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HP OpenVMS Systemsask the wizard |
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The Question is: Hey wiz! The RRD40-DA and RRD40-DC. What's the DA and DC mean. Will these run on my 3100? The Answer is :
The RRD40 is a single-speed CD-ROM drive, and requires a
CD caddy. The following models have existed:
RRD40-DA: SCSI CD-ROM, single-speed, desktop model.
RRD40-DC: Q-BUS slave CD-ROM drive. No KRQ50 controller.
This is not a SCSI interface. Used only with
existing KRQ50 and RRD40-H* or RRD40-S* disk.
RRD40-E*: SCSI CD-ROM, internal, VAXstation 3100 series
RRD40-FA: SCSI CD-ROM, external, 120V
RRD40-F3: SCSI CD-ROM, external, 240V
RRD40-HC: Q-Bus KRQ50 CD-ROM, external, 120V
includes BA23/BA123 KRQ50
RRD40-HD: Q-Bus KRQ50 CD-ROM, external, 240V
includes BA23/BA123 KRQ50
RRD40-SA: Q-Bus KRQ50 CD-ROM, external, 120V
includes BA2xx/BA4xx KRQ50
RRD40-SB: Q-Bus KRQ50 CD-ROM, external, 240V
includes BA2xx/BA4xx KRQ50
The OpenVMS Wizard will assuming that you mean VAXstation 3100 or
MicroVAX 3100 and not DECstation 3100 by "3100" -- there are a wide
variety of "3100" systems; in general, please be very specific when
refering to a particular system.
Various VAXstation 3100 series systems had an internal RRD40 drive.
The VAXstation 3100 and MicroVAX 3100 series systems generally have
an external SCSI bus (a few did not), so the RRD40-DA is likely to
work -- though, given the glacial speed of these drives, perhaps
"walk" would be a more appropriate description than "run".
The RRD40-DC does not have a SCSI interface and cannot be connected
to any members of the VAXstation and MicroVAX 3100 series systems.
A drawback of the RRD40 series was the design of the caddy. Inserting
and removing CDs in the caddy is a rather cumbersome process, as the
caddy was intended to contain the same CD *permanently*. For a small
set of CDs this was an excellent concept as the CD would never be
touched or scratched - it would either be in the drive itself or in
it's highly protective caddy. For modern CD collections this is
impractical as it would be far too expensive to purchase enough caddies
(if you can find them for sale at all!)
Another potential problem is that some of the older model VAXstation
3100 series systems would sometimes have trouble sensing the RRD40 on
the bus. One of the Wizard's own systems suffered this problem. To
make the drive work, the procedure was to stop at the console prompt
and use the >>> SHOW DEV command to ensure the drive was visible. If
not, keep issuing SHOW DEV commands while power cycling the RRD40 until
the drive appeared. The operating system would then have no trouble
finding the drive.
The OpenVMS Wizard would recommend using a more modern SCSI drive.
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