Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

State of the OpenVMS Port to x86_64 [pdf]

vmssoftware.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 58 posts

Re: State of the OpenVMS Port to x86_64 [pdf]

#31

Post by djsumdog »

chx wrote: post #4
laurentdc wrote: post #3

As an old time OpenVMS user (on VAX DECstations first and on AlphaServer later) I'm looking forward to this. I doubt it will ever come even remotely close to a "mainstream" OS, but Alpha to x86 is a much better migration path than Alpha to Itanium. And yes, there are still many OpenVMS installs out there in the wild, from airport logistics to assembly lines, so this may make sense from a financial standpoint (versus…

Don't forget nuclear plants running PDP-11/VMS until 2050. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/19/nuke_plants_to_keep_...

I remember learning about nuclear power plants and VMS back when I was in university. I was told they were used for the nuclear sensor networks though.

Re: State of the OpenVMS Port to x86_64 [pdf]

#32

Post by djsumdog »

laurentdc wrote: post #16
dmm wrote: post #15

I have a bad habit where instead of doing something relevant I play with old stuff I read about but didn't have access to as a kid. VMS always interested me since I first read about it in the jargon file. I recently found an alphaserver on craigslist and I just requested an openvms hobbyist license so I could play with it. An octane running irix is another expression of this problem.

Nothing wrong with that, you simply suffer from retrocomputing. Careful about the power bill though. Large SGI stuff (e.g. Onyx) can go in the kilowatt range under load, and an AlphaServer idles at around 200W last time I checked. IT was no green back then :)

A friend of mine had an old Alpha years ago; was running NT4 on it. You'd watch the lights dim slightly when it turned on. I don't know the model, but the thing was huge.

Re: State of the OpenVMS Port to x86_64 [pdf]

#33

Post by agumonkey »

dmm wrote: post #15

I have a bad habit where instead of doing something relevant I play with old stuff I read about but didn't have access to as a kid. VMS always interested me since I first read about it in the jargon file. I recently found an alphaserver on craigslist and I just requested an openvms hobbyist license so I could play with it. An octane running irix is another expression of this problem.

I just bought an 1989 HP48SX, hi.

Re: State of the OpenVMS Port to x86_64 [pdf]

#34

Post by aap_ »

loph wrote: post #27
SloopJon wrote: post #23

I work with an old DEC guy who co-wrote a book about the BLISS compiler back in the day. He thought it made a much better "portable assembly language" than C. He also likes to talk about the binary compatibility on VMS; e.g., VAX binaries that run unchanged on Itanium. Unfortunately, that commitment to compatibility has wavered a bit since HP offshored VMS maintenance. We've had to work around some breaking changes r…

DEC had a tool called VEST which was used to take native VAX binaries and convert them to run on Alpha AXP. It was very cool technology. A fair amount of the system utilities for OpenVMS on AXP were VESTed VAX binaries. I'm pretty sure the EDT editor was one of these. The VEST technology could possibly be used to convert native VAX binaries to run on X86_64, I don't know for sure how the endian-ness would be dealt wi…

Why would endianness be a problem? VAX, Alpha and x86 all are little endian.

Re: State of the OpenVMS Port to x86_64 [pdf]

#35

Post by akg_67 »

chx wrote: post #4
laurentdc wrote: post #3

As an old time OpenVMS user (on VAX DECstations first and on AlphaServer later) I'm looking forward to this. I doubt it will ever come even remotely close to a "mainstream" OS, but Alpha to x86 is a much better migration path than Alpha to Itanium. And yes, there are still many OpenVMS installs out there in the wild, from airport logistics to assembly lines, so this may make sense from a financial standpoint (versus…

Don't forget nuclear plants running PDP-11/VMS until 2050. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/19/nuke_plants_to_keep_...

I personally worked with VMS/VAX/Alpha based systems for nuclear power plant simulators, process control for petrochemical, plastics, chemicals oil & gas, semiconductor facilities till 2002. Still get requests for consulting primarily on system/program conversion projects from VMS/Fortran variants to Windows/Unix/C variants.

Re: State of the OpenVMS Port to x86_64 [pdf]

#36

Post by pvg »

laurentdc wrote: post #3

As an old time OpenVMS user (on VAX DECstations first and on AlphaServer later) I'm looking forward to this. I doubt it will ever come even remotely close to a "mainstream" OS, but Alpha to x86 is a much better migration path than Alpha to Itanium. And yes, there are still many OpenVMS installs out there in the wild, from airport logistics to assembly lines, so this may make sense from a financial standpoint (versus…

Nerdnit, I don't think DECstatations were (or were ever called) VAX. They were MIPS-based machines and I don't think they ever ran VMS. There was VAXStations, though, which did.

Re: State of the OpenVMS Port to x86_64 [pdf]

#37

Post by strlen »

For those itching to try, simh is capable of emulating a VAX and running OpenVMS (or NetBSD/vax) on them. One can also get a hobbyist license and media from HPE https://www.hpe.com/h41268/live/index_e.aspx?qid=24548, http://www.openvmshobbyist.com) and play around with it.

It is really quite a fascinating OS (I've had it running under a MicroVAX 4000/60 for fun -- and yes, I can truly say fun!) and feels quite modern even today.

Re: State of the OpenVMS Port to x86_64 [pdf]

#38

Post by tkinom »

chx wrote: post #4
laurentdc wrote: post #3

As an old time OpenVMS user (on VAX DECstations first and on AlphaServer later) I'm looking forward to this. I doubt it will ever come even remotely close to a "mainstream" OS, but Alpha to x86 is a much better migration path than Alpha to Itanium. And yes, there are still many OpenVMS installs out there in the wild, from airport logistics to assembly lines, so this may make sense from a financial standpoint (versus…

Don't forget nuclear plants running PDP-11/VMS until 2050. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/19/nuke_plants_to_keep_...

No stuxnet, less worry about someone's USB key from home might infect the computer. :-)

Re: State of the OpenVMS Port to x86_64 [pdf]

#40

Post by mtanski »

krylon wrote: post #30
trentnelson wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My ES40 (4 x 667MHz 21264s) consumes 16A @ 110V. Most 110V US circuits are 10A. I blew at least three fuses between that and the RX5670 (4 x Itanium), which consumed a similar amount of power @ 110V.

On the upside, depending on where you live, you probably save a lot of money on heating... ;-)

Is there a EnergyGuide heating furnace efficiency score for the ES40?
Post reply on HN