PDP-11 arch & OS ownership, was Re: [HECnet] NT 4 on AlphaServer es40

On 02/11/2013 08:30 PM, Johnny Billquist wrote: What happened to Mentec and the PDP-11 support after DEC made the silly decision to spin the division off? And yes you should. The PDP-10 was an interesting system and one lived for a long time in the basement of an MIT building during the middle 90s. Mentec continued on for about 10 years, and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. However, during those 10 years (take or give a few), first DEC, then Compaq then HP continued to support and sell PDP-11 software, even though Mentec was the guys owning and developing. When Mentec Inc. did disappear, the software bits were bought out by another company. And that is where it sits today. If we could get HP to actually release the IP for this software, then maybe something hobbyist-like could happen, but as it sits right now, HP control bits and pieces, making it a very complex situation. I'm not sure if you can still contact HP and get a new license for RSX, but it might be. But getting anyone to legally release the stuff seems difficult. :-( It was a UK firm (Calyx). Peter Dick was going to see if he could find a contact there to untangle some of the mess. At least that was in our last discussions on the matter (and that was April 15, 2009). No word since then. Uh... No... The Software was bought from what was left of Mentec by a company named xx2247 ltd. Located in Colorado. Ownership passed from Mentec to Calyx before XX2247. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA