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VSI OpenVMS v9.0-G Released (x86 port)

vmssoftware.com

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Re: VSI OpenVMS v9.0-G Released (x86 port)

#4

Post by SloopJon »

trynumber9 wrote: post #2

No download available? I thought it'd be fun to mess around with but maybe it's for paying customers only.

The Community License page has checkboxes for Alpha and Itanium. The box for "x86 (planned)" is not yet enabled:

https://vmssoftware.com/community/community-license/

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this is a VM-only product, but there's something unsatisfying about an O/S that can't boot real hardware.

Re: VSI OpenVMS v9.0-G Released (x86 port)

#5

Post by spijdar »

SloopJon wrote: post #4
trynumber9 wrote: post #2

No download available? I thought it'd be fun to mess around with but maybe it's for paying customers only.

The Community License page has checkboxes for Alpha and Itanium. The box for "x86 (planned)" is not yet enabled: https://vmssoftware.com/community/community-license/ I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this is a VM-only product, but there's something unsatisfying about an O/S that can't boot real hardware.

In this space it's not too unusual, really. It's not altogether unlike modern AIX or IBM i, which effectively only run on virtual machines managed by a hypervisor built into the firmware on PowerVM machines. Maybe less satisfying since it's less integrated with the hardware, but in a sense the paravirtual devices are kind of just another type of firmware/driver layer.

I kind of hope more (new) OSes adopt a similar model. Developing cool new experimental OSes would be easier if real hardware could be "ignored" in favor of just targeting virtio interfaces or something, and IMO that's where the most interesting OS dev is yet to happen. If you're mostly interested in hardware support and raw performance, I think Linux has "done it". But there's a lot left to explore, and maybe it's best to find a way to get Linux to do the heavy lifting.

Re: VSI OpenVMS v9.0-G Released (x86 port)

#8

Post by johnklos »

johnklos wrote: post #6

It's funny how they targeted 32 bit x86 instead of just going straight for 64 bit. I wonder what drove that decision.

Only half joking - "x86" refers to 32 bit, and:

"Since the stack and static data on x86 is still allocated in 32-bit address space, a 32-bit pointer is sufficient to point to them."

It seems they're still expecting a lot of VAX users to migrate.

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