[Info-vax] SimH with framebuffer and hobbyist kit?

[Steven Schweda]

> This is a rather limited system! [...]

   A _real_ VAXstation (or MicroVAX) 2000 is a rather limited
system, especially if you don't have the 12MB memory card.

> From what I've read, it really wants VMS 4.x or so, [...]

   A real VAXsta/muVAX 2000 was probably shipped with VMS
V4.x, but my real VAXsta 2000 (with its 6MB of memory) runs
V5.5-2 (slowly).

> [...] but unfortunately all I have is the current 7.3
> hobbyist kit. Is it at all possible for VMS 7.3, with
> DECwindows, to run in this emulator?

   The VMS V7.3 SPD should say which systems (and
configurations) are supported.  I know nothing, but, if your
emulator has the maximum memory for a real 2000 system (14MB?
16MB?), then I'd guess that it could run V7.3.  ("is
supported" and "works" are spelled differently for a reason.)
If the emulator can have even more memory than a real 2000
system, then so much the better.

> [...] Or, is there another framebuffer emulator option that
> I don't know about?

   I've done very little with VAX emulators, so I know not.

   If I wanted to do any useful work, then I'd probably try
installing V7.3.  Anything older than V5.5-2 has so many
limitations (in my opinion) that I wouldn't bother.  If you
really want a VMS kit older than V7.3 for hobbyist use, then
someone here could probably supply a CD-ROM image or some
BACKUP save sets.