[Info-vax] X86 first boot? - A Really Stupid Question

[Phillip Helbig undress to reply]

In article <bLydnaaAd9bYsAPBnZ2dnUU7-cXNnZ2d at supernews.com>, David
Turner <islandcomputersuscorp at gmail.com> writes: 

> Seeing as how incompatibilities exist even on 1 Alphaserver or Integrity 
> server, how the hell is VSI going to maintain drivers/support for 
> options and servers and workstations running VSI x86-64 VMS?
> 
> I mean, just buy a DELL server for example.
> Even under the same part number,  1 server may have a Broadcom network 
> chip on the board, while the other may have an intel chipset.
> Same goes for SAS controllers, with ever changing firmware levels...
> 
> And the support for a multitude of different branded servers using ever 
> changing chipsets and cpus?
> 
> Even Proliant servers, which are more parts-vendor stable, come from the 
> manufacturer with different firmware levels. Everything seems to go out 
> to the highest bidder on memory products, USB chips.....
> 
> This is going to be TRUE HELL unless there is a very small and finite 
> date code, product code, firmware version etc.
> 
> Otherwise it is going to be a Sh*tstorm for VSI Support.....

In the old days, VMS patches were freely available and porn was 
expensive.  How things have changed!

If patches etc were available for hobbyist use again, you would have 
many people happy to test, a bit bolder than in a production 
environment.  With x86, hardware won't be such a bottleneck with 
hobbyists.