What I meant is that the os fit was done in firmware. Not, like the VAX, where the instruction set was designed to match demands from the os. IIRC the queue instructions aren't part of the Alpha instruction set. On or off topic? It's Digital Lore, right :-) -----Original Message----- From: Phil Mendelsohn <phil at rephil.org> Sender: owner-hecnet at Update.UU.SE Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:29:00 To: <hecnet at Update.UU.SE> Reply-To: hecnet at Update.UU.SESubject: Re: [HECnet] AXP Emulation On 10/08/2012 3:10 PM, Paul_Koning at Dell.com wrote: On Aug 10, 2012, at 4:07 PM, <hvlems at zonnet.nl> wrote: Correct, Windows started off on four platforms so the intimacy of VMS with the VAX was just not there. But VMS was a lot farther away from Alpha too. I don't think that's accurate. Most operating systems are not closely tied to a specific platform. And in the case of VMS, the Alpha architecture had some specific attributes that were meant to make porting VMS easier. I agree. Alpha architecture was done with a posteriori and first-hand internal knowledge of VMS and where it was headed / what it's customers needed. I had a pre-release AXP Architecture Handbook which would confirm, if I could lay my hands on the tree ware. But this is OT, I suppose. Phil M -- "Worry is a misuse of imagination." -- Some Guy Called Dan Zadra