I'm sure many have tried with DEC and Mentec to get a hobbyist license
for RT-11. For example, following is an email I sent a couple of years
ago to Mentec. (P.S. I _really_ DO want to run BSD on as much of my
old -11 hardware as possible, and I have license AU-1 to do it. But, I
also have one or two small -11 systems where RT-11 is ideal, and
that's probably the more likely case with hobbyists.)
To: Chip Charlot/Sales/Mentec
Subject: RT-11 Hobbyist License
Chip,
Thank you for talking to me about the possibility of an RT-11 hobbyist
license. There are now many LSI-11, uPDP-11, PDP-11 machines being
preserved by dedicated "hobbyist-oriented" users who can't afford, and
who don't want to spend, the high cost of an official, commericial
license for RT-11.
DECUS is now making OpenVMS available to the hobbiest at a reasonable
price. (Yes, I know lots of hobbyists who have VAX and uVAX machines at
home.) Here is a Web page that summarizes the DECUS arrangement:
http://www.montagar.com/hobbyist/
Rather than repeat all the information contained at that Web site, I
suggest you take a look at the Proposal, License Terms, Licensing, and
Media Kit details at that site for VMS.
I hope that DEC and Mentec can work something out. I believe that it
would be to the advantage of both companies to preserve the machines and
software that otherwise may dwindle to a very small user base over time.
Thanks,
Dave Jenner
djenner_at_halcyon.com
Aaron Christopher Finney wrote:
>
> On Fri, 9 Oct 1998, David C. Jenner wrote:
>
> > Allison J Parent wrote:
> > > So what else is there that is free (or very low cost) and can be run on
> > > most of the LSI-11, PDP-11/23 or 11/73 series? IE: can be run on a
> > > 11/03 with RX01 floppy or a 11/73 with RQDX3 MSCP disks (hard disks).
>
> Having just gotten my 11/23 to come to life, I have been following this
> thread with keen interest...
>
> Obviously, I don't own a license for RT-11. And assume that the commercial
> license from Mentec is probably much more than a hobbyist would pay to
> tinker with old machines. Has anyone approached Mentec about the
> possibility of a hobbyist-type license for _older_ versions of these OS's
> (ala VMS hobbyist)? Perhaps if a group approached them with a proposal
> they would be more apt to create one. From what I can tell, an old PDP
> with no software license is virtually useless, except for
> hacking/curiosity value. After a half hour of playing around with the
> ODT commands, I shut down and picked up a book instead. Much like my VAXen
> would be without the VMS-hobbyist license. I mean, who _really_ wants to
> run BSD on all of your old hardware? It kind of defeats the whole
> purpose of collecting the old machines if you have the same stupid Unix
> prompt on your VAX, Sparc 1, Mac IIfx, 486PC, etc...
>
> Just my $.02,
>
> Aaron
Received on Fri Oct 09 1998 - 13:35:12 BST