[Simh] DECwindows

[Paul Hardy]

Thank you Tim, for those helpful instructions - My Windows laptop is now 
able to be a pretty good simulation of a VAXstation!

I'm running SIMH on a Windows (XP Media Center) laptop. I downloaded and 
installed a minimal Cygwin/X as you suggested.

On the VAX side, I had previously got TCPIP configured and started with all 
the usual services. I already had DECwindows 1.2.5 installed (because I 
wanted to run some old software that was built under Motif 1.2, whereas 
DECwindows 1.2.6 has Motif 2.0 I think). The only configuration I had to do 
in the VAX side was to copy XACCESS.TEMPLATE to XACCESS.TXT in 
SYS$SPECIFIC:[TCPIP$XDM].

I could then use the startxdcmp.bat file that comes with Cygwin to bring up 
an X-server and a login window to the VAX. I logged in and was away.

I needed to use different Xwin startup parameters, because the software that 
I wanted to run (like much VMS Motif stuff) expected to have an 8-bit 
pseudo-color visual type (settable colour palette), rather than 32-bit 
Trucolor which is the default.. So the changed lines in startxdcmp.bat 
became:
SET REMOTE_HOST=192.168.0.200
%RUN% XWin -ac -fullscreen -depth 8 -query %REMOTE_HOST%

Out of interest, what is the -ac switch to XWin? I couldn't see it in the 
documentation.

I then downloaded Netscape Navigator V3.03 from the HP site 
(http://h71000.www7.hp.com/ebusiness/technology.html) , and I now can browse 
the web (at least to any sites which work with a 10-year-old web browser!). 
Is there any more recent browser available for VMS on VAX (Mozilla, Firefox, 
Opera, etc)?

Regards,

-- 
Paul  Hardy
Email: paul at the hardy.demon.co.uk domain
Exiled in Redlands, CA, USA

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tim Pinkawa" <timpinkawa at gmail.com>
Disclaimer: I set this up again about a month ago and this is what I
remember, I may be omitting some details and if it doesn't work, let
me know. (aka, I was stupid and didn't take notes)

A little background on my setup. I have SIMH running on Linux (this
part doesn't matter) and I'm connecting with Cygwin/X on Windows (this
part does matter).

Load the license for DW-MOTIF in the same way you loaded the UCX
license for TCP/IP (don't forget LICENSE LOAD DW-MOTIF). Make sure the
CD is mounted (mount/over=id dua3:)

$ SET DEF DUA3:[DWMOTIF_VAX126.KIT]
$ PRODUCT INSTALL *

I believe the default options do the trick, but you can play it safe
by installing everything (except for the programming examples, which
are definitely not needed).

After it installs, enable XDM through SYS$MANAGER:TCPIP$CONFIG. It
will generate some skeleton config files.

There's some very useful information about XDM configuration here:
http://www.itec.suny.edu/scsys/vms/OVMSDOC073/V73/6526/6526pro_035.html

In the SYS$SPECIFIC:[TCPIP$XDM] directory, if memory serves me
correctly, the XACCESS.TXT file may have another extension. Make sure
that you have an XACCESS.TXT file or XDM will reject all connections.

The reason I said that the Cygwin/X part matters is because this is
the syntax that their XWin program uses to connect to XDM hosts. If
you do it from Linux, OS X, or a different Windows X server, the
syntax might be different.
The command to connect to the XDM server:
xwin -ac -query vax.example.com

vax.example.com should be the name or IP address of your emulated VAX.
You should see a white logon box.