1 INFO-VAX	Sat, 29 Apr 2000	Volume 2000 : Issue 239       Contents: Re: And they wonder why !!% Re: Compaq still seen as a PC company 5 Re: Interesting problem with AS 255/233 and JAZ drive ( Re: Mozilla/Communicator FAQ for OpenVMS+ Re: OpenVMS and WNT integration for Dummies $ Problem with Seagate ST32272N in VLC SA-100 Re: Temperature in DCL Re: Time Sync'ing a VMS server Re: TPU for unix VXT2000 question) Was USERNAME, now ancient backup memories   F ----------------------------------------------------------------------  % Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 18:46:49 +1200 * From: "Ryan C. Price" <pricerc@ihug.co.nz># Subject: Re: And they wonder why !! * Message-ID: <8ee0gm$h2k$1@news.ihug.co.nz>  3 Years ago (as a Digit) I had the 'reverse' problem.   ? Early Alphas had a lower SPEC/MHz than x86, and got their speed 	 advantage F through raw clock speed. Unfortunately, several customers assumed that a 200MHzD Alpha would give them 3 times the performance of their 66MHz Pentium and got % upset with us when it didn't deliver.   E Now the SPEC/MHz is reversed, Alpha's being bashed for being 'slower'  whenF it isn't really. Alpha Processor Inc need to sort the problem out PDQ. Even if E people who really know what's going on can see through the Intel FUD,  there's < a psychological effect of GHz on the computer-buying public.   now going slightly OT...  C Then there was the ISV who called us in because a 233 MHz PII clone  serverD was faster than our 300MHz AlphaServer 800. I arrived to investigate and E after explaining that Alpha MHz != x86 MHz, first thing I did was ask  to see their benchmark.  F They were comparing the speed of a SINGLE transaction between a client and E the server, where the transaction would fire up the server process to  return some D information. How did they measure the speed ? Windows NT performanceF monitor - they could see on the graph that the Alpha's CPU time peaked for B 1/2 a second more than the Intel did. The total transaction taking about 2 seconds 
 on the Intel.   E I asked them if they'd done any testing with SEVERAL transactions and  SEVERAL D clients simultaneously. Nope. Got them to simulate 10 (IIRC) clients using 3 realD clients doing several transactions. Of course you know where this is	 going....    The Alpha ended up faster.  F Then I pointed them at the service packs for Visual C on Alpha, and to the porting @ guide where they could find out the correct compiler switches to optimize theirF application properly - they were building without optimizing for their targetF platform (21164 (A?)), and there were optimization bugs in the version theyC were running... I never heard from them again, and have since moved 
 countries,A but they taught me a few things about professional programmers...      /Ryan     = "JF Mezei" <jfmezei.spamnot@vl.videotron.ca> wrote in message ( news:390A55AA.746B445@vl.videotron.ca... > "Main, Kerry" wrote:A > > As a fyi, keep in mind that at the present time, the 1Ghz x86 	 boxes are ( > > WS/desktop single cpu config's only. > D > Doesn't matter. What matters is Intel claiming the world's fastest
 processor. > F > > To the best of my knowledge, no x86 servers (requires SMP support) at this 3 > > speed range have been introduced by any vendor.  > F > But what matters is that there has been marketing to show that Intel has the  > fastest processor. > 8 > > http://www.spec.org/osg/cpu2000/results/cpu2000.html > B > Folks don't go through the trouble of studying those complicated	 specmarks > > thingies, especially when their local IT trade rag will have articles or F > adverts that tell them exactly which processor is the fastest in the world: > Intel's 80x86. > " > It's the markteting that counts.   ------------------------------  % Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 11:24:51 +0200   From: Paul Sture <paul@sture.ch>. Subject: Re: Compaq still seen as a PC company+ Message-ID: <VA.00000020.00bf0ddf@sture.ch>   M In article <8ec2ts$gdk$1@fizban.fizban.pprd.abbott.com>, Dave Gudewicz wrote: 3 > From: "Dave Gudewicz" <david.gudewicz@abbott.com>  > Newsgroups: comp.os.vms 0 > Subject: Re: Compaq still seen as a PC company' > Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 08:19:00 -0500  > N > OTOH.  Here's a link that does "suggest" that Compaq may be shortly changing > its tune.  We'll see.  >  > N > http://www.cnetinvestor.com/newsitem-bloomberg.asp?symbol=85547212&Ticker=CP > Q  >   L Given yesterday's other Big Announcement, methinks it might have been timed  nicely. Here's hoping.  8 C'mon Compaq, push your own 100% owned products as well. ___ 
 Paul Sture Switzerland    ------------------------------    Date: 29 Apr 2000 03:03:05 -04004 From: "Robert Deininger" <rdeininger@mindspring.com>> Subject: Re: Interesting problem with AS 255/233 and JAZ drive+ Message-ID: <B530016F-379D0@165.247.40.167>   D On Wed, Apr 26, 2000 1:38 PM, Chris Scheers <asi@airmail.net> wrote:  F >In any case, I have now gotten the problem to occur once using a hardD >drive.  I'm guessing that it is timing dependent and the slower JAZ$ >drive caused it to occur regularly. > G >I'm still trying to figure this one out.  Any suggestions on necessary  >ECOs would be welcomed.  K I've been asking similar questions about disk weirdness, and I got very few  answers.  - >Another possibility is to load the VMS 7.1-2 > >kit and see if that fixes it.  (Is this kit still available?)  G Yes, it is still available.  We just got the kit from Compaq yesterday. A I think it cost $16 and change.  We started upgrading firmware in C preparation for upgrading VMS on all our alphas.  (Our kit included  firmware CD V5.6)   B I don't know what the result of the upgrade will be.  But the listD of ECOs that V7.1-2 includes covers most of two pages in the manual.D You can imagine how many individual things were fixed/changed in all those ECOs.   D And I think *that* is why it is so hard to get advice on which patchB might fix a problem in V7.1.  Not having done it yet, it does lookC like V7.1-2 is the easiest solution for all sorts of trouble.  Just C give up on patching V7.1.  (Fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong  over the weekend.)     ---------------------------  Robert Deininger rdeininger@mindspring.com    ------------------------------  # Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 13:54:35 GMT  From: d.webb@mdx.ac.uk1 Subject: Re: Mozilla/Communicator FAQ for OpenVMS ) Message-ID: <8eepin$m0b$1@nnrp1.deja.com>   6 In article <8e793f$q4l$1@mailint03.im.hou.compaq.com>,8   "John L. Ferguson" <John.L.Ferguson@compaq.com> wrote: > 9 > Q: Why is there no Java support in Mozilla for OpenVMS?  > E > A: Mozilla implements Java using OJI (Open JVM Integration). OJI is  part of C > Java Version 1.3, but V1.3 is not yet available on all platforms, 	 including G > OpenVMS. As soon as Java Version 1.3 is available on OpenVMS, it will  be > supported in Mozilla.  >  > Advantages of using OJI are: > ? >      - Multiple Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) can be supported 7 >      - Upgrading the JVM used by Mozilla is very easy  > A > With previous browsers, you were bound to the JVM that had been  embedded in  > the browser code.  > 8 > For more information, see http://www.mozilla.org/oji/. >  >     A Given the amount of time it has taken to get previous versions of D Java software for VMS is this likely to be available before the wide4 availabilty of Java version 1.4 on other platforms ?C ie Is VMS always going to be the afterthought with Java with effort 1 being put into porting to Tru64 taking priority ?     
 David Webb VMS and Unix team leader CCSS Middlesex University      & Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.    ------------------------------  % Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 11:24:54 +0200   From: Paul Sture <paul@sture.ch>4 Subject: Re: OpenVMS and WNT integration for Dummies+ Message-ID: <VA.00000022.00bf18b9@sture.ch>   C In article <3909C2FD.D98A87@nc.prestige.net>, Michael Austin wrote: 0 > From: Michael Austin <maustin@nc.prestige.net> > Newsgroups: comp.os.vms 6 > Subject: Re: OpenVMS and WNT integration for Dummies' > Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 12:57:33 -0400  > J > I am a DBA (Rdb and Oracle/Oracle if I must) and if the code was writtenD > properly, first come/served is always possible -- Even using COM.   & You are preaching to the converted :-)  H It sounds to me as though they took the exercise of moving to COM as an 2 opportunity to address an application deficiency.   M Of course the "port to COM" exercise might just have provided the budget and  L manpower resources to address this issue, and presumably others at the same  time.    > You L > still have the same problem. What planet is this guy from?  Obviously thisM > book was written to give some unwitting bean-counters the idea that you can J > do the same thing in WNT that you can in OpenVMS. Hogwash.  I still haveJ > not seen ANY WNT server that could sustain the TPS-anything numbers thatI > you can on any OpenVMS system.  And to say that VMS is legacy is also a H > bunch of hog slop.  OpenVMS will do as much or more today than ANY WNTH > server and do it without crashing or having to reboot every other day.M > Just because it has a GUI interface does NOT imply that it is better.   And J > if you want GUI, web-enabling your apps can be done fairly easily if you? > know what you are doing.   And guess what?  It doesn't crash.  >   M As I said in my follow up message, the rest of the book _does_ introduce the  K advantages of VMS over WNT, but without getting into the language of an OS   war. Useful I think.  K > Hmmm,  I was thinking,  look at the enormous cost of deploying a WNT app, M > such as each PC must have a bunch of code running on the desktop to make it C > all work.  So in looking at "cost savings" they are investigating K > "Thin-Client".  And you can't get a thinner client than a VTxxx terminal.  > :)  $ My favourite 'net snippet this week:  ? NT: Insert wallet into drive A: - Press any key to empty wallet  > K > All of that being said,  it does not sound like they are trying to do  as 8 > much integration as replacement. (more comments below) >  > > The next key words are:  > > F > > "But the order takers found that they were not seeing when catalogE > > items were out of stock because the application handled the order 7 > > transactions on a "first come, first served" basis.  > >  > J > It is called read consistency.  You must look at the data as it was whenC > you started your transaction.  Reading "dirty data" (data not yet L > committed), although possible with some database engines is not preferableM > from a pure data standpoint.  What if that user does not commit, but elects M > to abort the transaction. Now you have told a customer you are out of stock D > when you actually have it.   Airline reservation systems allow theE > reservationist to reserve more seats than are available on a plane. F > Catalog companies also allow products to be over-sold and it is then > back-ordered.   K Back-orders! That is precisely the problem we had all those years ago, and  I why I bit so hard on the description of this example. Ever seen the same  N solitary starter motor, the only one in stock, printed on 50 separate picking L lists? I have. The solution was as simple as adding an "allocated quantity" L field to the stock file, updated on a first come, first served basis by the  order entry program.   Now you've got me at it too...  - > Event ticket sales do not allow seats to be J > "double-booked".  The record for that seat will be locked when the FIRSTC > reservationist request the seat (exclusive lock) so that no other J > reservationist can attempt to sell the seat while the customer is in theL > process of selling a ticket for that seat.  The next resvationist attemptsL > to lock the same record, will be given a message that it is not available. > I > All of this has NOTHING to do with whether or not they are on a GUI/COM L > application on a character-cell-based application.  It has EVERYTHING withL > how the application and database does record-level locking.  And no matterL > what they say... it is always on a first-come/first-served basis.  If not,) > then you have some serious data issues.  >  > > # > > .. after rewriting with COM ...  > > > > > "Here's the best part: Each order taker get his or her ownG > > instantiation of the COM object, so each customer request locks the ; > > database - that is, reserves each item - in real time."  > >  > G > The first one to commit the record will still win.  Everyoneelse will E > either be back-ordered or denied updates.  first come/first served.  > 3 Yup. As I said, you are preaching to the converted.  >  >  > 0 > [Attachment decoded to FILE://\VA\maustin.vcf] > L Please turn off MIME when posting to newsgroups. That .vcf file shows up on K my disk as 243 bytes, and takes up a 32K cluster! (W98 here, unfortunately)  ___ 
 Paul Sture Switzerland    ------------------------------  % Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2000 00:04:00 +1000 - From: David B Sneddon <dbsneddon@bigpond.com> - Subject: Problem with Seagate ST32272N in VLC 0 Message-ID: <14040098666214@domain3.bigpond.com>  	 Hi Folks,   : I have a VAXstation 4000 VLC into which I am trying to fit a Seagate Barracuda ST32272N. ) When the system boots I get the following    ?? 110  10   SCSI  0034   7 which is telling me it doesn't like something about the ; drive.  I don't have any manuals for the VLC and was hoping 9 someone would be able to interpret the error code for me.  Thanks in advance.   Regards, Dave. I ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I David B Sneddon (dbs)  OpenVMS Systems Programmer   dbsneddon@bigpond.com F DBS software is at http://www.users.bigpond.com/dbsneddon/software.htmI "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" Lennon    ------------------------------  % Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 10:36:18 -0600 * From: "emanuel stiebler" <emu@ecubics.com> Subject: SA-100 3 Message-ID: <390b0e4d$0$23241@wodc7nh1.news.uu.net>    Hi,   C anybody out here, has one of them working ? (or just the manual ;-)   E What I'm looking for, is the DEC Part Number of the magazin for the 6 
 Cartriges.  
 thanks a lot,  emanuel    ------------------------------  # Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 10:54:29 GMT = From: system@SendSpamHere.ORG (Brian Schenkenberger, VAXman-)  Subject: Re: Temperature in DCL 0 Message-ID: <009E9530.3A9875ED@SendSpamHere.ORG>  p In article <000c01bfb176$7c9c2b50$094c88c8@unipobjetivo.br>, "Valdemir J. Santos" <valdemir-@uol.com.br> writes:- >This is a multi-part message in MIME format.  > , >------=_NextPart_000_0009_01BFB15D.55D8A700 >Content-Type: text/plain; >	charset="iso-8859-1", >Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable >  >  >Hello guys: > # > When I create a symbol like this:  > ' > $  a=3Df$getsyi("temperature_vector")  >=20 > $  sh symbol a > + >     a=3D"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF18"  >=209 > how can I convert this information in celsius degrees ?  >  >  > Thank you in advance...    quoted-printable!  Bleachk!   # a="FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF18"   > C = %x'F$extract(F$length(a)-2,2,a) ! Tempurature in degrees C  > F = C*9/5+32                        ! Tempurature in degrees F   --N VAXman- OpenVMS APE certification number: AAA-0001           VAXman@TMESIS.COM  L GNU Freeware -- What does the GNU *really* stand for?  Garbage!  Not Usable!   ------------------------------  # Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 13:25:29 GMT / From: alldisaj@aja001.demon.co.uk (Tony Alldis) ' Subject: Re: Time Sync'ing a VMS server / Message-ID: <390ae234.2096347@news.demon.co.uk>   > TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS (formerly UCX!) V5.* has some neat  NTP-type programs built into it.  A If you don't want to run NTP, you can run NTPDATE (from Batch, or B detached process) several times a day, and it will obtain the time from the specified host.  F This is a lot less "noisy" than running NTP which is blasting out over the network all of the time.   Regards, 	Tony    ------------------------------  # Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 13:18:53 GMT / From: alldisaj@aja001.demon.co.uk (Tony Alldis)  Subject: Re: TPU for unix / Message-ID: <390ade67.1123257@news.demon.co.uk>    Hi, = 	There is a commercial package available called nu/TPU, which & runs on the majority of UNIX flavours.  C I've extracted the following from: http://www.generix.ltd.uk/nutpu/!   nu/TPU v5.0 features include:o   Motif and MS Windows compliant h" Complete TPU programming language # VMS TPU 5.4 source code compatible   EVE, EDT, and WPS interfaces  / Supports unlimited files, buffers, and windows A Fully customizable on the fly : Column cut/copy/paste operations in insert/overwrite mode 4 Horizontal and vertical scroll bars in every window  Dynamic keyboard definitions -: Unique simple interface (si) shipped with its source code ) Color and other video attributes support p Unlimited undo >  Command line with abbreviations  Free and bound cursor movement e
 Word wrap % Wildcard and case-sensitive searches ' User-definable backup creation s4 Quick and easy key redefinition and learn sequences  Spawn and shell facilities  $ International character set support 0 Automated editing interface building procedures   nu/TPU v5.0 Platforms Supported:   Windows NT Intel   Windows NT Alpha i
 Windows95  Windows 3.1  DOS  UNIX - All major vendors.      Regards, 	Tony.   ------------------------------  % Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 13:56:34 +0100b( From: Lydia Yudina <gl10@post.tau.ac.il> Subject: VXT2000 questione. Message-ID: <390ADC02.D1CBF348@post.tau.ac.il>   Hi Experts,HH I have an antic VXT2000 X-terminal which i'm trying to resurrect (so far unsuccessfully).G It's starting to load, loading (i can see it) and hangs off just beforeM0 the user name and password window should appear.C I can see the desktop background and the mouse pointer (which a cans move)." I didn't find any error-log files. Please help!!! Thank U in advance.t  + Guy Lifshitz, VMS System Administrator, IDFh   ------------------------------  % Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 11:24:53 +0200o  From: Paul Sture <paul@sture.ch>2 Subject: Was USERNAME, now ancient backup memories+ Message-ID: <VA.00000021.00bf14f7@sture.ch>   B In article <3909D18D.CCC4D3AD@ohio.edu>, Richard D. Piccard wrote: > Newsgroups: comp.os.vmse/ > From: "Richard D. Piccard" <piccard@ohio.edu>n > Subject: Re: USERNAMEn% > Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2000 17:59:49 GMTy >  >  >  > Paul Sture wrote:I > >  >  > [snip] > P > > From my dim and distant experience when filename lengths were opened up backQ > > in VMS 4.0, it was surprising how few things broke when booting back into VMSsQ > > 3.n. Of course specifying a long filename to VMS 3 got caught by the filenameoQ > > parsing routines, DIR etc didn't so much as hiccup. I think I even managed tou8 > > get V3 backup to restore files with V4 length names. > [snip] > I > No.  I remember that we could not use the S/A BACKUP we had on our diskeI > drive from V3.7 to restore the .B saveset of V4.0 to begin the upgrade, H > because of ONE lousy file whose name was too long.  We had to boot S/AH > BACKUP from multiple TU-58s, thereby significantly increasing the down! > time required for the upgrade.   > R No wonder you remember _that_ one. My circumstances must have been different, but Q I _do_ remember being pleasantly surprised that I could skip a couple of reboots g# for whatever it was I wanted to do.  ___o
 Paul Sture Switzerland,   ------------------------------   End of INFO-VAX 2000.239 ************************