[Info-vax] State of the OpenVMS hobbyist program?

[Bill Gunshannon]

On 11/20/19 1:52 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2019-11-20, Dave Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
>> On 11/20/2019 9:10 AM, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>>
>>> Welcome to the same world as PDP-11 "Hobbyists".  :-)
>>
>> Maybe, but, I don't think it's the same world.
>>
>> I'm not aware of any LMF type of thing on PDP-11 OSs.  Does such exist?
>>
>> There is plenty of VAX/VMS media available.  Not sure it's the same with
>> PDP-11 OSs.
>>
>> Probably the biggest problem for PDP-11 stuff is media.  At least media
>> for which there still exists devices which can access such media.
>> Haven't seen a 9-track tape drive for quite a long time.
>>
>> Another issue would be documentation.  Back in the day it was all on paper.
>>
> 
> As Bill says, there are various media kits and documentation sets available
> (and the media kits are compatible with SimH).
> 
> The main issue is whether you are still legally allowed to run the PDP-11
> operating systems under SimH. Mentec created a hobbyist licence which
> allowed people to run older versions of the various PDP-11 operating
> systems for hobbyist purposes.
> 
> However, the catch is that the licence specifies you can only run them
> on an emulator owned by DEC (I forget the exact wording but that is the
> meaning of the wording used).
> 
> However, DEC no longer own SimH and so the argument made by some people
> is that the Mentec hobbyist licence is now invalid because there is no
> longer any DEC owned emulator.
> 
> Simon.
> 


There also is no longer a Mentec and all the IP was transferred.

bill