[Info-vax] Is SIMH on a Mac a viable option ?

[Jordi Guillaumes i Pons]

En/na JF Mezei ha escrit:
> Have been pondering migration options/process.
> 
> But in the end, I may still need access to VAX/VMS to run All-in-1 or
> access some RMS file I forgot to convert etc etc.
> 
> How viable is SIMH on a 64 bit Intel Mac running OS-X ? Is this a large
> project to setup and get working reliably ?

No. If you use MacPorts its trivial. Even downloading the sources and 
compiling the thing yourself is a piece of cake (assumig you installed 
the mac Dev Tools, of course).

> Does the SIMH instance get access to a virtualised ethernet device
> (which could, for instancem pop DECterms onto a remote workstation).

Yes it does. With a caveat: the emulated VAX can not talk with the mac 
host, neither the other way. But it can share the mac ethernet or wifi 
connection and talk to the outside world. There are workarounds for 
this, related to using the TUN/TAP interfaces, but I've been unable to 
implement them. My workaround is more a thing of brute force: I run a 
thin distro of linux inside a VM (Using Parallels ($), VMWare Fussion 
($) or VirtualBox (free), and I run SIMH _inside_ the Linux VM. Then 
SIMH cannot talk with the VM (which does not bother me) bot CAN talk 
with the mac and the outside world

> This wouldn't be more for ensuring access to legacy data from time to
> time as opposed to running it continually.

Then IMHO it can be a good solution.

> Where do I go to get SimH and is there sufficient documentation for it
> to make it easy to setup ?

Here:

http://simh.trailing-edge.com/

If you want to see it running, please email me to jguillaumes at gmail 
dot com and I can open an account for you in a virtual VAX I have 
running in a FreeBSD box, and open the firewall holes necessary for you 
to connect. I can give you also my config files in my mac.

All you will see is a MicroVAX 3900, from inside the virtual VAX you 
cannot (as far as I know) notice you are in a virtual environment.

Have a nice day