[rescue] 3B2 / SysVr3 disks on Sun ?

[Bob]

   Dec 8, 2010 04:05:00 PM, rescue at sunhelp.org wrote:

     Unfortunately, I don't think the FAQ has been updated since the
     90's.
     Back when most scsi drives were still under 1gb. I can get the
     drives
     installed by adding the entries described there but, I can't get
     them
     formatted. It just fails with and error saying to contact my AT&T
     support representative. What it is supposed to do is do a low level
     format and verify then bless the disk. Until the disk is blessed the
     system sees it but, wont let you play with it at all.
     I was able to format a small drive without changing entries in that
     third file I posted but, every drive I've tried from 1gb to 9gb has
     failed the format. Fails immediately too. While reading the old
     usenet
     archive I ran into a post by a guy that had a vendor sold 3rd party
     1GB
     drive on his 3B2 he wanted to move to another 3B2. He was having
     trouble
     and mentioned that the vendor supplied floppy did three things when
     run.
     Modified the two files mentioned in the FAQ section and then changed
     some of the values in the file I posted. Thats the only mention of
     that
     file anywhere in the archives and the only mention of using a bigger
     drive on a 3B2 that mentioned any specifics. He unfortunately didn't
     say what it changed them too and nobody ever answered his post.
     Couple
     other posts mention big drives on a 3B2 but, always sold by a vendor
     for
     the 3B2. I imagine they included a floppy disk too.
     Funny enough, almost every post asking for help went unanswered on
     the
     group. There was not a lot of talking about these machines. I guess
     they
     were pretty much on the way out when the USENET really started to
     explode. They were also mainly government machines which meant not a
     lot
     of outside experts sharing info.man/listinfo/rescue
     I just thought there was some magic incantation that was in there.
     I never tried
     to put a big drive in my 3B2/1000.  I did get a pair of 136 MByte
     drives that I
     was going to put in mine but other things took priority, so they are
     still sitting there.
     Unfortunately, the machine is slightly buried right now but I'm
     tempted to dig
     it out and give it a shot.  I think that I forgot what little I knew
     about it (old age),
     so that should be interesting.  The only other thing that I can
     think of is using
     idtools instead of devtools IIRC but that may not work either.  I
     wonder if
     there is some variable that is size limited so it can't do higher
     than 1 gig.
     Bob
     At least the power supply will warm the basement this winter.