On 7 Jun 2012, at 10:33, Jordi Guillaumes i Pons
<jg at jordi.guillaumes.name> wrote:
Hello list,
I've just joined HECnet under the area 7, and I wanted to introduce myself and my little puppies :)
Hello!
I am interested to know how you find the performance of the VAXstation
4000/60 compared to others.
Good to see someone with such great skills on old iron join us. I know
very little outside vasics and simple DECnet setup :)
--
Mark Benson
http://markbenson.org/bloghttp://twitter.com/MDBenson
Al 07/06/12 13:14, En/na Dave McGuire ha escrit:
I bet 4.7 would absolutely scream on a 4000-90 if it had CPU support. The difference between 4.7 and 5.0 on a 2.8VUP MicroVAX-III is like night and day...I can only imagine it on a 4000-90, more than ten times faster! -Dave
According to this:
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/os/openvms-release-history.html
Support for the 4000/90 came in version 5.5-2 (1992). The 3300 was supported in 5.0-2 and the 4000 mod. 2000 in 5.4-2. So none of my real boxen can run 4.7.
On 06/07/2012 07:10 AM, Jordi Guillaumes i Pons wrote:
Will pre-5.0 VMS run on a 4000-90? I don't recall when NVAX CPU
support was added to VMS.
I don't think so. I've built a 4.7 system running in a 11-780 SIMH
emulator :) I doubt 4.7 would run even in my 3300 (my oldest real machine).
I was still running 4.7 on one machine (11/750) when I installed my
first 3100. I'm pretty sure I installed 5.0 on the 3100 though. I was
already running 5.0 on a pair of MicroVAX-3600s, and then 5.1 came out
very shortly thereafter.
BTW, 4.7 boots so fast under SIMH than at first I thought it had somehow
crashed or hung. When I got the "username:" prompt after pressing return
I was amazed :)
Nice. :-)
I bet 4.7 would absolutely scream on a 4000-90 if it had CPU support.
The difference between 4.7 and 5.0 on a 2.8VUP MicroVAX-III is like
night and day...I can only imagine it on a 4000-90, more than ten times
faster!
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
On 06/07/2012 06:55 AM, Mark Benson wrote:
Howabout starting it as a daemon (running as root) via the boot
scripts, and have non-root users's programs access it via a
socket?
Cool idea - you could even have multiple hosts connect this way but
export one DECNET endpoint, i.e. run CTERM on Box A whilst FAL goes
to Box B, and MAIL to Box C :)
Yes, you could multiplex/demultiplex it any way you wanted. It would
open up all sorts of interesting configuration possibilities.
... and all this without needing to dick with the kernel?
Sounds like a plan gentlemen, so now all we need is a long suffering
coder type to do all the hard work ;)
I'm already under the gun for a buttload of ARM7 code for work (which
is the only reason I'm still awake at this ungodly hour)...so not me, at
least not yet.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
Al 07/06/12 13:06, En/na Dave McGuire ha escrit:
Oh, thanks. As I said, I've plenty of "modern" stuff, but I miss some of
the older software I used back in those days (pre-5.0), a (call it
nostalgia) I'm quite trying to reproduce that first environment I worked
on. Right now, I miss:
Will pre-5.0 VMS run on a 4000-90? I don't recall when NVAX CPU
support was added to VMS.
I don't think so. I've built a 4.7 system running in a 11-780 SIMH emulator :) I doubt 4.7 would run even in my 3300 (my oldest real machine).
BTW, 4.7 boots so fast under SIMH than at first I thought it had somehow crashed or hung. When I got the "username:" prompt after pressing return I was amazed :)
On 06/07/2012 06:49 AM, Sampsa Laine wrote:
Speaking of old software, does anybody happen to have WordPerfect for VMS lying around?
Would love to play with that..
I *think* I have it on a TK50 somewhere. It will be awhile before I
can dig through those tapes (I have hundreds of TK50s) but they're not
going anywhere just yet. I will set it aside if I find it, and make
sure to image it.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
On 06/07/2012 06:48 AM, Jordi Guillaumes i Pons wrote:
Jordi,
You wrote that the NIC on the 4000-90 was broken. Did you try an
external transceiver on the AUI connector (there's a switch on the back).
An Alllied Telesys or DEC transceiver might solve the issue. The logic
that drives the BNC connector is on a separate module IIRC.
I didn't. Actually, I thought you needed a thickwire segment to use a
transceiver and a drop cable. I should have researched it better. Any
idea of the DEC name for that thinwire transceiver?
(please forgive me for jumping in)
Welcome!
DEC sold 10base2 transceivers called "DESTA" (for Digital Ethernet
STation Adapter, I think) but it's so large that you'll need an AUI
cable to connect it. Others, from many different manufacturers, are
small enough to plug right onto the AUI connector. These are far more
common.
In my museum collection I have an internal DEC prototype of the DESTA.
Perhaps more conveniently, there are also of course a great many
10baseT transceivers out there that will plug directly onto an AUI
connector, small enough to not require an AUI cable.
Oh, thanks. As I said, I've plenty of "modern" stuff, but I miss some of
the older software I used back in those days (pre-5.0), a (call it
nostalgia) I'm quite trying to reproduce that first environment I worked
on. Right now, I miss:
Will pre-5.0 VMS run on a 4000-90? I don't recall when NVAX CPU
support was added to VMS.
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
On 7 Jun 2012, at 11:42, Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com> wrote:
On 06/07/2012 06:37 AM, Sampsa Laine wrote:
Howabout starting it as a daemon (running as root) via the boot
scripts, and have non-root users's programs access it via a
socket?
Cool idea - you could even have multiple hosts connect this way but
export one DECNET endpoint, i.e. run CTERM on Box A whilst FAL goes
to Box B, and MAIL to Box C :)
Yes, you could multiplex/demultiplex it any way you wanted. It would
open up all sorts of interesting configuration possibilities.
... and all this without needing to dick with the kernel?
Sounds like a plan gentlemen, so now all we need is a long suffering
coder type to do all the hard work ;)
--
Mark Benson
http://markbenson.org/bloghttp://twitter.com/MDBenson
Speaking of old software, does anybody happen to have WordPerfect for VMS lying around?
Would love to play with that..
Sampsa
On 7 Jun 2012, at 11:48, Jordi Guillaumes i Pons wrote:
Al 07/06/12 12:11, En/na hvlems at zonnet.nl ha escrit:
Jordi,
You wrote that the NIC on the 4000-90 was broken. Did you try an external transceiver on the AUI connector (there's a switch on the back).
An Alllied Telesys or DEC transceiver might solve the issue. The logic that drives the BNC connector is on a separate module IIRC.
I didn't. Actually, I thought you needed a thickwire segment to use a transceiver and a drop cable. I should have researched it better. Any idea of the DEC name for that thinwire transceiver? (Or a compabtible one). Anyways, I think I canibalized that machine a little bit, so I'm not sure what is actually inside of the inclosure. It looks like a nice summer vacation project :)
If you need software kits for the VAX, post your needs. If I have the kit(s) I'll burn them on a CD. Hans
Oh, thanks. As I said, I've plenty of "modern" stuff, but I miss some of the older software I used back in those days (pre-5.0), a (call it nostalgia) I'm quite trying to reproduce that first environment I worked on. Right now, I miss:
- FMS
- TDMS
- VAX BASIC
- LSE
That's pretty all. I also used AI1 (the dreaded office package) but I'm not sure I'll want to fight that monster again ;). No need to burn a CD, we could arrange the transfer by network (HECnet or regular internet). I understand the use of that stuff is covered by the hobbyist license (not sure about TDMS though), so we would not do anything out of the law.
Al 07/06/12 12:11, En/na hvlems at zonnet.nl ha escrit:
Jordi,
You wrote that the NIC on the 4000-90 was broken. Did you try an external transceiver on the AUI connector (there's a switch on the back).
An Alllied Telesys or DEC transceiver might solve the issue. The logic that drives the BNC connector is on a separate module IIRC.
I didn't. Actually, I thought you needed a thickwire segment to use a transceiver and a drop cable. I should have researched it better. Any idea of the DEC name for that thinwire transceiver? (Or a compabtible one). Anyways, I think I canibalized that machine a little bit, so I'm not sure what is actually inside of the inclosure. It looks like a nice summer vacation project :)
If you need software kits for the VAX, post your needs. If I have the kit(s) I'll burn them on a CD. Hans
Oh, thanks. As I said, I've plenty of "modern" stuff, but I miss some of the older software I used back in those days (pre-5.0), a (call it nostalgia) I'm quite trying to reproduce that first environment I worked on. Right now, I miss:
- FMS
- TDMS
- VAX BASIC
- LSE
That's pretty all. I also used AI1 (the dreaded office package) but I'm not sure I'll want to fight that monster again ;). No need to burn a CD, we could arrange the transfer by network (HECnet or regular internet). I understand the use of that stuff is covered by the hobbyist license (not sure about TDMS though), so we would not do anything out of the law.
