  Installation of OpenVMS? 
 The Question is:
 
I have a VAX 4000/300 that I recently acquired.  I have little knowledge of VMS
 and VAX hardware, and I obtained the box for the express purpose of learning
 the platform.  I joined DECUS, and soon after received my shiny new copy of
 OpenVMS 7.2-1.  I have
 a Sun external SCSI-2 CD-ROM that I thought I could use to build the box but
 from the documentation I found on the web it appears that the external
 connectors are DSSI and not SCSI.  So how can I install OpenVMS on this
 system?  Can I do a net install of
 some sort?  I have a Sun Sparc 2 running Solaris 7 Server, a Red Hat Linux 6.0
 Alpha box (Multia/UDB 166 Alpha processor), and a Windows 2000 PC at my
 disposal to help with that effort if it is possible.  Is there a cheap DSSI to
 SCSI-2 adapter I can pur
chase somewhere?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jason Corley
corleyja@hotmail.com
 
 
 The Answer is:
 
  Acquisition of the correct bootable load media for the particular
  platform is central to the initial load of OpenVMS onto the target
  platform.
 
  You will require a bootable load device supported by OpenVMS (eg:
  SCSI CD-ROM, TK50, etc), or a bootable load device that you can gain
  the assistance of another hobbyist to create the necessary bootable
  media, or a disk that you can transfer to another OpenVMS system and
  load OpenVMS VAX onto it there.
 
  Options can include booting and loading via a SCSI tape or (512-byte
  block) SCSI CD-ROM connected to DSSI via the HSD DSSI to SCSI adapter,
  via a TK50 or TK70 or other similar tape connected to the Q-bus, via
  an RRD-series (or other 512-byte block) CD-ROM drive on a Q-bus to
  SCSI (KZQSA or third-party), or other approach.  External StorageWorks
  bricks are also sometimes used, as these can often easily be transfered
  to another OpenVMS system.
 
  See the FAQ for information on the 512-byte block requirements for
  CD-ROM devices.
 
  For information on the installation process itself, please see the
  OpenVMS manuals.  Installation of OpenVMS from a non-standard device
  or media should generally only be attempted by an experienced OpenVMS
  system manager, as the task usually requires advanced skills (and quite
  often an "assist" from another OpenVMS system, in order to create the
  necessary installation media for the particular widget).
 
