MicroVax II

[Zane Healy]

> On Jul 30, 2016, at 8:19 AM, Douglas Taylor <dj.taylor4 at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> I have a couple of Viking (TD Systems) scsi controllers which is what I am thinking of using.  I have some S-Box SCSI controllers then may come in handy.
> 
> I like the idea of VMS 5.5 just to restore the system back to its former glory.
> 
> Doug

I think we’ve discussed your Viking boards before.  I think they’ll work just fine, but in all honestly, I’ve never tried.  Viking boards are all in PDP-11’s. :-)  The reason I suggest 5.5-2 is that you can get a decent TCP/IP stack for it, AND, it’s requirements are low enough to work well on a MicroVAX II.  In fact it’s what I tend to prefer to run on VAXen.  Having said that, I’d like to get a v4.x system up and running at some point.  My MicroVAX III was running 4.something when I got it.  I booted it up, played around, powered it down, and the RD53 wouldn’t power back up.  I’ve been kicking myself for about 18 years for not grabbing a backup when I first powered it on!

If you can get a copy of the Hobbyist V1 CD-ROM, it’s well worth the effort.  It has v5 and I think v6, as well as a lot of freeware.  IIRC though, it lacks layered products.

Zane