Still pineing for my own VMS machine

From: Bob Lafleur <bob_lafleur_at_technologist.com>
Date: Wed Jun 5 09:01:13 2002

When I first read your message, I saw "real" VMS and assumed you were
talking about a REAL system, not am emulator. But maybe you're not aware
of the emulators, and they might be good enough for you, if you're just
itching to play with that $ prompt for a while. I started with an
emulator, but quickly realized that I wanted a REAL system.

There are 3 emulators that I know of that work OK.

* SIMH is the one I like the best. It still has a few weird bugs, but
nothing that will stop it from running VMS though, and maybe some of the
problems I've experienced under WIN32 don't occur under Linux. Frequent
updates from the author (although none in a month or so). No network
support, although you can TELNET to a simulated terminal driver.

* TS10 - I don't know much about this one, although I've heard good
things. Mainly for Linux, and since I don't currently have a linux
system running, I haven't even tried to compile it in WIN32. Network
support is currently being added, and I understand it semi-works so far.

* PicoVAX - A mini version of a commercial product. Sessions are time
limited to 3 hours, and you can't telnet to it. Currently only emulates
a MicroVAX II, whereas the other emulators emulate more recent models.

If you decide to go with a REAL system, if your experience of VMS is
from many years ago and you want to recreate those memories, you might
rather have a VAX than ALPHA system. VMS on ALPHA is basically the same,
but there are some differences.

I'm not as familiar with the MicroVAX 4000's as I am with the 3100's. I
think the 4000-xx (two digit numbers) are VAX and the 4000-xxx (3
digits) are ALPHA? Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Also, I think the
4000's are QBUS, with some of them having SCSI also? Are there any
SCSI-only 4000 models?

If you just want to play for a while, "run authorize" just one more time
as you put it, then an emulator might give you what you want. But if you
really want to get back into the VAX, you might find in the long-run
that a real piece of hardware will serve you better.

   - Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk-admin_at_classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-admin_at_classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Ron Hudson
Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2002 12:09 AM
To: cctalk_at_classiccmp.org
Subject: Still pineing for my own VMS machine



Well what's the cheapest way to get into somthing running real VMS? Even
for
a single user (can I connect it to my home network and telnet to it from

linux)

(wishing for authorize just one more time....)

BTW I have PC-DCL (HMM gotta look up the source on that to see if it can
be a
linux shell.....)

Ron.
Received on Wed Jun 05 2002 - 09:01:13 BST