[Info-vax] Is a simple to use virtual Alpha aready feasible?

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2013-12-11 17:32:54 +0000, tadamsmar said:

I'd suggest not leading with a solution and a request for help with it. 
 Not to start with, at least.  Please start with some background on the 
general problems you are solving — please resist the urge to suggest 
how you might choose to solve these problems — what what general 
constraints and requirements are involved.

> Can you configure a PC so that it could replace a bare DS10?

Yes.  No.  Maybe.  Depends on factors not in evidence.

> That is, so that you could just disconnect the bus cables in a ds10 and 
> connect them to cards in the PC and then boot and run?

That depends *greatly* on what those cables are hooked to.

> Can you do this with freeware?

Maybe.  But there's not enough information to determine that.  Even 
with more information, prototyping would be typical.

> It seemed like vtAlpha might do that. The documentation seemed to 
> advising you from just using your old disks, which seems to imply that 
> you *could* just use your old disks.

Is there a particular requirement for reusing these apparently-ancient 
and clearly-sometimes-failing hard disks, and not newer equipment?

> Opps, forgot to move the cables from the 2 Ethernet ports! Those are 
> needed also.

Emulators tend to have more complex networking, as it's virtual;  
dependent on the emulation and on the host's own network connection.  
Plus you might not get the performance needed, barring 
paravirtualization or such.  Details on the particular network-related 
requirements here might help, too.

> Of course, a bare DS10 would still be cheaper, perhaps, for the same 
> performance.

If you want cheap and fast, Itanium blows the sneakers off of Alpha.  
More expandable, too.  Alpha is increasingly of the vintage that the 
gear is generally getting more expensive, and decent-grade and 
functional EV6 or EV7 gear is holding its prices and variously 
increasing, then you have higher Alpha license prices and the general 
problems of getting Alpha licenses from HP.



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