Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!oberon!uscacsc!carl
From: carl@uscacsc.usc.edu (Carl Braganza)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt
Subject: Re: 3363 Optical Disk on 6152 Academic System
Keywords: 3363 Optical Disk Drive, 6152 Academic System, HELP !
Message-ID: <601@uscacsc.usc.edu>
Date: 17 Mar 89 18:26:25 GMT
References: <7553@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Reply-To: carl@uscacsc.UUCP (Carl Braganza)
Organization: USC ACSC, Los Angeles
Lines: 59

In article <7553@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> feigin@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Adam Feigin) writes:
>I've been trying to attach an IBM 3363 optical disk drive to one of our
>6152 Academic systems, and I've had no luck so far. Unfortunately, there
>is nothing about installing this in drive the 4.3 notes or the 6152
>installation booklet. I've built a kernel with optical drive support,
>installed the DOS driver for the optical drive, but I cant get the darn
>thing to work at all. The folks at ACSC dont seem to have any experience
>with this kind of installation.
>If anyone out there has attached one of these drives to your 6152, I'd
>sure appreciate hearing about how/what you did to get it going......
>Thanx in advance.

The optical disk is an unsupported feature on the 6152. However, I spoke to
the person in Palo Alto who had written the code, and got some hint on how
to make it work. Since I have never seen the device, nor its associated
software, what you get here is probably a diluted and over-simplified version
of what actually exists. However, if it is of any help ...


1. The optical disk (3363) runs under DOS and must be installed from DOS
before UNIX is booted. Presumably you already know how to do this; some
important steps are to install the driver in CONFIG.SYS and to run the
program `ibm3363'(?). If you are using the disk for the first time, then a
utility program (util3363 ?) must be run to format the disk. If you are
using 2 hard disks, the optical disk should attach itself as the "E"
drive.

Aside: The 3363 does not use DOS formatting. The ibm3363 program actually
provides its own COMMAND.COM which has hooks to use the optical disk -- it
is a non-trivial program. The optical disk is available only while the
ibm3363 command.com is running. Once you exit from that program, the disk
may no longer be used.

2. Run unix.exe (after running ibm3363). The optical disk should be found
during autoconfig (or so I imagine). I don't know exactly what messages should
appear, but something should be reported. All the hooks are already
available in UNIX.

3. The disk is available as the "raw" device /dev/rop0 under UNIX. You can
treat it as you would any other raw device. The designer typically does the
following: Collect on a hard disk all the stuff you want to have readonly,
and then use "dd" to dump it to the optical disk. Then mount the optical
disk, and voila, you have a readonly copy of the stuff!
If you put a lot of stuff (I don't really understand this -- maybe large
files?) use the XX option with util3363 to create larger extents for the
3363.

Some clarifications: The optical disk cannot be used as a "dfs" type disk --
it definitely does not use DOS formatting. Only DOS hard disks and floppies
may be mounted with a "dfs" type file system.

If you need more information, send me email, and I'll talk to Palo Alto for
you. I am expecting (unofficial) man pages for the device, so should have
additional information shortly.

Carl (carl@uscacsc.usc.edu)

USC Advanced Computing Support Center
3580 Wilshire Blvd, LA, CA 90010