[Simh] The new Makefile

[HoffmanLabs]

Broer van Smeden writes

> Even I've never compiled any module, however, I expect to get a alpha server
> ds-10 within this year.
>   
The AlphaServer DS10 is a reasonable system; the AlphaStation XP1000 
series tends to be a bit more expandable and rather cheaper, surprisingly.

HP Itanium boxes capable of booting OpenVMS I64 have been showing up on 
eBay for US$500.  I'd grab one of these in preference to an AlphaServer 
DS10L or other Alpha, for instance.

The dual-processor 900 MHz Itanium 2 rx2600 box (officially unsupported, 
boots fine, and probably the slowest Itanium in wide use) is faster than 
an AlphaServer DS10 or AlphaStation XP1000.  Newer Itanium boxes are faster.
> After that, I want to move my vax environment to AXP and probably build my
> own binary. (since that's what I normally do on OpenVMS).
>
> For that, I don't use MMS, be the freeware MMK (Madgoat make), which can
> handle a normal make file (as well mms scripts).
>   

MMK is a reasonable choice, and gmake is available on the OpenVMS 
Freeware.  (http://mvb.saic.com)   Hobbyists can get MMS for free. 

Tools that use autoconf and such are a problem, though.  (cmake can be a 
potential alternative, for instance, though ports are harder to find.)

> In this case, compiling will only compile the modified sources, but of
> course the linking will take some time (I expect less than 10 seconds on the
> DS-10), because that AXP is quite faster than the 64 bit machine from around
> 1995. So if you want to change the code, "make" is the right way
>
> Maybe you have the possibility to upgrade to OpenVMS 7.3-2. This might speed
> up your system, because that VMS version has many improvement made for the
> IA64 port of OpenVMS.
>   

The performance updates weren't related to the OpenVMS I64 port, though 
V7.3-2 and later can be and variously are faster than earlier releases.

To avoid any chance of misinterpretation or confusion, there is no 
V7.3-2 for OpenVMS VAX.

The most recent (last?) version of OpenVMS VAX is V7.3. 

OpenVMS Alpha V8.3 and OpenVMS I64 V8.3-1H1 are current.  V7.3-2 is 
pretty old; the hobbyist kits are V8.3 now.

There are Alpha emulators around.