[Info-vax] VMS port to x86

[John Wallace]

On Mar 25, 6:40 am, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spam... at vaxination.ca> wrote:
> je... at virtual-vax-alpha.com wrote:
> > systems with much less power consumption and heat generation. VAX/
> > Alpha virtualization won't be the right fit for everyone, of course,
>
> SimH causes one core of an x86 to run at 100% all the time to emulate
> the vax.  A Mac Pro computer running at 100% consumes about as much
> power as a DS10L.
>
> If SimH could "capture" the idle loop and sleep the process instead,
> then power consumption might be down, but not that much.


"If SimH could "capture" the idle loop"

JF, have you tried the SIMH "SET CPU IDLE=VMS" command (as written up
in various places on the Internet) and found it wanting, or were you
just unaware of it?

In a commercial setup rather than hobbyist setup, a far greater
concern than using one of the multiple cores [often unnecessarily]
provided in many modern Window boxes would likely be the reliability
and availability of the underlying OS in comparison with the
reliability and availability which led to the choice (and retention)
of VMS.