Which vax-vms license for a microvax II with VCB-02? - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

6 Oct 2012

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 Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2012 15:37:50 -0600
 From: Kevin Reynolds <tpresence at hotmail.com>
 To: <cctech at classiccmp.org>
 Subject: Which vax-vms license for a microvax II with VCB-02?
 Message-ID: <BLU157-W454A5A7A156107652BD49FA2840 at phx.gbl>
 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

 I've been wracking my brain over which license I need for VMS 5.2 on a microvax-II
with a VCB-02 graphics module installed?

 I understand that I could just use the hobbyist licenses, but I bought the system with a
legitimate VMS license and want to keep it as close to the original configuration as
possible (I have other microvax systems with hobbyist 7.x).

 Unfortunately there is no vmslicense/charge like you have with vms 5.3 and beyond.

 I'm testing by connecting up a terminal to a serial port (not the console, thats a
different problem, won't work with VCB-02 installed unless you are in debug), and
trying to log in.  Right now I'm getting license exceeded.  I figured I would just
need a workstation license, but this doesn't seem to have worked.

    Older KA-630 boards (maybe all of them) do not have the firmware to
talk to the VCB-02 screen during boot.  So, you have to use a serial
console to check boot progress or run diags, etc.

Once it is booted, VMS 4.7 will run the VCB-02 just fine.  There were 
single-user
licenses and multi-user ones.  The license exceeded message sounds like 
it has
to do with the single/multi user issue, not the VCB-02.  I think maybe there
is a system boot-time switch to select # of users, and if that doesn't 
match, then
only the administrator is allowed to log in.  (Been so long since I ran
VMS, I'm forgetting a lot!)  I bought a MicroVAX-II board in 1986, and ran
it as a home computer for about 21 years, until the hard drive died.
I added a VCB-01 first, then upgraded to a VCB-02.

Jon