UNIX for the VAXstation or AlphaStation - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

27 Feb 2009

On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 11:47 PM, Zane H. Healy <healyzh at aracnet.com> wrote:
...
  At 10:54 PM -0500 2/27/09, John Floren wrote:

 So, I've got both a VAXstation 4000-60 and an AlphaStation 250 here
 and after playing with it for a bit I've decided I don't really care
 for VMS so much that I want it on both of them. I'd like to find an
 interesting, preferably AT&T-style UNIX to run on one of them, so I'm
 hoping some of you can help me figure out my options. So far, I know I
 can run:
 -NetBSD
 -Probably some DEC/HP UNIXes (Tru64 on the Alpha?).

 I'd really appreciate perspectives on these different systems,
 user/admin experience, etc. I'm not looking to accomplish anything in
 particular here, I just want something to play around with on my DEC
 hardware while I wait for the PDP-11 :) 
 UNIX is a waste of good DEC hardware! :-) ?DEC never sold a UNIX variant
 that would run on a VAXstation 4000/60. ?I think NetBSD and OpenBSD will
 both run on it. ?I'll confess that OpenBSD at least used to rock on Alpha
 and can handle a machine with less RAM than OpenVMS expects. ?Your choice of
 OS's are a lot wider for the Alpha.

 As for a PDP-11, I recommend RT-11, RSTS/E, or RSX-11M+, not UNIX.

 For UNIX get a Sun or SGI system, in other words cool hardware that only
 runs UNIX. ?I did buy a nice DECstation 5000/133 (a MIPS box) years ago to
 run NetBSD. ?I wonder what happened to that machine...

 Zane

The PDP-11 has RT-11 loaded already, so I look forward to playing with
that; when I get it home and can check exactly what the
processor/memory/disk values are, then do some research into whether
or not it would be possible to try RSTS/E or RSX-11M+ on it too.

John
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