Inofficial and incomplete list of third party cdroms that work with DEC's. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 18.04.2008 This list was maintained by Dennis Grevenstein (cdromlist@pcde.inka.de). You can find a previous version of this document here: http://sites.inka.de/pcde/help/dec-cdrom-list.txt That list did not updated since 2005 or so and email address of the author seems to be dead. Well, now I'll try to keep it up to date. Alexander Lunev (deccdromlist@mail.ru) This list is by no means complete. So if you have ever used a non-DEC cdrom that is not shown here with a DEC server/workstation, please send me information to the address above. I. Introduction The question "what cdrom will work with my old DEC?" is heard often. The problem is that non-x86 workstations and especially DEC's will normally need special cdroms that support special features. Many vendors released their own branded cdroms for their hardware. But you will have to pay much more money to get a slow DEC branded cdrom for your workstation than for a fast modern or a real cheap old standard cdrom drive. So here is some sort of an answer for all who are looking for a third party cdrom for a DEC workstation. II. Some general information. As most Unix workstations, DEC's will need a cdrom that is capable of reading 512 bytes/sector, but most PC style cdrom's can only read 2048 bytes/sector. Often there is a jumper to enable this mode. If not, the cdrom must support the "MODE SELECT" command that is send by the PROM to enable the 512 bytes/sector mode. But often, even if a cdrom supports all of the above and can be used with other workstation platforms e.g. Sun and SGI, the cdrom will not work with DEC hardware. III. Drives that are known to work. I decided to differentiate between VAX, MIPS based DECstations and Alpha based workstations because of some irregularities. The Alpha section is pretty small right now and Alphas should be compatible with cdroms in the VAX or DECstation section, but a general rule could be: If a drive is not listed as working in your category, don't get it. Sometimes cdroms are tested with more than one version of an OS. In these cases the oldest version that was bootet or installed succesfully is listed. III.1 VAX Vendor model # operating system hardware tested ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apple CD300e VMS VAXstation, Infoserver ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- HP C2944D OpenVMS 6.2 uVAX 3100, VAXstation 4000/90, 4000/60, 4000/VLC Note: Did not work with a VAXstation 3100/40. Be careful! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matsushita CR-506-B VMS-5.5-2 VAXstation 3100/30 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matsushita CW-7502-B OpenVMS 7.2 uVAX 4000/105 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEC Multispin 3xi OpenVMS 7.2 VAX 4000/300 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Panasonic CR506B VMS VAXstation 4000/90 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pioneer DR-U124X OpenVMS 7.2 uVAX 3100/80 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pioneer DR-U06S OpenVMS 6.1 various VAX ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pioneer DR-U12X OpenVMS 7.2 uVAX 3100/30 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pioneer DR-466 OpenVMS 7.1 VAXstation 3100/30 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Plextor 12/20 OpenVMS 7.2 uVAX 3100/80 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Plextor PX-63CS OpenVMS 7.2 VAXstation 3100/30 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Plextor PX-32TSi OpenVMS 7.1 uVAX3100, VAXstation 4000/60 VAXstation 4000/90 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sony CDU541 VMS VAXstation 4000/90 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sony CDU561 Ultrix 4.5 uVAX 3100 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sony CDU-8012B OpenVMS 7.2 VAXstation 4000/90 Note: There is a Sun OEM Version of this drive too. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-4101B OpenVMS 7.3 VAXstation 3100 Note: OEMed by DEC as RRD43-AA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-6401B OpenVMS 6.1 various VAX ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-5701TA OpenVMS 7.1 VAXstation 3100 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-5701B OpenVMS 6.1 various VAX ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-5401 OpenVMS 6.2 various VAX ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-5301B OpenVMS 7.2 uVAX 4000/105 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-3401B OpenVMS 7.1,Ultrix 4.5 VAXstation 3100/30 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba TXM-3401E1 OpenVMS 7.2 VAXstation 4000/90 Note: Has problems reading hand made CD-R's ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-3301B VMS uVAX 3100 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-3201B OpenVMS 7.2 various VAX ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba TXM-3301E1 OpenVMS 7.2 various VAX ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- III.2 DECstations DECstations seem to be really tricky, especially if you want to install Ultrix. Normally Ultrix/MIPS can only be installed using an original DEC cdrom. Typically your DECstation will boot of a compatible cdrom, but the install programm will crash. If it is not compatible with a DECstation the boot will fail completely. I can't say much about NetBSD, but my DR-466 does not work with NetBSD 1.4.1 at all, but works fine with NetBSD 1.5. Other people said that some older Toshiba cdroms work with VAXen, but not with DECstations. Vendor model # operating system hardware tested ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matsushita CR-503 NetBSD 1.4.1 DECstation 5000/260 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Plextor PX-12CSi NetBSD 1.5 DECstation 5000/133 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Plextor PX-32TSi NetBSD DECstation 5000/33 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pioneer DR-466 NetBSD 1.5 DECstation 5000/150 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sony CDU-8012 Ultrix 4.2 and 4.5 DECstation 5000/260, 5000/150 Note: Sun OEM Version Model 411 DECstation 2100 The old Sun model 411 cdrom seems to be special. It can be used to install Ultrix/RISC and it is sometimes even detected as a DEC RRD42. However, it is not any cheaper than a DEC branded cdrom when bought used. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- III.3 Alpha There seems to be a special problem with older Plextor cdroms, even if they work with VAXen. Be careful. Vendor model # operating system hardware tested ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apple CD300e VMS DEC3000 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEC Multispin 4Xi OpenVMS 7.2 Multia ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pioneer DR-U06S OpenVMS 7.1 various Alpha ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pioneer DR-466 OSF1 3.2 DEC3000 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Plextor PX-40TSi VMS Multia,Alphastation 200 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Teac CDR58S OSF1 3.2,OpenVMS 7.2 DEC3000,AlphaServer1000A Note: 8X CD-writer ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-5401 OpenVMS 6.2 various Alpha ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-5701B OpenVMS 7.1 various Alpha ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-6401TA OpenVMS 6.2 PWS500au, Alphastation 400,DEC3000 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-6401B OpenVMS 7.1 various Alpha, EXCEPT DEC 2000/300 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba XM-3201 OpenVMS 7.2 various Alpha ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toshiba TXM-3301E1 OpenVMS 7.2 various Alpha ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. Other resources The Sun cdrom FAQ may be useful. It provides some general information, although this FAQ does not care, if a cdrom works with DEC hardware. The original FAQ seems to be R.I.P. (http://saturn.tlug.org/suncdfaq) so you may use the mirror: http://www.pimpworks.org/sun/cdrom.html V. Thanks, suggestions and all the other things... Many thanks to all who contributed to build up this list. This list is by no means complete. So if you have ever used a non-DEC cdrom that is not shown here with a DEC workstation, please send some information to "deccdromlist@mail.ru". If you have other suggestions or complains, feel free to mail them too.