerup sequence, before the usual text output from the console code, and maybe even before keyboard and mouse are probed. On my PBXGA (aka ZLXp? aka???) the VGA BIOS does a small set of tests which draw basic colour bars and the like. So although I think VAXman's right re defaulting to serial console if kbd and mouse are missing, I also think there's still some limited dependency on the PBXGA during early powerup, so for safety it may be best to eliminate it from the picture at least temporarily. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:16:02 -0700 (PDT) From: etmsreec@yahoo.co.uk Subject: Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Message-ID: <19c9d21c-7586-446c-b78a-b8a5b23a682b@u57g2000hsf.googlegroups.com> On 20 Oct, 08:14, johnwalla...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > On Oct 20, 1:16 am, JF Mezei wrote: > > > VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote: > > > It's been quite a while since I touched a 1000 but I believe that pulling > > > the kbd and mouse would make it default to serial console. > > > And wouldn't the graphical display go blank during serial console bootup > > until decwindows was started and started sending billions and billions > > of colour pixels to it ? > > My recollection is that the VGA BIOS on the graphics card is executed > fairly early on in the powerup sequence, before the usual text output > from the console code, and maybe even before keyboard and mouse are > probed. On my PBXGA (aka ZLXp? aka???) the VGA BIOS does a small set > of tests which draw basic colour bars and the like. So although I > think VAXman's right re defaulting to serial console if kbd and mouse > are missing, I also think there's still some limited dependency on the > PBXGA during early powerup, so for safety it may be best to eliminate > it from the picture at least temporarily. The AlphaServer 1000A that I have will turn the screen blue "a while" after the system is powered up and will then send two character diagnostic codes to the screen as it tests parts of the system. There are no colour bars on the 1000A that I'm aware of during power on self tests. I used to get that on my DEC 3000m600 though. If the console is set to serial, the graphics display will go blue but won't issue a three chevrons prompt unless/until the machine gets to console level and the return key is pressed on the keyboard - it will just stay blue untill it gets to the motif login screen if it's set to serial console. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:23:46 -0700 (PDT) From: johnwallace4@yahoo.co.uk Subject: Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Message-ID: <0b824983-98f7-4d30-8d80-adbe9924c103@m36g2000hse.googlegroups.com> On Oct 20, 11:16 am, etmsr...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > On 20 Oct, 08:14, johnwalla...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > > > > > On Oct 20, 1:16 am, JF Mezei wrote: > > > > VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote: > > > > It's been quite a while since I touched a 1000 but I believe that pulling > > > > the kbd and mouse would make it default to serial console. > > > > And wouldn't the graphical display go blank during serial console bootup > > > until decwindows was started and started sending billions and billions > > > of colour pixels to it ? > > > My recollection is that the VGA BIOS on the graphics card is executed > > fairly early on in the powerup sequence, before the usual text output > > from the console code, and maybe even before keyboard and mouse are > > probed. On my PBXGA (aka ZLXp? aka???) the VGA BIOS does a small set > > of tests which draw basic colour bars and the like. So although I > > think VAXman's right re defaulting to serial console if kbd and mouse > > are missing, I also think there's still some limited dependency on the > > PBXGA during early powerup, so for safety it may be best to eliminate > > it from the picture at least temporarily. > > The AlphaServer 1000A that I have will turn the screen blue "a while" > after the system is powered up and will then send two character > diagnostic codes to the screen as it tests parts of the system. Indeed. Typical Alpha behaviour for boxes of that class from that era. Somewhere there should be magic decoder rings to get from codes to tests (and thus to problems), but the situation in this thread aiui is that we aren't getting that far (and I'm still betting that the lack of a fifth SIMM is relevant). > There are no colour bars on the 1000A that I'm aware of during power > on self tests. I used to get that on my DEC 3000m600 though. > Indeed. The colour bars relate to the ZLX family graphics chips/cards/ code. You don't have one of them, you have the relatively low-end integrated graphics on the server motherboard. > If the console is set to serial, the graphics display will go blue but > won't issue a three chevrons prompt unless/until the machine gets to > console level and the return key is pressed on the keyboard - it will > just stay blue untill it gets to the motif login screen if it's set to > serial console. Sounds right to me. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:10:42 -0700 (PDT) From: jacquesal Subject: Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Message-ID: <1b9a040b-48c0-4b7f-b2d3-e5720636a873@a19g2000pra.googlegroups.com> On 19 oct, 15:56, johnwalla...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > My vague recollection is that the LCD is driven by the main processor, > there's no microcontroller or similar to drive the boot and diagnostic > process, though some of the more upmarket Alphaservers do have this. > Thus it's probably no great surprise that when the LCD doesn't do the > expected thing, nothing else works further on than that. When you get > something onscreen, what do you get? (I'd usually suggest using the > serial console, except you're not getting that far... maybe disable > the onboard VGA, *and* remove the PBXGA, as per User's Guide [1] Table > 9-7?) > > You did say "The memory appears to be recognized (when I can get that > far in the boot console)" - exactly what is leading you to think > that? > > The Users Guide Chapter 6, Memory section, says that memory must be > configured in groups of 5 SIMMs: "A minimum of one memory bank (five > modules) is required.". This confirms my recollection that this system > is intended to be used with ECC. Whether it will *work* (by any > sensible definition of work) without ECC is a slightly different > question, which others may be able to confirm if your Service Guide > doesn't shed any light (especially anyone with real life AlphaServer > 1000A experience). > > In your situation I'd be looking for a SIMM to match any one of the > existing ones, and reduce it to one bank of five identical SIMMs as > the next step, just to see what the system does when not semi- > permanently stuck in a tight loop handling uncorrectable memory errors > (which *might* be what it's doing at the moment). > > Don't forget that once you do get it live, you might want to check > your firmware is reasonably recent. You are also supposed to run the > relevant EISA config utility for VMS. This may be important even if > you are not using any EISA cards, unless you are 100% confident you > don't need any changes from the current EISA config; EISA config > values can in principle change with firmware changes and OS changes, > so it's good to be confident. Incorrect EISA config values can cause > Bad Things to happen at inconvenient times. > > Good luck > John Hi John, Will try to briefly respond. Not next to the machine right now, but the discussion about the SIMMs has come up again further along in the thread so I'll try to summarize. I received the machine in this condition with 3 quadruplets of SIMMs. Now the service guide mentions that the banks 0, 1, 2 and 3 each contain 4 SIMMs _plus_ an additional bank of 4 ECC SIMMs (1 for each 'ordinary' bank). The bank 0 is listed as obligatory with the one ECC SIMM placed in a specific slot of the ECC bank in order to match it. (If you can see this in your head, you may note that something is not adding up already.) When I pulled all the memory and started from scratch, my first attempt was to fill what I thought to be the bank 0 and place what I presumed to be an ECC SIMM in the correct slot. When I turned the machine on and few times and it displayed the blue boot console, it complained that the bank 1 was filled and that the bank 0 was mismatched! I then looked more closely at the mother board and realized that there is _NO_ ECC bank, contrary to the service guide! Just banks 0 through 3 for 'ordinary' RAM. Below the bank 0, however, one notices that there are solder points for an eventual ECC bank. Moreover, what I thought to be ECC SIMMs must therefore be 'ordinary' SIMMs although I'll compare the product codes this evening just to be 100% sure. (Just to assure you that I'm not crazy, this is supposed to be a 1000A and not a 1000.) So for troubleshooting I've placed these four non-ECC SIMMs in what is really the bank 0 and I turn on the machine. When it successfully starts and brings me to the boot console, it indicates the 256 MB of RAM is present and that the other banks are empty. The chevron prompt DOES appear. This however does NOT stop the screen from going black after one or two minutes and the machine becoming unresponsive. If the memory enigma is solved, I suppose the next step is to investigate the console vs serial option. This revision of the motherboard does not have a jumper for onboard VGA -- in fact there is no onboard VGA. Going back in time a bit -- when I received the machine, it lacked a video card and I had initially connected a null modem cable. It was already displaying the strange symptom of a blank Operator Control Pannel (the "OCP" LCD) most of the time, so it was not suprising that nothing showed up on the terminal (minicom on a Linux box connected via the null modem cable). (As part of my diagnostic process, I had picked up a cheap PBXGA-AA/ AN, placed it in a PCI slot and connected it to a monitor. By chance, after a few power cycles, the OCP once displayed the self tests and there was output to the monitor (the blue SRM console) which eventually turned off course. This is when I began to investigate a possible problem with the memory.) FYI, an additional test that I performed was to pull everything -- memory, SCSI, floppy, keyboard, expansion cards -- just to see if the OCP would activate in a more consistent fashion. This changed nothing. I also tried powering it on without the CPU daughter card and this did not help either (of course if the OCP is dependant on the CPU, this was to be expected). At this point, I'm beginning to think that there is some sort of serious hardware fault (e.g. defective power supply or crack in the board as opposed to a bad or mismatched SIMM). My hope is that (a) someone with a similar machine may have solved such a problem or (b) there may be a way to diagnose the faulty hardware before I send the machine to be recycled! - Alex ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:36:03 -0700 (PDT) From: etmsreec@yahoo.co.uk Subject: Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Message-ID: <3d510012-c915-4576-bef2-01b1c23c33e3@k36g2000pri.googlegroups.com> On 20 Oct, 14:10, jacquesal wrote: > On 19 oct, 15:56, johnwalla...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > > > > > > > My vague recollection is that the LCD is driven by the main processor, > > there's no microcontroller or similar to drive the boot and diagnostic > > process, though some of the more upmarket Alphaservers do have this. > > Thus it's probably no great surprise that when the LCD doesn't do the > > expected thing, nothing else works further on than that. When you get > > something onscreen, what do you get? (I'd usually suggest using the > > serial console, except you're not getting that far... maybe disable > > the onboard VGA, *and* remove the PBXGA, as per User's Guide [1] Table > > 9-7?) > > > You did say "The memory appears to be recognized (when I can get that > > far in the boot console)" - exactly what is leading you to think > > that? > > > The Users Guide Chapter 6, Memory section, says that memory must be > > configured in groups of 5 SIMMs: "A minimum of one memory bank (five > > modules) is required.". This confirms my recollection that this system > > is intended to be used with ECC. Whether it will *work* (by any > > sensible definition of work) without ECC is a slightly different > > question, which others may be able to confirm if your Service Guide > > doesn't shed any light (especially anyone with real life AlphaServer > > 1000A experience). > > > In your situation I'd be looking for a SIMM to match any one of the > > existing ones, and reduce it to one bank of five identical SIMMs as > > the next step, just to see what the system does when not semi- > > permanently stuck in a tight loop handling uncorrectable memory errors > > (which *might* be what it's doing at the moment). > > > Don't forget that once you do get it live, you might want to check > > your firmware is reasonably recent. You are also supposed to run the > > relevant EISA config utility for VMS. This may be important even if > > you are not using any EISA cards, unless you are 100% confident you > > don't need any changes from the current EISA config; EISA config > > values can in principle change with firmware changes and OS changes, > > so it's good to be confident. Incorrect EISA config values can cause > > Bad Things to happen at inconvenient times. > > > Good luck > > John > > Hi John, > > Will try to briefly respond. Not next to the machine right now, but > the discussion about the SIMMs has come up again further along in the > thread so I'll try to summarize. > > I received the machine in this condition with 3 quadruplets of SIMMs. > Now the service guide mentions that the banks 0, 1, 2 and 3 each > contain 4 SIMMs _plus_ an additional bank of 4 ECC SIMMs (1 for each > 'ordinary' bank). =A0The bank 0 is listed as obligatory with the one ECC > SIMM placed in a specific slot of the ECC bank in order to match it. > (If you can see this in your head, you may note that something is not > adding up already.) > > When I pulled all the memory and started from scratch, my first > attempt was to fill what I thought to be the bank 0 and place what I > presumed to be an ECC SIMM in the correct slot. =A0When I turned the > machine on and few times and it displayed the blue boot console, it > complained that the bank 1 was filled and that the bank 0 was > mismatched! > > I then looked more closely at the mother board and realized that there > is _NO_ ECC bank, contrary to the service guide! =A0Just banks 0 through > 3 for 'ordinary' RAM. Below the bank 0, however, one notices that > there are solder points for an eventual ECC bank. =A0Moreover, what I > thought to be ECC SIMMs must therefore be 'ordinary' SIMMs although > I'll compare the product codes this evening just to be 100% sure. > > (Just to assure you that I'm not crazy, this is supposed to be a 1000A > and not a 1000.) > > So for troubleshooting I've placed these four non-ECC SIMMs in what is > really the bank 0 and I turn on the machine. =A0When it successfully > starts and brings me to the boot console, it indicates the 256 MB of > RAM is present and that the other banks are empty. =A0The chevron prompt > DOES appear. =A0This however does NOT stop the screen from going black > after one or two minutes and the machine becoming unresponsive. > > If the memory enigma is solved, I suppose the next step is to > investigate the console vs serial option. =A0This revision of the > motherboard does not have a jumper for onboard VGA -- in fact there is > no onboard VGA. =A0Going back in time a bit -- when I received the > machine, it lacked a video card and I had initially connected a null > modem cable. =A0It was already displaying the strange symptom of a blank > Operator Control Pannel (the "OCP" LCD) most of the time, so it was > not suprising that nothing showed up on the terminal (minicom on a > Linux box connected via the null modem cable). > > (As part of my diagnostic process, I had picked up a cheap PBXGA-AA/ > AN, placed it in a PCI slot and connected it to a monitor. By chance, > after a few power cycles, the OCP once displayed the self tests and > there was output to the monitor (the blue SRM console) which > eventually turned off course. This is when I began to investigate a > possible problem with the memory.) > > FYI, an additional test that I performed was to pull everything -- > memory, SCSI, floppy, keyboard, expansion cards -- just to see if the > OCP would activate in a more consistent fashion. This changed > nothing. =A0I also tried powering it on without the CPU daughter card > and this did not help either (of course if the OCP is dependant on the > CPU, this was to be expected). > > At this point, I'm beginning to think that there is some sort of > serious hardware fault (e.g. defective power supply or crack in the > board as opposed to a bad or mismatched SIMM). My hope is that (a) > someone with a similar machine may have solved such a problem or (b) > there may be a way to diagnose the faulty hardware before I send the > machine to be recycled! > > - Alex- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - Is it a rackmount or a pedestal system? IRC, the rackmount doesn't have the 5th slot whereas the pedestal does. The pedestal servers have an integral storageworks shelf with seven slots in it. The rack mount version doesn't. If the system doesn't give an accurate pip code when there's no memory and no option cards in, I'd bet at it being either main logic board related or PSU related. If it's a pedestal box, the PSU is relatively easy to swap. For a rackmount, it's more difficult (but probably still straightforward enough if you trace all of the cabling). FWIW, I think most of the documentation I've seen refers to the pedestal version, _not_ the rackmount. Steve ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:39:09 -0700 (PDT) From: johnwallace4@yahoo.co.uk Subject: Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Message-ID: On Oct 20, 2:10 pm, jacquesal wrote: > On 19 oct, 15:56, johnwalla...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > > > > > My vague recollection is that the LCD is driven by the main processor, > > there's no microcontroller or similar to drive the boot and diagnostic > > process, though some of the more upmarket Alphaservers do have this. > > Thus it's probably no great surprise that when the LCD doesn't do the > > expected thing, nothing else works further on than that. When you get > > something onscreen, what do you get? (I'd usually suggest using the > > serial console, except you're not getting that far... maybe disable > > the onboard VGA, *and* remove the PBXGA, as per User's Guide [1] Table > > 9-7?) > > > You did say "The memory appears to be recognized (when I can get that > > far in the boot console)" - exactly what is leading you to think > > that? > > > The Users Guide Chapter 6, Memory section, says that memory must be > > configured in groups of 5 SIMMs: "A minimum of one memory bank (five > > modules) is required.". This confirms my recollection that this system > > is intended to be used with ECC. Whether it will *work* (by any > > sensible definition of work) without ECC is a slightly different > > question, which others may be able to confirm if your Service Guide > > doesn't shed any light (especially anyone with real life AlphaServer > > 1000A experience). > > > In your situation I'd be looking for a SIMM to match any one of the > > existing ones, and reduce it to one bank of five identical SIMMs as > > the next step, just to see what the system does when not semi- > > permanently stuck in a tight loop handling uncorrectable memory errors > > (which *might* be what it's doing at the moment). > > > Don't forget that once you do get it live, you might want to check > > your firmware is reasonably recent. You are also supposed to run the > > relevant EISA config utility for VMS. This may be important even if > > you are not using any EISA cards, unless you are 100% confident you > > don't need any changes from the current EISA config; EISA config > > values can in principle change with firmware changes and OS changes, > > so it's good to be confident. Incorrect EISA config values can cause > > Bad Things to happen at inconvenient times. > > > Good luck > > John > > Hi John, > > Will try to briefly respond. Not next to the machine right now, but > the discussion about the SIMMs has come up again further along in the > thread so I'll try to summarize. > > I received the machine in this condition with 3 quadruplets of SIMMs. > Now the service guide mentions that the banks 0, 1, 2 and 3 each > contain 4 SIMMs _plus_ an additional bank of 4 ECC SIMMs (1 for each > 'ordinary' bank). The bank 0 is listed as obligatory with the one ECC > SIMM placed in a specific slot of the ECC bank in order to match it. > (If you can see this in your head, you may note that something is not > adding up already.) > > When I pulled all the memory and started from scratch, my first > attempt was to fill what I thought to be the bank 0 and place what I > presumed to be an ECC SIMM in the correct slot. When I turned the > machine on and few times and it displayed the blue boot console, it > complained that the bank 1 was filled and that the bank 0 was > mismatched! > > I then looked more closely at the mother board and realized that there > is _NO_ ECC bank, contrary to the service guide! Just banks 0 through > 3 for 'ordinary' RAM. Below the bank 0, however, one notices that > there are solder points for an eventual ECC bank. Moreover, what I > thought to be ECC SIMMs must therefore be 'ordinary' SIMMs although > I'll compare the product codes this evening just to be 100% sure. > > (Just to assure you that I'm not crazy, this is supposed to be a 1000A > and not a 1000.) > > So for troubleshooting I've placed these four non-ECC SIMMs in what is > really the bank 0 and I turn on the machine. When it successfully > starts and brings me to the boot console, it indicates the 256 MB of > RAM is present and that the other banks are empty. The chevron prompt > DOES appear. This however does NOT stop the screen from going black > after one or two minutes and the machine becoming unresponsive. > > If the memory enigma is solved, I suppose the next step is to > investigate the console vs serial option. This revision of the > motherboard does not have a jumper for onboard VGA -- in fact there is > no onboard VGA. Going back in time a bit -- when I received the > machine, it lacked a video card and I had initially connected a null > modem cable. It was already displaying the strange symptom of a blank > Operator Control Pannel (the "OCP" LCD) most of the time, so it was > not suprising that nothing showed up on the terminal (minicom on a > Linux box connected via the null modem cable). > > (As part of my diagnostic process, I had picked up a cheap PBXGA-AA/ > AN, placed it in a PCI slot and connected it to a monitor. By chance, > after a few power cycles, the OCP once displayed the self tests and > there was output to the monitor (the blue SRM console) which > eventually turned off course. This is when I began to investigate a > possible problem with the memory.) > > FYI, an additional test that I performed was to pull everything -- > memory, SCSI, floppy, keyboard, expansion cards -- just to see if the > OCP would activate in a more consistent fashion. This changed > nothing. I also tried powering it on without the CPU daughter card > and this did not help either (of course if the OCP is dependant on the > CPU, this was to be expected). > > At this point, I'm beginning to think that there is some sort of > serious hardware fault (e.g. defective power supply or crack in the > board as opposed to a bad or mismatched SIMM). My hope is that (a) > someone with a similar machine may have solved such a problem or (b) > there may be a way to diagnose the faulty hardware before I send the > machine to be recycled! > > - Alex Ooooerrr. It suddenly occurs to me that AlphaServer 1000A existed in both EV4/21064 and EV5/21164 flavours, and the manual I referred to appears to predate the EV5 ones. Sounds a lot like your service manual might too. Might be good to confirm this before proceeding much further. Do you know much about the history of this box, eg when/where did it last work and who did what to break it ;)? More realistically, does it have a part number on an external label somewhere? That may not be definitive, as it could have been field upgraded from EV4 to EV5. On the main logic board, is there anything resembling a part number or codename? Alternatively: Not too far from the CPU there should be a few reasonably big "glue logic" chips; if their numbers resemble 2107x it's an EV4, if they say 2117x then it's EV5. (You won't easily be able to see the part number on the CPU itself :)) That will at least help identify which manuals are relevant and which aren't. There are other ways of telling whether it's EV4 or EV5 too; if you have a preferred alternative, try it. The SIMMs you are using, are they true 36bit SIMMs (not 32bit plus fake parity)? I'm thinking you'll need true 36bit now that we think that there is no separate ECC bank. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:03:52 -0700 (PDT) From: etmsreec@yahoo.co.uk Subject: Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Message-ID: On 20 Oct, 16:53, "Richard B. Gilbert" wrote: > johnwalla...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > > On Oct 20, 11:16 am, etmsr...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > >> On 20 Oct, 08:14, johnwalla...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > > >>> On Oct 20, 1:16 am, JF Mezei wrote: > >>>> VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote: > >>>>> It's been quite a while since I touched a 1000 but I believe that p= ulling > >>>>> the kbd and mouse would make it default to serial console. > >>>> And wouldn't the graphical display go blank during serial console bo= otup > >>>> until decwindows was started and started sending billions and billio= ns > >>>> of colour pixels to it ? > >>> My recollection is that the VGA BIOS on the graphics card is executed > >>> fairly early on in the powerup sequence, before the usual text output > >>> from the console code, and maybe even before keyboard and mouse are > >>> probed. On my PBXGA (aka ZLXp? aka???) the VGA BIOS does a small set > >>> of tests which draw basic colour bars and the like. So although I > >>> think VAXman's right re defaulting to serial console if kbd and mouse > >>> are missing, I also think there's still some limited dependency on th= e > >>> PBXGA during early powerup, so for safety it may be best to eliminate > >>> it from the picture at least temporarily. > >> The AlphaServer 1000A that I have will turn the screen blue "a while" > >> after the system is powered up and will then send two character > >> diagnostic codes to the screen as it tests parts of the system. > > > Indeed. Typical Alpha behaviour for boxes of that class from that era. > > Somewhere there should be magic decoder rings to get from codes to > > tests (and thus to problems), > > The "magic decoder ring" was disguised as an "Owner's Manual" or "User's > Guide"! =A0It was stored in some instantly forgettable location or used t= o > shim up a desk and will be found N years after the hardware is scrapped!-= Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - That would be at http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/archive/1000a/1000a_= tech.html Steve ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:25:50 -0400 From: "David Turner, islandco.com" Subject: Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Message-ID: Try >>>set console graphics >>>init Also use a Card such as the S3Trio64 - which synchs to 60Hz by default Looks to me like the card you have goes out of synch. -- David B Turner ============================================= Island Computers US Corp PO Box 86 Tybee GA 31328 Toll Free: 1-877 636 4332 x201, Mobile x251 Email: dturner@islandco.com International & Local: (001)- 404-806-7749 Fax: 912 786 8505 Web: www.islandco.com ============================================= wrote in message news:93837673-9337-48a1-a868-08ddedcff7a5@64g2000hsm.googlegroups.com... > Hello all, > > I'm trying to do an installation on an old AlphaServer 1000a with > video card installed. > > When I turn it on, one can clearly see that the system performs its > self tests thanks to the LCD on the front panel. > > Some moments later, the blue screen appears on the monitor and I see > that the remaining tests -- including memory -- are completed > successful. The ">>>" prompt appears. > > Then, about 1 min later, the screen goes dark. > > Any ideas? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:07:09 -0700 (PDT) From: johnwallace4@yahoo.co.uk Subject: Re: AlphaServer 1000a screen blanks after self test Message-ID: <904b6fa1-87b1-4338-96a0-146c74b97b43@1g2000prd.googlegroups.com> On Oct 20, 5:03 pm, etmsr...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > On 20 Oct, 16:53, "Richard B. Gilbert" wrote: > > > > > johnwalla...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > > > On Oct 20, 11:16 am, etmsr...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > > >> On 20 Oct, 08:14, johnwalla...@yahoo.co.uk wrote: > > > >>> On Oct 20, 1:16 am, JF Mezei wrote: > > >>>> VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote: > > >>>>> It's been quite a while since I touched a 1000 but I believe that pulling > > >>>>> the kbd and mouse would make it default to serial console. > > >>>> And wouldn't the graphical display go blank during serial console bootup > > >>>> until decwindows was started and started sending billions and billions > > >>>> of colour pixels to it ? > > >>> My recollection is that the VGA BIOS on the graphics card is executed > > >>> fairly early on in the powerup sequence, before the usual text output > > >>> from the console code, and maybe even before keyboard and mouse are > > >>> probed. On my PBXGA (aka ZLXp? aka???) the VGA BIOS does a small set > > >>> of tests which draw basic colour bars and the like. So although I > > >>> think VAXman's right re defaulting to serial console if kbd and mouse > > >>> are missing, I also think there's still some limited dependency on the > > >>> PBXGA during early powerup, so for safety it may be best to eliminate > > >>> it from the picture at least temporarily. > > >> The AlphaServer 1000A that I have will turn the screen blue "a while" > > >> after the system is powered up and will then send two character > > >> diagnostic codes to the screen as it tests parts of the system. > > > > Indeed. Typical Alpha behaviour for boxes of that class from that era. > > > Somewhere there should be magic decoder rings to get from codes to > > > tests (and thus to problems), > > > The "magic decoder ring" was disguised as an "Owner's Manual" or "User's > > Guide"! It was stored in some instantly forgettable location or used to > > shim up a desk and will be found N years after the hardware is scrapped!- Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text - > > That would be athttp://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/archive/1000a/1000a_tech.html > > Steve The Owner's Guide on that page is useful if you've got an EV4/21064 AlphaServer 1000A, whereas imo it now looks like we may have the EV5/21164 here. Maybe the test codes are the same... ???? On the same page is a set of links to Systems and Options catalogue chapters which *might* allow the part number on the server to be correlated to the system config as shipped (which may or may not help confirm whether it's EV5 or not). ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:18:57 -0400 From: none Subject: Re: Bypass mount/system request at boot time? Message-ID: <281pf4t8idhbhs1n8ud1uqntpe1nsuqtsd@4ax.com> On Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:14:39 -0500, David J Dachtera wrote: >none wrote: >> >> > >> >> I'd just like to point out, perhaps unnecessarily, that if the error >> is, in fact, a fatal error on the mount (i.e., "-F-"), then the >> startup process is not actually stalling or hanging on the mount >> request. >> >> Fatal errors in startup tend to actually *kill* the startup process, >> and there is no continuing from that as the job controller will not >> start; and you will never get to login. [snip] > >Actually, the JBC -DOES- start. However, little-known fact: until a SET >LOGINS/INTER=n command is issued at least once, JBC will NOT create >interactive processes. THAT is why you can't login if STARTUP bombs out >before SYSTARTUP_* completes. > >This is true for hard-wired terminals, CTERM, LAT and UCX/Telnet. Not >sure about SSH - never had a chance to test it. > >The exception is Telnet in Multinet. For Telnet sessions, the >MULTINET_SERVER process is the parent of the interactive Telnet >sessions. It WILL allow logins as soon as it starts, and is not aware >that STARTUP failed. (Not sure about TCPware - never had a chance to >test it.) > Ah, yes, now I recall more clearly. Sorry about that initial misinformation, my memory is not as good as it used to be. *sigh*.... I really miss being able to manage VMS systems. -- jls ------------------------------ Date: 20 Oct 2008 10:06:18 -0500 From: cornelius@eisner.decus.org (George Cornelius) Subject: Re: Enhancing DCL, was: Re: How do I add 2 letters to a long Message-ID: <50WZu8it2neF@eisner.encompasserve.org> Simon Clubley writes: > AEF writes: >> Bob Koehler wrote: >>> Simon Clubley writes: >>>> Automatic retention of command history, including the automatic merging >>>> of just the new commands from that session into the command history file. >>> >>> Command history retention in files has security implications. >> >> I'd be quite happy with being with just being able to use RECALL/OUT >> in a command procedure. This way I could use my FILTER command >> procedure search for strings in the recall buffer. > > How would you handle merging the output from multiple simultaneous sessions > (assuming that the current command history was loaded at the start of the > session) ? > > In bash, only the commands entered during that session get appended to the > command history file. That way you can have multiple simultaneous bash > sessions writing to the command history file without each running copy of > bash dumping it's own copy of the full command history into the history > file. > >> Yeah, let me guess: security implications. > > The way that I handle that in bash is to unset the history filename > variable so that the current session doesn't get written out if I've > used security related parameters on the command line. And do you force vim to vi-only mode so that it doesn't save all the critical strings - not to mention voluminous edit history information - from your edit sessions in .viminfo? Imagine my surprise when, having decided to clean up all my old embedded password ppp stuff (clear text passwords in the 'secrets' files!), I found my critical password for accessing hundreds of systems at work saved away for anyone to see if they ever obtained physical access to my home workstation. At least I knew about the secrets files, so I could take steps to cleanse them later on, perhaps shifting to using a script to generate them on the fly as needed. Open source means radically differing degrees of developer real world experience. Open source means, effectively, amateurism. Very talented amateurs, perhaps, but don't expect them to have the slightest understanding of reliability, availability, and security as it applies to _your_ business. Security by obscurity gets a bad rap, by the way - just running the 'secrets' files thru rot13 before writing them would eliminate a huge percentage of security risks by eliminating casual users (and many 'greppers') from the list of likely attackers. -- George Cornelius cornelius A T eisner D O T decus D O T org cornelius A T mayo D O T edu > Simon. > > -- > Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP > Microsoft: Bringing you 1980's technology to a 21st century world ------------------------------ Date: 20 Oct 2008 11:21:53 -0500 From: cornelius@eisner.decus.org (George Cornelius) Subject: Re: Enhancing DCL, was: Re: How do I add 2 letters to a long Message-ID: In article <00A80651.AB22D074@SendSpamHere.ORG>, VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG writes: > You can always write your own recall buffer dump and or recall buffer > manipulator for use in your own DCL environment. It's not difficult. This works: $ pipe recall/out=x.lis ; search x.lis sea Obviously, you could use @script x.lis after the semicolon if you wanted. And you could put the whole pipe string in a symbol, e.g., $ rs:==pipe recal/out=x.lis ; sear x.lis Of course, using a unique file name based on process ID would be better: $ rs_fname:=='f$getjpi(0,"PID")'.rs_scratch $ rs:==pipe recal/out='rs_fname' ; sear 'rs_fname' Adding autocleanup: $ pipe rs_fname:=='f$getjpi(0,"PID")'.rs_scratch ; copy nl: &rs_fname $ rs:==pipe recal/out='rs_fname' ; purg 'rs_fname' ; sear 'rs_fname' -- George Cornelius cornelius A T eisner D O T decus D O T org cornelius A T mayo D O T edu > > -- > VAXman- A Bored Certified VMS Kernel Mode Hacker VAXman(at)TMESIS(dot)COM > > ... pejorative statements of opinion are entitled to constitutional protection > no matter how extreme, vituperous, or vigorously expressed they may be. (NJSC) > > Copr. 2008 Brian Schenkenberger. Publication of _this_ usenet article outside > of usenet _must_ include its contents in its entirety including this copyright > notice, disclaimer and quotations. ------------------------------ Date: 20 Oct 2008 12:28:46 -0500 From: clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP (Simon Clubley) Subject: Re: Enhancing DCL, was: Re: How do I add 2 letters to a long Message-ID: In article <50WZu8it2neF@eisner.encompasserve.org>, cornelius@eisner.decus.org (George Cornelius) writes: > > And do you force vim to vi-only mode so that it doesn't save all the > critical strings - not to mention voluminous edit history information - > from your edit sessions in .viminfo? > I'm a emacs user and not a vim user, but yes, I make sure that applications don't write sensitive information into configuration files. If I use an application that requires information that I would rather not be kept in a permanent form, then the first time that I run it, I check to see what configuration information it actually writes out - I don't rely on configuration settings. I also tend to check every so often as well, just to make sure that nothing has changed. BTW, I also make sure that sensitive information isn't left floating around in debugging log files. Simon. -- Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP Microsoft: Bringing you 1980's technology to a 21st century world ------------------------------ Date: 20 Oct 2008 07:41:14 -0500 From: koehler@eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob Koehler) Subject: Re: How to make a java memory dump Message-ID: <$3jIt7b+HWML@eisner.encompasserve.org> In article , tdirven@volvocars.com writes: > Hello, > > I'm using Java based applications that are running as a detached > process on OpenVMS (Alpha and I64) > I use Java version 1.5. > The java applications consume a lot of memory. > > Is it possible to make a memory dump of all Java classes so I can find > out which java objects are using the all the RAM memory? The JRE tends to map things it wants to look at and never let them go. This includes all the classes that are used once. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:29:18 -0400 From: "David Turner, islandco.com" Subject: More cheap PC offers Message-ID: ISLAND DATASTORE IC-DS-AMX25+T MID TOWER CASE NIVIDIA CHIPSET MAINBOARD AMD ATHLON X2 5000+ 2.6GHZ 2GB DDR2 800 PC2-6400 (2 X 1GB) 500GB SATAII 7200 HD DUAL LAYER 20X DVDRW 3 YEAR WARRANTY , BUILT & TESTED UBUNTU 8.04 PRELOADED WITH OPENOFFICE KEYTRONIC KEYBOARD AND OPTICAL MOUSE $455.00 + $26 shipping -- David B Turner ============================================= Island Computers US Corp PO Box 86 Tybee GA 31328 Toll Free: 1-877 636 4332 x201, Mobile x251 Email: dturner@islandco.com International & Local: (001)- 404-806-7749 Fax: 912 786 8505 Web: www.islandco.com ============================================= ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:36:31 -0700 (PDT) From: yyyc186 Subject: OpenVMS Book Wins award Message-ID: The Minimum You Need to Know About Service Orieted Architecture by Roland Hughes Award-Winner in the Business: Technology/Computers/Internet category of the National Best Books 2008 Awards, sponsored by USA Book News You can find this book in Island Computer's Web store. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:38:04 -0400 From: "David Turner, islandco.com" Subject: Re: OpenVMS Book Wins award Message-ID: Congratulations Roland!!!!! Finally... -- David B Turner ============================================= Island Computers US Corp PO Box 86 Tybee GA 31328 Toll Free: 1-877 636 4332 x201, Mobile x251 Email: dturner@islandco.com International & Local: (001)- 404-806-7749 Fax: 912 786 8505 Web: www.islandco.com ============================================= "yyyc186" wrote in message news:ee65a5f3-cba1-40a5-829f-59998aa33af5@o4g2000pra.googlegroups.com... > The Minimum You Need to Know About Service Orieted Architecture by > Roland Hughes > > Award-Winner in the Business: Technology/Computers/Internet category > of the National Best Books 2008 Awards, sponsored by USA Book News > > You can find this book in Island Computer's Web store. ------------------------------ Date: 20 Oct 2008 07:32:12 -0500 From: koehler@eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob Koehler) Subject: Re: PC Systems for sale Message-ID: In article <6lrlg0Fdcu60U2@mid.individual.net>, billg999@cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) writes: > > > So, tell me, if VT's are the way to go what will you give me for the > pile of 420's I still have in their original boxes? I never said VT's are the way to go. You must be studying under W. ------------------------------ Date: 20 Oct 2008 07:33:11 -0500 From: koehler@eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob Koehler) Subject: RE: PC Systems for sale Message-ID: In article <9D02E14BC0A2AE43A5D16A4CD8EC5A593ED7606FAD@GVW1158EXB.americas.hpqcorp.net>, "Main, Kerry" writes: > > And so with Java on OpenVMS. Some Cust's will develop Java on Windows/ > Linux but deploy (copy) on OpenVMS for added security and native > active-active clustering. > we do the opposite. Develop on VMS and deploy on everything. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:19:34 +0000 From: "Main, Kerry" Subject: RE: PC Systems for sale Message-ID: <9D02E14BC0A2AE43A5D16A4CD8EC5A593ED7607173@GVW1158EXB.americas.hpqcorp.net> > -----Original Message----- > From: urbancamo [mailto:mark@wickensonline.co.uk] > Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2008 5:32 PM > To: Info-VAX@Mvb.Saic.Com > Subject: Re: PC Systems for sale > [snip...] > > Not sure what you mean here as a PC or MAC or whatever GUI and/or > > browser front ends can be implemented on OpenVMS in the same way as > > any other OS. > > I was probably venting my frustration that a perfectly good system has > to be replaced because the market conditions have moved on. The > existing system may not have been pretty but it was technically very > impressive. Another part of the drive to replace the application was > due to the use of languages such as COBOL that can no longer be > sourced technically in significant and consistent numbers. It was also > probably a rant about the current state of software development > management. The term 'engineering' often leaves me shaking my head in > disbelieve ('Cynical Old Contractor' syndrome I'm sure!) > > Let me add at the end of this post that I'm looking to be educated > primarily and get my facts straight. It would be nice if those who are > experts in OpenVMS could provide insights into how they see OpenVMS > fitting into the modern data centre, development houses and offices > without resorting to HP bashing. > > Whilst within a personal context there will always be a time and place > to vent negative opinions about OpenVMS and HP I have been really > surprised how much of it goes on within this news group. Linux has > proved, if nothing else, that the worldwide community of software > developers (and I include commercial organisations within this > context) can change the operating systems pie chart. People like > Alexey Chupahin (who is actively porting various projects to OpenVMS) > are a breath of fresh air in re-igniting my enthusiam in OpenVMS. HP > appear to have noticed him and are supporting his efforts with much > needed hardware. If only there were many more like him... > > Mark. There is certainly nothing wrong with continuing to use existing 3GL's and other application technologies. J2EE and .Net will also have a place, but, like any OO based technologies, there are large learning curves and setup / migration / integration costs associated with these. Each company needs to evaluate what mix of current and new technologies they will implement going forward. And implementing totally new technologies should not be based on a "because everyone else is doing it" - that is a recipe for disaster. Having stated this, if a company wants to continue using OpenVMS development technologies while at the same time ease into the J2EE world, they can implement the OpenVMS based version of Distributed Netbeans. This is a means to integrate older and new technologies. "Distributed NetBeans for OpenVMS allows you to run the NetBeans IDE on your desktop system and develop applications on a remote OpenVMS Alpha or Integrity server system. Distributed NetBeans contains BASIC, C/C++, COBOL, FORTRAN, and PASCAL language and debugging support, and MMS, BASH, DCL, and EDT Keypad support." Reference: http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/products/ips/netbeans/ In addition, for those that want a UNIX-like environment running on OpenVMS, there is the GNV kit: http://www.openvms.compaq.com/opensource/opensource.html#gnv 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. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:30:29 -0400 From: "David Turner, islandco.com" Subject: Re: PC Systems for sale Linux/XP Pro Message-ID: <_f2Lk.77734$XB4.4125@bignews9.bellsouth.net> 3 PCI Slot and one PCI-E On Board NVIDIA Gigabit -- David B Turner ============================================= Island Computers US Corp PO Box 86 Tybee GA 31328 Toll Free: 1-877 636 4332 x201, Mobile x251 Email: dturner@islandco.com International & Local: (001)- 404-806-7749 Fax: 912 786 8505 Web: www.islandco.com ============================================= "Bill Pechter" wrote in message news:gddrsh$gmg$2@registered.motzarella.org... > What's the maximum memory... Might be able to get ESX3i on 'em. > What's the slot layout for PCI PCIe... > Any ethernet on the motherboard and if so which chipset... > > Bill > -- > Be comforted that in the face of all erridity and disallusionment, and > despite the changing fortunes of time, there is always a big future in > computer maintainance. --Deteriorata (pechter-at-gmail-dot-com) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:05:41 -0700 (PDT) From: IanMiller Subject: Re: Selective record extraction/copy? Message-ID: <9c207954-353a-4acc-8784-3e0ffb6a8a90@f63g2000hsf.googlegroups.com> On Oct 20, 4:09=A0am, Hein RMS van den Heuvel wrote: > On Oct 19, 12:15=A0pm, "R.A.Omond" wrote:> = gerr...@no.spam.mail.com wrote: > > > Hello everyone, > > Gerry> > how do I copy just some records from a non-indexed file to > another one without having to resort to third party utilities like > EXTRACT (1)? I just needed something like DUMP/BLOCKS or DUMP/RECORDS > with binary output, > > OpenVMS simply does not have that as a utility. Too bad. > > It's trivial to write, for example by adapting the copyfile example > from the RMS ref manual:http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/731FINAL/4523/4523p= ro_002.html#75_hll_e... > (need to copy rac, rfm, mrs instead of hardcoding, need to control > record numbers to be written). > > A DCL loop is really the best OpenVMS natively can do for you. > > Roy> There's nothing intrinsically special about a "binary" file. > =A0It's just > > > a bunch of records, for which any decent editor should have no trouble > > dealing with. > > Fully agree. Yet there is NO editor that can edit for example an image > shipped with OpenVMS. :-(. Lame. > > EDT can not handle record length > 255 > TPU insists on "%TPU-E-FILECONVERTED, file format is being converted > to a supported type". Since when are fixed length records no > supported?! > > > For what it's worth, editing executable images is something I do quite > > frequently. > > Super. Me too. But I just change values with tools like PATCH/ABS. > > Please explain which standard OpenVMS tools allow one to select > records by number from a binary file? (other than dump). > > AWK & PERL (even with binmode) make a mess out of this as well. > > Hate to admit it, but this is a weak area in OpenVMS. > Cheers, > Hein. See also DIX http://oooovms.dyndns.org/dix/ ------------------------------ Date: 20 Oct 2008 07:38:46 -0500 From: koehler@eisner.nospam.encompasserve.org (Bob Koehler) Subject: Re: Selective record extraction/copy? Message-ID: In article , gerry77@no.spam.mail.com writes: > Hello everyone, > > how do I copy just some records Copy "some" records generally means writing a program that knows which "some" you want. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:47:36 GMT From: "Tim Wilkinson" Subject: Re: Selective record extraction/copy? Message-ID: I would also go with write a bit of code. A good excuse to learn how well the high level languages support RMS withut even having to use the RMS$ library stuff. From memory, I would have said the Basic+ stuff was easiest to use. (Bearing in mind it was what all our junior programmers used on VAX). ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:47:10 -0700 From: "Tom Linden" Subject: Re: Selective record extraction/copy? Message-ID: On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:47:36 -0700, Tim Wilkinson .twsoft.co.uk> <" wrote: > I would also go with write a bit of code. A good excuse to learn how well > the high level languages support RMS withut even having to use the RMS$ > library stuff. > > From memory, I would have said the Basic+ stuff was easiest to use. > (Bearing > in mind it was what all our junior programmers used on VAX). > > PL/I has the richest support at the semantic level of the language. -- PL/I for OpenVMS www.kednos.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:01:11 -0400 From: "Richard B. Gilbert" Subject: Re: Selective record extraction/copy? Message-ID: <2KqdnT2W4tlYNmHVnZ2dnUVZ_q7inZ2d@comcast.com> Bob Koehler wrote: > In article , gerry77@no.spam.mail.com writes: >> Hello everyone, >> >> how do I copy just some records > > Copy "some" records generally means writing a program that knows > which "some" you want. > I will write such a program for an only moderately outrageous fee! Or, if you will send me the file, I will extract the required records for a similarly outrageous fee. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:17:57 -0700 (PDT) From: yyyc186 Subject: Re: Selective record extraction/copy? Message-ID: On Oct 18, 5:16=A0pm, gerr...@no.spam.mail.com wrote: > Hello everyone, > > how do I copy just some records from a non-indexed file to another one wi= thout > having to resort to third party utilities like EXTRACT (1)? I just needed > something like DUMP/BLOCKS or DUMP/RECORDS with binary output, but wasn't= able > to find it among the standard system utilities. I also gave a quick check= to > CONVERT and SORT documentation, to no avail. I'm a hobbyist, so I'm not v= ery > used to RMS tools... Am I missing something obvious? > > Thanks, > G. > > (1)http://mvb.saic.com/freeware/freewarev80/extract/ If you obtain a copy of "The Minimum You Need to Know to Be an OpenVMS Application Developer" it shows you how to use a SORT SPECIFICATION file to do just what you want. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:02:22 -0700 (PDT) From: IanMiller Subject: Re: Using Fortran to generate graphics Message-ID: On Oct 20, 3:47=A0am, PR wrote: > I was directed to an interesting task today. I need to process a very > large dataset and create a series of graphics from them. The data set > is oceanic environmental data and they want to see the data overlayed > on sat shots of the ocean. > > Fun. :) > > Since the graphics do not have to be real time, I was thinking of > doing it on a VMS system (IA64). I was wondering if anyone would care > to share their thoughts on how doable this is, and on any graphics > libraries available for Fortran 90. They grpahics need to be in some > hi-res format, but at a minimum, a TIFF will do I suppose. The sat > shots are coming in as TIFFs. > > There is no hurry on this, I have several weeks to propose the "how" > and several months to actually "do." > > Thanks > -Paul > > P.S. By "very large", I mean the data to overlay for each sat shot is > just shy of a terabyte. > > -Paul libTIFF, libPNG, libGD, libJPEG are all available for VMS http://fafner.dyndns.org/~alexey/libsdl/required.html IMAL (formally TNIMAGE) is also available http://fafner.dyndns.org/~alexey/ You may find something of interest in this VTJ article http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/journal/v7/bringing_seismic_data_to_t= he_web.pdf ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:04:45 +0800 From: "Richard Maher" Subject: Re: Using Fortran to generate graphics Message-ID: Hi Paul, If you're interested, Adobe Flex charting is about the most impresssive tool that I've found to date! (Silverlight is also gaining ground) To see how simple it is (once you're free of the shackles of DECForms and the buffoons at HP/VMS Middle Management) why dont't you have a gander at http://manson.vistech.net/t3$examples/demo_client_flex.html All the MXML and JavaScript source code is available at http://manson.vistech.net/t3$examples/ Username: TIER3_DEMO Password: QUEUE Just click the "go" buttonto retrieve some data, then hovver over the pie charts and drill-down to change the data-grid. I personnaly see this as the *best* ever example of an employee query to the Rdb Personnel database, but hey, I'll let you be the judge. (Just tell me what exactly you are comparing it to!) Cheers Richard Maher "PR" wrote in message news:8d57e97c-ec61-4e51-a0aa-979880793924@f63g2000hsf.googlegroups.com... > I was directed to an interesting task today. I need to process a very > large dataset and create a series of graphics from them. The data set > is oceanic environmental data and they want to see the data overlayed > on sat shots of the ocean. > > Fun. :) > > Since the graphics do not have to be real time, I was thinking of > doing it on a VMS system (IA64). I was wondering if anyone would care > to share their thoughts on how doable this is, and on any graphics > libraries available for Fortran 90. They grpahics need to be in some > hi-res format, but at a minimum, a TIFF will do I suppose. The sat > shots are coming in as TIFFs. > > There is no hurry on this, I have several weeks to propose the "how" > and several months to actually "do." > > Thanks > -Paul > > P.S. By "very large", I mean the data to overlay for each sat shot is > just shy of a terabyte. > > -Paul ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:37:19 -0700 (PDT) From: PR Subject: Re: Using Fortran to generate graphics Message-ID: <29ea436d-66b1-480a-ba76-db4797353b79@c36g2000prc.googlegroups.com> On Oct 19, 9:58=A0pm, "Peter Weaver" wrote: > >... > > doing it on a VMS system (IA64). I was wondering if anyone would care > > to share their thoughts on how doable this is, and on any graphics > > libraries available for Fortran 90. They grpahics need to be in some > > hi-res format, but at a minimum, a TIFF will do I suppose. The sat > > shots are coming in as TIFFs. > >... > > Just a few days ago Helmut Michels announced in COV the release of versio= n > 9.4 of the data plotting software DISLIN. To quote Helmut (I usually like= o > trim my posts down, but this one deserves to be repeated in full); > > > > > Dear VMS users, > > > I am pleased to announce version 9.4 of the data plotting software > > DISLIN. > > > DISLIN is a high-level and easy to use plotting library for > > displaying data as curves, bar graphs, pie charts, 3D-colour plots, > > surfaces, contours and maps. Several output formats are supported > > such as X11, VGA, PostScript, PDF, CGM, WMF, HPGL, TIFF, GIF, PNG, > > BMP and SVG. > > > The software is available for the most C, Fortran 77 and Fortran 90/95 > > compilers. Plotting extensions for the interpreting languages Perl, > > Python and Java are also supported. > > > DISLIN distributions and manuals in PDF, PostScript and HTML format > > are available from the DISLIN home page > > > =A0 =A0 =A0http://www.dislin.de > > > and via FTP from the server > > > =A0 =A0 =A0ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/grafik/dislin > > > All DISLIN distributions are free for non-commercial use. Licenses > > for commercial use are available from the sitehttp://www.dislin.de. > > > =A0------------------- > > =A0 Helmut Michels > > =A0 Max Planck Institute for > > =A0 Solar System Research =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Phone: +49 5556 9= 79-334 > > =A0 Max-Planck-Str. 2 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Fax =A0: +49 = 5556 979-240 > > =A0 D-37191 Katlenburg-Lindau =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Mail : mich...@mps.mp= g.de > > Peter Weaverwww.weaverconsulting.ca=A0 =A0www.openvmsvirtualization.comww= w.vaxvirtualization.com=A0www.alphavirtualization.com > Winner of the 2007 OpenVMS.org Readers' Choice Award for System > Management/Performance I looked at this, and it appears to be very good indeed. I am not sure it will let me overlay on an existing photo image, but I have not read the entire manual yet. Thanks for the pointer. -Paul ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:38:27 -0700 (PDT) From: PR Subject: Re: Using Fortran to generate graphics Message-ID: <02b9797f-35b9-4f79-af15-5d03e306bc34@b2g2000prf.googlegroups.com> On Oct 19, 11:30=A0pm, JF Mezei wrote: > PR wrote: > > I was directed to an interesting task today. I need to process a very > > large dataset and create a series of graphics from them. The data set > > is oceanic environmental data and they want to see the data overlayed > > on sat shots of the ocean. > > Is the output going on a display with interactive point and click, or > going to a file as some static image file (.jpeg, .tiff etc) ? > > note that with VMS, any language can call routines from another language > =A0(with some caveats). > > If you create one image and wish to overlay it over another, there is > imagemagik that is available on VMS. I believe it will be a static image. I did not realize that ImageMagik was ported to VMS. That is certainly one thing to look at! Thanks -Paul ------------------------------ End of INFO-VAX 2008.567 ************************