9 Oct
1998
9 Oct
'98
6:35 a.m.
I'm sure many have tried with DEC and Mentec to get a hobbyist license
for RT-11. For example, following is an email I sent a couple of years
ago to Mentec. (P.S. I _really_ DO want to run BSD on as much of my
old -11 hardware as possible, and I have license AU-1 to do it. But, I
also have one or two small -11 systems where RT-11 is ideal, and
that's probably the more likely case with hobbyists.)
To: Chip Charlot/Sales/Mentec
Subject: RT-11 Hobbyist License
Chip,
Thank you for talking to me about the possibility of an RT-11 hobbyist
license. There are now many LSI-11, uPDP-11, PDP-11 machines being
preserved by dedicated "hobbyist-oriented" users who can't afford, and
who don't want to spend, the high cost of an official, commericial
license for RT-11.
DECUS is now making OpenVMS available to the hobbiest at a reasonable
price. (Yes, I know lots of hobbyists who have VAX and uVAX machines at
home.) Here is a Web page that summarizes the DECUS arrangement:
http://www.montagar.com/hobbyist/
Rather than repeat all the information contained at that Web site, I
suggest you take a look at the Proposal, License Terms, Licensing, and
Media Kit details at that site for VMS.
I hope that DEC and Mentec can work something out. I believe that it
would be to the advantage of both companies to preserve the machines and
software that otherwise may dwindle to a very small user base over time.
Thanks,
Dave Jenner
djenner(a)halcyon.com
Aaron Christopher Finney wrote:
On Fri, 9 Oct 1998, David C. Jenner wrote:
Allison J Parent wrote:
> So what else is there that is free (or very low cost) and can be run on
> most of the LSI-11, PDP-11/23 or 11/73 series? IE: can be run on a
> 11/03 with RX01 floppy or a 11/73 with RQDX3 MSCP disks (hard disks).
Having just gotten my 11/23 to come to life, I have been following this
thread with keen interest...
Obviously, I don't own a license for RT-11. And assume that the commercial
license from Mentec is probably much more than a hobbyist would pay to
tinker with old machines. Has anyone approached Mentec about the
possibility of a hobbyist-type license for _older_ versions of these OS's
(ala VMS hobbyist)? Perhaps if a group approached them with a proposal
they would be more apt to create one. From what I can tell, an old PDP
with no software license is virtually useless, except for
hacking/curiosity value. After a half hour of playing around with the
ODT commands, I shut down and picked up a book instead. Much like my VAXen
would be without the VMS-hobbyist license. I mean, who _really_ wants to
run BSD on all of your old hardware? It kind of defeats the whole
purpose of collecting the old machines if you have the same stupid Unix
prompt on your VAX, Sparc 1, Mac IIfx, 486PC, etc...
Just my $.02,
Aaron