| Previous | \Contents | ^Index |
E The smallest granularity of disk storage addressing is called a disk E block, or sometimes a disk sector. Groups of disk blocks are usually A organized together into the smallest unit of storage that can be H allocated, and this unit is called a disk cluster. The number of blocks E in a cluster is the cluster factor, and is established when the disk volume is initialized.
D Each individual disk block is composed of five hundred twelve (512) E bytes, or one-half kilobyte. Each byte is comprised of eight bits. A F bit represents the smallest unit of information, typically refered to as a one or a zero.
E OpenVMS tends to uses base two notation for disk storage, while disk E storage capacity specifications from most storage vendors (including - Compaq) will generally use base ten notation.
F An OpenVMS disk block is 512 bytes in size; this is one-half kilobyte in base two notation.
D The following table describes the prefix, the abbreviation, and the F associated base ten (as used by marketing and by storage vendors) and > base two (OpenVMS and various other operating systems) values.
|
" 8 Base Ten Base Two F -------------------------------- ---------------------- F Kilobyte (KB) 10**3 1000 2**10 1024 F Megabyte (MB) 10**6 1000000 2**20 1048576 F Gigabyte (GB) 10**9 1000000000 2**30 1073741824 F Terabyte (TB) 10**12 1000000000000 2**40 1099511627776 F Petabyte (PB) 10**15 1000000000000000 2**50 1125899906842624 F Exabyte (EB) 10**18 1000000000000000000 2**60 **************** |
G The base ten representation of the 2**40 value is 1099511627776, which F is obviously rather ugly. When viewed as a base eight or base sixteen D (octal or hexadecimal, respectively) value, the value is far nicer. H Specifically, the value is 10000000000 and 40000000 when represented in $ octal and hexadecimal, respectively.
H OpenVMS operating system references to system and storage are generally @ to the base-two version (eg: 1024, in the case of a kilobyte or G kilobit) while storage hardware references and hardware specifications 1 are generally to the base-ten version (eg: 1000).
A To convert OpenVMS disk blocks to (base two) kilobytes (KB; 1024 > bytes), simply divide by two. To convert blocks to (base two) G megabytes, divide by 2048. Blocks to (base two) gigabytes (GB), divide C by 2097152. These particular divisions can also be performed using F bitshifts: to divide a value by two, shift the binary value rightward by one bit position.
B To convert OpenVMS disk blocks to (base ten) kilobytes, divide by approximately 1.953125.
G For those folks with an interest in odd applications for prefixes, and C particularly for those folks also rummaging around deep within the * OpenVMS operating system, a microfortnight is approximately one second.
C The HP OpenVMS and HP Layered Product documentation is copyrighted material.
G HTML format on-line product documentation sets for specific HP OpenVMS $ products are presently available at:
H Documentation is offered on separately orderable CD-ROM media through a H subscription to the Consolidated On-Line Documentation (ConOLD) product j (see Section 2.6.) ConOLD manuals are readable with BNU, a viewer that G is supplied with the documentation distribution. BNU can display HTML, / Bookreader, and documentation in other formats.
F MGBOOK, a viewer for Bookreader-format documentation is available for C character-cell terminals (eg. VTxxx) via the WKU VMS Freeware file T server -- see question Section 13.1 for details.
G Information on the XPDF DECwindows PDF viewer for OpenVMS is available e in Section 13.1, and XPDF kits are available on various Freeware G distributions. An alternative on OpenVMS Alpha uses the Adobe Java PDF E viewer, though this viewer is generally considered to be both slower = and more resource-intensive when compared to the XPDF viewer. m 3.2 What online information and websites are available?
A On your OpenVMS system, the HELP command can provide a wealth of C information, not only on DCL commands but on system services (HELP H System_Services) and Run-Time Library routines (HELP RTL_Routines). The > introduction displayed when you type the HELP command with no . additional keywords provides further pointers.
P OpenVMS Marketing runs a web server at # http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/
Here, you will find product information, strategy documents, product roadmaps, the contents of the latest OpenVMS Freeware CD-ROM and more.
| URL | "Sponsor |
|---|---|
| L http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/ | |
| HP OpenVMS Marketing | |
| 1 % http://www.openvmshobbyist.org/ | |
| Encompass DFWCUG | |
| J http://www.levitte.org/~ava/ | |
| Arne Vajhøj | |
| < http://www.saiga.com/ | |
| Saiga Systems | |
| D http://www.tachysoft.com/ | |
| Wayne Sewel | |
| 2 & http://www.progis.de/openvms.htm | |
| " Sponsored by proGIS Software | |
| J http://www.jcameron.com/vms/ | |
| Jeff Cameron | |
| A 5 http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/soft_doc.html | |
| > David Mathog's (quite useful) information about OpenVMS. | |
| Cracking | |
| A 5 http://www.vistech.net/users/beave/hack-vms-faq | |
| "The Beave" K Includes system cracking information that can be of interest to L OpenVMS System Managers, and to OpenVMS Network and Security Managers. | |
| , Undocumented Features | |
| B 6 http://www.decus.de:8080/www/vms/qaa/undoc.htmlx | |
| DECUS Deutchland | |
| ; / http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_tip.htmlx | |
| Arne Vajhøj | |
| 8 , http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/freeware/ | |
| N The OpenVMS Freeware contains various examples of undocumented features and interfaces | |
| % Bibliographies | |
| < 0 http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_book.htmlx | |
| # Introductory | |
| ; / http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_faq.htmlx | |
| B 6 http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/vms_sheet.html | |
| J > http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/vms_beginners_faq.html | |
| " Programming | |
| F http://www.pdv-systeme.de/users/martinv/VMS_Programming_FAQ.html | |
| An OpenVMS Programming FAQ | |
| ! Networking | |
| 1 % http://www.tmesis.com/internet/ | |
| J Tutorial information and tips for connecting OpenVMS systems to the Internet | |
| 6 * http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/wizard/ | |
| : Documentation and Specifications for DECnet Phase IV | |
| / HP OpenVMS Documentation | |
| 3 ' http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/doc/ | |
| G Various introductory guides as well as more advanced manuals are E available in the OpenVMS and layered product documentation set. | |
| 1 % http://www.compaq.com/info/spd/ | |
| J Software Product Descriptions (SPDs) for most every OpenVMS-related product HP sells. | |
| ) System Performance | |
| < See Section 14.2. | |
| ' Patch (ECO) Kits | |
| I For the HP Services FTP server hosting Various contract-access and j non-contract access ECO (patch) kits, see section Section 5.17. | |
| + Catalogs and Pricing | |
| D http://www.compaq.com/products/quickspecs/productbulletin.html | |
| 3 HP Product QuickSpecs and product information | |
| N http://www.compaq.com/products/quickspecs/soc_archives/SOC_Archives.html | |
| 7 The HP Systems and Options Catalog (SOC) archive | |
| 5 Hardware and Software Archives | |
| 6 * http://vax.sevensages.org/index.html | |
| A The VAXarchive, including hardware and software information | |
| H < http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/docs/alpha_diary.html | |
| " A VAX to Alpha upgrade diary | |
| < 0 http://www.montagar.com/~patj/dec/hcps.htm | |
| 9 Scanned versions of old DIGITAL manuals from DFWCUG | |
| @ 4 http://www.digital.com/lists/master-index.html | |
| G ; http://www.compaq.com/support/techpubs/qrg/index.html | |
| B A wide variety of HP VAX, Alpha, platform and other product 7 documentation. Some introductory, some technical. | |
| N http://dtrwiz.home.netcom.com/ | |
| ! dtrwiz's Datatrieve website | |
? Information on HP hardware, software, products and services is h available through telephone numbers listed in Table 3-2:
| Telephone | &Description |
|---|---|
| 1-800-AT-COMPAQ | F HP (Compaq, including DIGITAL and Tandem) products and services |
| 1-800-STORWORK | The HP StorageWorks team |
F To extract all the text of a HELP topic (and its subtopics) to a text A file for perusal with a text editor, printing out, etc., use the following command:
|
" 3 $ HELP/OUT=filename.txt help-topic [help-subtopic] |
C If the help text you want is not in the standard help library (for D example, it's help for a utility such as MAIL that has its own help H library), add /LIBRARY=libname after the HELP verb. To see the names of 5 help library files, do a directory of SYS$HELP:*.HLB. h 3.5 Does OpenVMS Marketing have an e-mail address?
H Yes - if you can't get the answers to marketing questions elsewhere, if < you have comments or complaints about OpenVMS, send mail to @ openvms-info@compaq.com. This address is not a support > channel, and is solely intended to provide informal method to 7 communicate directly with members of OpenVMS Marketing. o 3.6 Where can I learn about OpenVMS executive internals?
H The OpenVMS Internals and Data Structure manual (IDSM) explains how the F OpenVMS executive works. The book covers the operating system kernel: B process management; memory management; the I/O subsystem; and the H mechanisms that transfer control to, from, and among these. It gives an F overview of a particular area of the system, followed by descriptions D of the data structures related to that area and details of the code that implements the area.
H The first edition of the OpenVMS Alpha internals book describes Version F 1.5. Although there have been several releases of OpenVMS Alpha since G Version 1.5 (V6.1, V6.2, V7.0, V7.1, etc) and many details in the book D are no longer accurate, it continues to provide a strong conceptual ! description of OpenVMS internals.
> This book has been split into five pieces, each to be updated @ separately. The first such volume, published in early 1997, was E "OpenVMS Alpha Internals and Data Structures: Scheduling and Process > Control," which covers the Version 7.0 implementation of true ; multithreading and the changed scheduling model it implies.
= The internals books are available through Digital Press, see / Section 3.7 w 3.7 Where can new users find tutorial information about OpenVMS?
G First, see if your local site has information on this topic. Each site H can have site-specific features and configuration. Some sites will have G site-specific new user's documentation, covering various site-specific @ things that are difficult or impossible for the general OpenVMS documentation to cover. 7 3.7.1 Tutorial Websites?
Various websites with OpenVMS information are available; Table 3-3 contains some suggested URLs.
| URL | "Sponsor |
|---|---|
| # Introductory | |
| ; / http://www.levitte.org/~ava/vms_faq.htmlx | |
| B 6 http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/vms_sheet.html | |
| J > http://seqaxp.bio.caltech.edu/www/vms_beginners_faq.html | |
| $ Various introductory materials | |
| 8 , http://www.montagar.com/openvms_class/ | |
| M Members of the Encompass DFWCUG maintain a website with many materials N available, including an Overview of OpenVMS, an Introduction to DCL and K the TPU Editor, Advanced DCL Command Procedures, OpenVMS Operations: L Batch, Print, Tape, an Introduction to OpenVMS Management, to OpenVMS M User Management, to OpenVMS Network Management, and to OpenVMS Cluster J Management. These training materials have been presented at various DECUS symposia. | |
| / HP OpenVMS Documentation | |
| 3 ' http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/doc/ | |
| G Various introductory guides as well as more advanced manuals are E available in the OpenVMS and layered product documentation set. | |
| * HP OpenVMS Training | |
| : . http://www.compaq.com/training/home.html
> 2 http://www.openvms.compaq.com/wbt/index.html | |
| L HP offers training information and Technical Resource Kits (TRKs) and M other Training for OpenVMS. An OpenVMS certification (testing) program is also available. | |
| J http://www.jcameron.com/vms/ | |
| An OpenVMS Quiz | |
| B http://www.CCSScorp.com/ | |
| > CCSS Interactive Learning has OpenVMS training materials | |
| B http://www.acersoft.com/ | |
| ? AcerSoft Training information, and Shannon Knows Punditry | |
| > http://www.mindiq.com/ | |
| ! MindIQ training information | |
| D http://www.quadratrix.be/ | |
| K Quadratrix; OpenVMS training, products and services; affiliated with ! Global Knowledge and KeyJob | |
| Previous | YNext | \Contents | ^Index |