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

[Vertis Sidus]

On 2013-04-02, Steven Schweda <sms.antinode at gmail.com> wrote:
>> [...] 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.

Aha! Thank you, that's a document I was looking for. I saw it
once before, but without knowing what it was called, I couldn't
find it again. All I found was an installation guide with a
much shorter list of unsupported hardware.

It seems the last version supported on the 2000 was 7.2, so I
may be just this side of out of luck.

>                                 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.

I think it's fixed at a maximum of 14MB, but I'm not sure.

Sorry I'm so vague about this. The framebuffer-supporting
version of the emulator is closed-source and Windows-only, and
I'm not actually running Windows most of the time.

SIMH comes with a modified firmware for the default VAX system 
(3900 I believe) that allows exceeding the hardware's maximum
memory, but no such luck on the 2000.

>    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.

Yeah, this isn't for anything useful. I don't have anything
to run in it. It's pretty much for nostalgia purposes - my mom
worked at DEC in the early to mid 90s, and I occasionally
wound up there with a VISITOR sticker badge on my shirt and
got to play with the VTs and the VAXstations. (Probably
shouldn't've been allowed, and I probably shouldn't be saying
it, but what're they gonna do? Fire her?)

If I could have exactly what I want, it'd be a kit for
whichever version of VAX/VMS it was that came with the gray
binders, an era-appropriate VAXstation, a VT340, some games,
and a copy of the CHEST::TERMINAL_ART Notes conference. So,
y'know, as close as I can get to that within my means, that's
what I'm going for. :)

-- 
vrtsds at sdf.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.org