[Info-vax] VMS terminal port/class doc... no it's not...

[JF Mezei]

VAXman- @SendSpamHere.ORG wrote:
>   The interface for terminal class drivers on OpenVMS I64 is a call-based
>   interface. This is a significant difference from the JSB-based interface
>   on OpenVMS Alpha that uses registers to pass arguments. 


It was explained to be that for that IA64 thing, VMS engineering decided
to use an Intel provided image header format to allow the re-use of
linker code provided by Intel.

Does this mean that a rework of drivers for IA64 was done in the same
spirit to allow easier re-use of driver code provided by Intel and/or
Microsoft for various devices ?

Or was the difference in system architecture such that a total rework of
driver interfaces was required even if fully developped for VMS without
"insipiratrion" from drivers provided by other companies ?


Theoretically speaking, could the philosophy use for IA64 driver
interfaces be ported to Alpha (for compatibility purposes etc), or are
architectural differences significant enough that tghe philosophy used
for IA64 drivers just wouldn't apply well on Alpha ?