[Info-vax] OSes

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2016-01-13 21:28:08 +0000, Bill Cunningham said:

>     For usage with simh and the internet I have been looking for the 
> simplest DEC system to use. Open vms looks complicated. But if thaat's 
> the best it's worth learning. I need windows, DECwindows is available. 
> I need TCP/IP and that's available too. Now RSX-11 and RSTS/E and RT-11 
> OS8 TOPS-20 all look complicated too. Are they worth my time with what 
> I want. VMS seems to be popular. I have even looked at non-DEC OSes 
> like ITS and a "compatible time sharing" system.
> 
>     Do any of these mentioned OSes have DEC windows? Other of course than VMS.

For most folks, the simplest DEC system is probably the VAXmate or 
equivalent — one of the older DEC x86 boxes running Microsoft Windows 
or Linux, or whatever you're familiar with.

X Windows — which is what DECwindows is built on, and is compatible 
with — is available on ULTRIX VAX and OpenVMS VAX, OpenVMS Alpha and 
OpenVMS I64.

Most Unix, Linux, BSD and OS X systems have or can have X Windows, 
though not with the DECwindows-specific bits.

OpenVMS Alpha and other Alpha operating systems can boot via one of the 
available (free) Alpha emulators.   Moving to Alpha gets you 64-bit, 
and far more recent software.

Most of the PDP-11 operating systems including RSX-11M, RSX-11M+, 
RSX-11D, RSX-11S, RSTS, RT-11 and such do not have a network-capable 
graphic interface akin to X Windows.   Most applications there were 
character cell.

Then there's that PDP-11 is 16-bit, and DECwindows (X Windows) barely 
fit on the lower-end and some mid-range  32-bit VAX boxes.  More than a 
little hand-work was needed to get it to run adequately on VAX.

The simh emulator does not emulate a graphics controller, meaning that 
you will be displaying X Windows remotely on a Microsoft Windows, OS X, 
Linux, BSD, illumos or other such box; on some other computer, and 
particularly one with an X Windows server configured.

VMS does have an older windowing system VWS, but that's a non-starter 
without local graphics, and specifically a graphics controller 
supported by VWS.


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