[Info-vax] Unix on A DEC Vax?

[ChrisQ]

On 01/16/13 23:03, ChrisQ wrote:
> On 01/16/13 19:51, glen herrmannsfeldt wrote:
>> haziz<hsaziz 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.
>>
>> (snip)
>>
>>> Which Unix version to install on the Vax? Original UC Berkeley
>>> BSD Unix? OpenBSD? NetBSD?
>>
>> I recommend NetBSD. I once had it on a uVAX 3100/30 on the way
>> to installing VMS. It installs very easily.
>>
>> -- glen
>
> I would second that. I had netbsd running on a microvax years ago and it
> installed easily, once I had found a way to create a tz50 tape to
> boot from. I think this was v1.x something and the networking was a bit
> flaky, but it was usable. Graphics support was, iirc, non existent at the
> time due to the lack of hardware info from dec, but there's a lot of work
> been done in the meantime and several graphics options are now supported.
> Check out the netbsd website and subscribe to the mailing list to get up to
> speed. It was quite stable, even back then and the vax port mailing list
> was very active.
>
> That's probably the only option, unless you can get ultrix to boot...
>
> Regards,
>
> Chris

Sorry type, tz50 should have been tk50.

Another point is that even if there is no graphics support, you can 
still run
an X server and use remote X, or you may be able to run vncserver on the
vax and then vncviewer on another machine with graphics support. The early
versions of vnc were quite slow, but the latest versions run as fast as
onboard graphics on some machines. With any vax though, don't expect 3Ghz
Xeon performance :-)...

Regards,

Chris