Installation failure
First challenge is to get connection to the Itanium box: Modern PC’s have no serial connection anymore, and the USB-based one that I have, cannot be used because either the driver is no longer available, or it cannot handle serial connections (via RS232). My old PC however does have a serial connector, and I could get into the console, enabled the built-in VGA and keyboard (and mouse) interfaces. Then the issue is to find out how to start installing OpenVMS on the box; Put the DVD in the drive, and locate the correct function in the menu. But it required a restart to note the DVD was loaded; next step is to boot from internal DVD – and behold: it stats. But with a minute, loading stalled so no installation.
Tried it a few times but it kept failing. As it turned out, the DVD was scratched – or broken? – in parallel with the tracks: a sure way to disable reading of its contents….
At that time, it was too late to do anything more. Have to find another one….
What goes on behind the doors of the (private) data center