VMS for MicroVAX II/III (was Re: Value of a PDP/8?) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

9 Mar 2007

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Subject: VMS for MicroVAX II/III (was Re: Value of a PDP/8?)
   From: "Zane H. Healy" <healyzh at aracnet.com>
   Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:19:27 -0800 (PST)
     To: cctalk at classiccmp.org

   If you
want to run VMS it's fairly available.  
 What would be the most appropriate version to run on a MicroVAX II or
 III?  Are there installation tape media images available somewhere? 
Realistically?  Any version you can get on a pair of good TK50's (as I
recall even V5.5 is 2 TK50 tapes).  I've run V5.5 on my MicroVAX II before
turning it into a PDP-11/73.  I've got V7.2 on my MicroVAX III.  However, I
was able to copy the 7.2 install CD over DECnet and write it out to an RA72
and install from that, in order to setup my MVIII. 
V5.5 runs well on MV-II with full load of ram.  If your less than full
ram consider 4.7 though 5.2 also runs ok that way.

...
  It's not
the suggestion you want, but you should think about getting a VAXstation 3100 or
4000 series machine.  With those and a SCSI CD-ROM that
is capable of doing 512-byte blocks you can easily install OpenVMS, and then
remotely boot the MicroVAX II/III as a cluster node.  

At least I assume you aren't lucky enough to have a Q-Bus SCSI adapter. 
Another option is after netbooting BACKUP you can do an image copy the disk to 
the MVII, either net is slow but still faster than TK50!!!  I've done this.
The 3100 I use has a small (100mb RZ2x) and it's a bootable system though 
cramped and I can use backup and image copy it to RD54 sized drives via 
'net.  That way I clone the OS to machines then tweek it (system name and 
all that stuff).  Saves a bunch of time and messing with TK50s that tend to 
do annoying things.  

IF you have a SCSI adaptor (even if you can't leave it in the system) you 
can create a disk on a 3100 or whatever and then transport the adaptor and 
media to the MVII and copy to the MSCP drive.

Allison