VMS FAQ (UTIL)

How do I play an audio CD on my workstation?

If you've installed the DECwindows examples, you'll find DECW$CDPLAYER.C, .DAT, .EXE, .UIL, and .UID. Copy the .UID and .DAT files to DECW$USER_DEFAULTS: (typically SYS$LOGIN:), define the logical name DECW$CD_PLAYER to be the device name of your CD-ROM drive (eg. DKA400:), give yourself PHY_IO and DIAGNOSE privileges, and run the .EXE. (These privileges are required, as the access to the CD-related extensions will require the use of the privilege-protected IO$_DIAGNOSE I/O function code.) You can also install the image with these privileges. See the source for additional details - note that the comments regarding the need for SYSGEN CONNECT are no longer applicable (at least as of VMS V5.5-2).

There's also SYS$EXAMPLES:CDROM_AUDIO.C and .EXE, a non-Motif program, available on OpenVMS VAX, and DECW$EXAMPLES:DECW$CDPLAYER.* on OpenVMS VAX and OpenVMS Alpha.

The standard OpenVMS IDE DQDRIVER does not support the necessary IO$_DIAGNOSE function required for access to audio CD media (on OpenVMS versions prior to V7.3), but an updated DQDRIVER device driver (source code and all) with this capability and with the source code of an updated CD audio player is available on the OpenVMS Freeware website http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/dqdriver/ and these updates are also expected to be included on Freeware V5.0 and later.

UTIL2.

How do I access a MS-DOS floppy disk from OpenVMS?

The Compaq Advanced Server (formerly known as PATHWORKS) for OpenVMS product includes an unsupported and undocumented utility called PCDISK, and this tool can read and write various MS-DOS format diskettes.

ProGIS in Germany sells a product called VMove which supports DOS files on many different device types. For more information, send mail to info@progis.de.

Engineering Software has a product called VAKSAT which will read, write, and erase files on DOS diskettes. Available for both VAX and Alpha.
Contact ed@cityscape.co.uk for more information.

MadGoat PC Exchange (PCX) is a utility for copying files to and from MS-DOS (FAT) format diskettes under VMS, using an RX23 (3.5"), RX26 (3.5"), or RX33 (5.25") diskette drive. For 3.5" diskettes, high-density disks can be read or written; double-density disks are read-only. Only high-density disks are supported on the RX33.

   http://www.madgoat.com

UTIL3.

How do I play sound files on an AlphaStation? DECsound doesn't work

The new AlphaStation systems use a different sound board (Microsoft Sound System) than the earlier DEC 3000 AXP systems, and DECsound, as supplied by DECwindows Motif, doesn't support this board. Compaq offers an optional product, Multimedia Services for OpenVMS:

  http://www.compaq.com/info/spd/

which provides a replacement DECsound for this card as well as many other features (an AVI and MPEG player, video capture support, etc.)
Ensoniq sound support is also available.

UTIL4.

Why is DECmigrate not working with Fortran?

OTS-F-INDATCOR internal data corrupted in Run-time Library

This error can arise with Fortran programs if you are running a recent version of OpenVMS Alpha, and are using DECmigrate to translate Fortran applications. The DECmigrate Run-Time Library attempts to support mixed translated-native I/O to the same unit by sharing the native Fortran RTL's internal data structures, and in OpenVMS 7.2 these structures changed and the translated RTL was not updated accordingly.

You can copy DEC$FORRTL.EXE from OpenVMS 7.1, copying it to some spare directory, and then defining the logical name DEC$FORRTL to point to it before running your translated application. Or rebuilding the application to use the available native Fortran compiler. Or you can apply the current Fortran RTL kit, which has a fix for this.

See SOFT13.


                                    [Steve Lionel]

UTIL5.

How do I read IBM EBCDIC tapes on OpenVMS?

IBM boxes can read ANSI-labeled ASCII magtapes. Fixed-length records and the DCL COPY command can be used to transfer text files around. Check the IBM documentation for details.

There exists various freeware around (TAPECOPY, ETAPE, TCOPY, MTEXCH) that can read and write EBCDIC tapes. Visit the DECUS website software archives search engine (via http://www.decus.org/), and search for "EBCDIC".

                                    [Steve Hoffman]

One source for ETAPE is:

  http://www.ualr.edu/ftp/vms/ETAPE_SRC/

OpenVMS Freeware V5.0 is expected to include this tool.

                                    [Fletcher Hearns]
                                    [Dale Miller]

UTIL6.

How can I patch an OpenVMS Alpha image?

Using the OpenVMS Freeware tool ZAP:

    http://www.openvms.compaq.com/freeware/rms_tools/

Tell ZAP to read a block (bucket) of information based on the virtual block number (VBN), using X for hexadecimal.
Dump yourself into the OpenVMS debugger with R2 pointing into the buffer.
EXAMINE/INSTRUCTION as needed, alter the buffer as required.
GO to get out of the debugger and back into ZAP.
Use the ZAP W command to write the updated block.

OpenVMS Freeware V5.0 is expected to have an updated version of the ZAP tool.

Back