[Info-vax] Unix on A DEC Vax?

[John Wallace]

On Jan 16, 5:00 pm, haziz <hsa... at gmail.com> wrote:
> I just picked up a DEC Vaxstation 90 with a built in CDROM and an auxiliary SCSI storage module with tape drive. I believe it is functional although I cannot test it yet since I still do not have a working terminal or monitor. I can get a VT-520 terminal and keyboard and will also try to resurrect a separate now defunct Radius monitor with the BNC connectors and I believe the ability to Sync on Green (somebody unfortunately tried to convert that monitor to a standard VGA connection and butchered it in the process). I am fairly comfortable with Linux and have played around a little with FreeBSD and Solaris in the past. I have never used VMS in the past. This is the first time I am working with a Vax computer.
>
> I have a few questions:
>
> Which Unix version to install on the Vax? Original UC Berkeley BSD Unix? OpenBSD? NetBSD? Ultrix if I can get a legal copy? AT&T Unix? For emotional reasons I may prefer to install some version of the original UC Berkeley BSD (1980s Bill Joy/Marshall Kirk McKusick Era), but will go with whichever is easier to install, the machine is newer (production started 1991) than the original BSD Unix versions. I would call it nostalgia except I never did use the original BSD Unix. Another consideration would be some version of AT&T Unix if it will run.
>
> Is there a version of FreeBSD for the Vax?
>
> If there is a functional VMS install on the machine's 4 hard drives (2 each in the machine and the auxilliary SCSI storage module), is there a way to dual boot between Unix and VMS?
>
> I presume that I can get some verison of Emacs running on this system, it does not have to be recent. While Vi may be more historically correct on this machine I much prefer emacs.
>
> Any suggestions or ideas?
>
> My cell phone probably has significantly more computing power and far more memory and storage than this "minicomputer", I am approaching this as a hobbyist. I hope to use the system to explore BSD Unix (and possibly AT&T Unix) further and do some C programming on it. I anticipate to be working purely from the command line. I may explore VMS also at some point.
>
> Thanks.

Welcome to comp.os.vms and to the world of VAX.

Depending on the quantity and quality of replies you get here, you
*might* want to ask the UNIXy questions in comp.sys.dec, though I
suspect there is much overlap between readers of the two. Please treat
what follows here as purely an interim answer till someone clued up
with respect to *BSD on VAX comes along. Also, there are mailing list
archives for *BSD  which may shed more light on the subject too.

Presumably VAXstation Model 90 is VAXstation 4000 model 90? A nice
machine, as VAXstations go. Once upon a time, LINUX/VAX (kernel 2,4)
had support for the VAXstaion 4000 model 60, which is quite a close
relative. Close enough to work? Don't know. (Source:
http://linux-vax.sourceforge.net/newfaq/linux_vax-1.html)

A quick web search suggests that various VAX Ultrixes up to and
including 4.5 are in use in "the hobbyist community". Legality is
another discussion.

Dual booting with VMS should be OK (give or take maybe some
awkwardness with the time of year clock???). Note though that the
worlds will be separate; disks will be usable *either* as VMS disks
under VMS *or* as Ultrix/UFS disks (etc). But afaik VMS cannot readily
read UFS. Can a UNIX read a VMS-formatted disk? Possibly (a mere
matter of programming, just like programming a VMS utility to read a
UFS disk).

If your cellphone is an Android cellphone, you can run SIMH on it.
SIMH is a well respected freeware emulator hostable on various
platforms which can emulate various VAXes and machines of several
other architectures too. So, you can emulate a VAX inside SIMH in your
cellphone . Various folks have done and documented this, e.g.
http://worldofvax.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/compiling-simh-emulators-for-android.html
If you don't want to compile your own SIMH on Android, $5 or so gets
you a prebuilt one from the Marketplace. SIMH is free, your $5 gets
you a commercial terminal emulator bundled with SIMH.

That's your interim answer. Now over to the rest of the community for
proper answers.

Have a lot of fun.