> 1st, believe it or not, we actually got the serial port to talk to Telix... I don't know what
> I was doing wrong, but we plugged the cable in through an RS-232 analyzer and it started working...
>  
> ???

I think Telix was expecting hardware flow control, which the VS2000
doesn't provide.  The breakout box probably has pull-[ups|downs]
on the RTS/CTS lines that put these lines into the state that Telix
expects.  You could avoid all these hassles by using a decent
terminal emulator (like MS-DOS Kermit) which allows you to switch
to true software flow control.  Lots of the communications programs
on the market still look at the hardware flow control lines even
when they've been set to software flow control!

> However, the boot tape we made don't seem to be working. 

What does/doesn't it do?  What error messages appear?

> Two questions.
> 
> 1. We made the tapes from VMS on a 6520 with VMS v6.? We followed the instructions exactly, however, 
> I think since I FTPed the files on a PC then ftped them to the Vax, something may have screwed them
> up.. (Am I totally off base?)

Yep, something could have been screwed up here.  All transfers
must be done in BINARY mode.  Do a DIR/FULL on the VMS machine
and make sure the attributes on the first file look exactly
like this:

Directory TMP0:[SHOPPA]

TK50-FILE1-12C-970225.;2                  File ID:  (1078,1378,0)      
Size:          512/512        Owner:    [THEORY,SHOPPA]
Created:    2-MAY-1997 07:03:26.67
Revised:    2-MAY-1997 07:03:30.12 (1)
Expires:    2-MAY-1997 15:03:30.12
Backup:    <No backup recorded>
Effective: <None specified>
Recording: <None specified>
File organization:  Sequential
Shelved state:      Online 
File attributes:    Allocation: 512, Extend: 0, Global buffer count: 0, No version limit
Record format:      Fixed length 512 byte records
Record attributes:  None
RMS attributes:     None
Journaling enabled: None
File protection:    System:RWE, Owner:RWED, Group:RE, World:RE
Access Cntrl List:  None

Note that it *has* to say "fixed length 512 byte records".  If
the transfer was done in ASCII instead of binary, the file size
is likely to be different than 512 blocks, and if the transfer
to the VMS box was in ASCII, you'll see this when you do DIR/FULL:

TK50-FILE1-12C-970225.;1                  File ID:  (1072,1450,0)      
Size:          515/516        Owner:    [THEORY,SHOPPA]
Created:    2-MAY-1997 07:02:16.61
Revised:    2-MAY-1997 07:02:20.17 (1)
Expires:    2-MAY-1997 15:02:20.17
Backup:    <No backup recorded>
Effective: <None specified>
Recording: <None specified>
File organization:  Sequential
Shelved state:      Online 
File attributes:    Allocation: 516, Extend: 0, Global buffer count: 0, No version limit
Record format:      Variable length, maximum 0 bytes, longest 32767 bytes
Record attributes:  Carriage return carriage control
RMS attributes:     None
Journaling enabled: None
File protection:    System:RWE, Owner:RWED, Group:RE, World:RE
Access Cntrl List:  None


> 2. Where could I acquire a rx33 or an rx50? and How could I plug them into a VS2k?

I've succesfully gotten some TEAC PC-clone style 1.2 Meg 5.25" drives
to work on a VS2000.  In particular, the FD-55GFR 142-U works just
fine for me.  According to Terry kennedy's compilation of information
on third party floppy and MFM drives on DEC equipment, the FD-55GFV-17-U
and FD-55GFR-540-U work fine too.  Terry's file THIRD-PARTY-DISKS.TXT
details the jumper settings that have to be made on each of these;
but in general all you'll have to do is make sure that drive select
0 is enabled on the floppy drive (if configured for a PC-clone, it will
have been set at DS1) and plug it on to the 34-pin floppy connector
and the power connector.

THIRD-PARTY-DISKS.TXT is available via anonymous FTP to ftp.spc.edu.

Tim.