[Info-vax] New guide for hobbyists, OpenVMS 8.4 installation with networking on AXPbox (modern fork of es40)

[Chris Townley]

On 09/11/2020 16:00, John H. Reinhardt wrote:
> On 11/9/2020 9:14 AM, Tomáš Glozar wrote:
>>> This may be a silly question, but does the Linux host in this
>>> picture have to be Linux AMD64/x86? (Don't quite see why, but...).
>>>
>>> And if a competent ARM Linux will do, has anybody thought about (or
>>> succeeded with) doing this on the latest Raspberry-Pi-in-a-Keyboard,
>>> either with Raspberry Pi OS or some other ARM-flavoured Linux?
>>>
>>> $70/£70 for the base model with 4GB memory and ~2GHz quad core ARM
>>> processor, just add HDMI monitor and sundries. See e.g.
>>> https://www.wired.co.uk/article/raspberry-pi-400-review
>>> Probably not enterprise-c;ass stability yet, but for £70...
>>>
>>
>> I have a Raspberry Pi 4 and can confirm es40 works on it (at least on 
>> a 64-bit OS; I had some problems at a 32-bit PowerPC system, but that 
>> could be because of big endian), so AXPbox on 400 should work, too 
>> (currently I don't have it up and running, but I'll try it once I get 
>> to it). The performance isn't perfect, but it's bearable.
>>
>> Also RPi 4 and 400 both support KVM/libvirt (they have the same CPU), 
>> so you can replicate the network setup in Remy's guide with libvirt 
>> instead of VirtualBox if networking doesn't work directly on the host 
>> system.
>>
> 
> Over on the DEC Computer Users FaceBook group there is a fellow, Keith 
> Halewood, that built it on his Pi4.  He had problems with access 
> violations (didn't specify if it were VMS or Linux) which ended up 
> crashing the system.  He wasn't specific on the build so I don't know if 
> it was a 32-bit or 64-bit O/S on the Pi or which Linux he was running.  
> So viability may be very implementation dependent.  He also mentioned 
> that it seemed fairly slow.
> 
Not too surprising on a Pi

Chris