VAX/UNIX configuration

[obrien%rand-unix at sri-unix.UUCP]

	The only program I've ever personally seen that can run any DEC
device to near its channel capacity is George Goble's "dbuf".  This thing
splits into three forks: one reads, the second writes, and the third
coordinates and makes the other two "change ends" at appropriate times.
Its commands are a subset of "dd"'s.  So if you don't mind making image
copies for backup (with something like 21 Fuji Eagle disk drives that's
what George Goble does), "dbuf" will probably be able to make the streaming
drive stay streaming most of the time.

	We've found that it's far safer to give "dbuf" an exact count rather
than letting it get a read error at the end of a partition.  We're not
sure why this is so but I thought I'd mention it while I'm on the subject.