|
HP OpenVMS Systemsask the wizard |
|
The Question is: Dear Wizard, We are a civil engineering firm which has been contracted to model/design a water distribution system for a county here in North Carolina. The problem is that the data files prohibit them being sent to us on a floppy diskette(s). The agency also does not have an email connection, so we were provided with a 4MM tape with information written by ARCINFO, a Geographic Information System package, running on OpenVMS 7.1, on a DEC 3000 machine. The information is a flat ASCII file containing AutoCAD (a computer drafting package) drawing exchange files (.DXF) We have been unable to find a resource for reading and writing the files so that our WinNT 4.0 machines can use them. Could you direct me to any resources/utilities to enable us to rewrite the files in a X86 processor compatible format? Thank you for your assistance! Wayne The Answer is : Without knowing the specific on-tape format used by the ARCINST folks, the Wizard cannot answer the question. 4MM DATs are available on various platforms, and you will need to work with your client and with the folks that support the Geographic Information System ARCINST package to determine what sort of interchange format(s) are available and are appropriate, as well as with folks that support your Microsoft Windows NT systems. OpenVMS can read and write most standard tape formats, including both tar and standard ANSI magtape formats, and various tools are available to read OpenVMS BACKUP format savesets on various platforms. (The OpenVMS commands INITIALIZE, MOUNT, and COPY are used to create the simplest of tape formats around, a very basic ANSI magtape format.) Check with the folks that support your Microsoft systems to see if they can read magtapes that comply with ANSI magtape standards, or if they can provide you with suggestions or pointers to third-party packages to read these industry-standard magtape formats. If you are planning on regular data interchanges, Internet connections are available for small charges, and you could certainly also configure the necessary hardware (modems and controllers) to bring up a point-to-point (PPP or otherwise) communications link between the two sites via leased or dial-up lines. This approach would likely be the best long-term approach, as TCP/IP services on OpenVMS is compatible with the same standards supported by the Windows NT IP packages, and you can thus use FTP and similar to transfer your files.
|