My original question:
> I was wondering if anyone could help me configure one of those recordable CD
> drives on to an AlphaServer 4100 running Tru64 UNIX version 4.0G. Perhaps I
> should ask first if such a device is supported by the operating system at all.
>
Many thanks go to
Dr. Tom Blinn: "Dr. Tom Blinn, 603-884-0646" <tpb_at_doctor.zk3.dec.com>
Alan : alan_at_nabeth.cxo.dec.com
Claudia Chiarenza: claudia chiarenza <claudia.chiarenza_at_asu.edu>
And all the persons who replied whose replies I had not received by the time I
sent this summary.
According to Alan and Dr. Tom, Digital had never offered a recordable CDROM
drive with their AlphaServer systems. They did say, though, that if you use one
it will most likely work though neither of them would guarantee working in write
mode (see the included messages below).
Claudia mentioned that she had three of them running on her network and they all
worked okay. She did mention needing to download some software, though (see the
included messages below).
Claudia was also kind enough to send me a script file to install with. I shall
try these things, and report back later, since I had not yet bought the
rewritable CDROM drive.
Included Messages:
>From Dr. Blinn:
If it's readable as a CDROM drive, it will get enabled, although it is
not SUPPORTED (that is, no recordable CD drive was ever tested for use
with the AlphaServer 4100 running Tru64 UNIX version 4.0G and listed in
any support statement).
Tru64 UNIX itself has no particular software for dealing with recordable
CDROM drives as anything except read-only devices (that is, you can use
standard file system commands to mount suitable CDROM media just as you
would with a read-only drive).
Just about any of the "free" (e.g., public domain) programs that worked
on any earlier V4.0x release of what is now Tru64 UNIX should just work
on V4.0G -- nothing substantial has changed. If you check the archives
for the list, I'm sure you'll find some statements of preference.
Note that whether the drive will actually work depends on the model of
the drive. We TRY to make the system software flexible, but there are
all kinds of variations people can build into hardware and firmware, and
some of them are just enough outside the realm of "normal" that they can
make the system software misbehave.
>From Alan:
To the best of my knowledge Digital never supported one
of these devices, but various 3rd party vendors do. They
usually include a software suite for controlling the
device. Without knowing which specific device you have
in mind, it is hard to guess whether it might work or
not. To see what devices are support (qualified and
guaranteed to work with the operating system), look at
the Software Product Description for the particular
version of it. The SPD is in the documentation directory
of the base OS CDROM.
>From Claudia,
we have three of them working on dec alpha 200's. we just replaced the
old cd with the new cd rw and then downloaded software from:
http://www.fokus.gmd.de/research/cc/glone/employees/joerg.schilling/private/cdrecord.html
the software is cdrecord and you also need mkisofs and something called
smake-alpha-osf1 - see the website. my installation script is sent as an
attachment (i manage 5 systems so i figure out how to install on one
system and then make script out of it to install on the other 4). if you
have any questions, please feel free to write again.
ciao
claudia
the list of files i downloaded are:
cdrecord-1.9.lsm
cdrecord-1.9.tar.gz
mkisofs-1.13.lsm
mkisofs-1.13.tar.gz
smake-alpha-osf1
Received on Wed Nov 08 2000 - 19:31:41 NZDT