>> Corvettes work just fine.
> 
> For the Corvette, don't has the #$&%@ right cable.

That's just as well -- the ROS code in your 7012-320 wouldn't support 
the Corvette as a boot source anyway, once you've got AIX installed you 
could use the Corvette to attach additional SCSI devices.  For the -320, 
your best bet would be a Type 4-1 SCSI adapter, I *think* (but am not 
sure) that a Type 4-4 would be OK as well.

However, if you've got a planar SCSI port on the base of your 7012, then 
it is *not* a -320 (or -32H), as those are the two models that do not 
have built-in SCSI.  Check page 1-8 of your Operator Guide, it sounds 
like you have something in the 340 to 375 range.

Rick Ekblaw

> However, if you've got a planar SCSI port on ...

I'm not sure where I got the idea that you were talking about a planar 
SCSI port, your posts on this thread clearly say that you're attaching 
to an adapter card (probably a 4-1).  OK, I'm back on track and in 
agreement with Louis and Kevin -- you are probably getting bit by "no 
VPD on your CD-ROM drive", so AIX 4 CDs won't boot from it.  The IBM 4X 
external SCSI CD-ROM drive would be a good bet, it was used on both 
RS/6000 and PS/2 machines (Type-Model 3509-707).  An even better choice 
would be the 7210-010 (a 4X external designed specifically for the 
RS/6000 line).

If you have another RS/6000 with an internal SCSI CD-ROM, like a 7009, 
you could "borrow" the drive and slap it in an external case to do the 
load on your -320.

Rick Ekblaw

As Tim notes, the Type 4-1 supports booting both internal and external 
devices.  The Toshiba drive should work for you, the Yamaha is more 
questionable.  There are two items at work here:  One is the ROS (BIOS) 
level of your RS/6000, the other is the VPD (machine-readable data) of 
the device.  The early ROS levels were very "picky" about what devices 
they supported based on their VPD data, later ROS levels supported a 
broader range of devices.

For example, my 7011-220 has a very early level planar with the earliest 
ROS level.  As a result, it supports only 64MB of RAM (8 8MB SIMMs), 
whereas later planar levels had the same ROS as the 7011-250, which 
supports up to 32MB SIMMs (256MB maximum).  The 7011-250 ROS also 
supports most SCSI devices as valid boot sources, the early 7011-220 ROS 
supports "IBM logo" devices and little else.  I did manage to convince 
my 7011-220 to boot from a Teac 8/24 SCSI CD writer, but it was a major 
struggle -- it would only boot from the Teac when it was the only item 
in the service mode boot list, it would *not* work when using a default 
(empty) service mode boot list.  The 7009-C10/C20 ROS level is a couple 
of levels later than the early 7011-220 ROS, and it is more lenient 
about boot sources, but not as "open" as the 7011-250 ROS level.

Rick Ekblaw