[Simh] VMS Network device support

[Zane H. Healy]

At 8:10 PM -0400 6/7/13, Timothe Litt wrote:
>Second, many of our plans assume a decnet router.  VMS VAX requires 
>the DVNETRTG PAK to enable this.

Are your plans hobbyist related?  I rarely have time to read the 
list, but the subject caught my eye.

>I don't have current information, but 
>http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/vms_hobbyist_faq.txt 
><http://www.aracnet.com/%7Ehealyzh/vms_hobbyist_faq.txt> suggests 
>that neither is in the Hobbyist PAK.  This may be because no one 
>thought they'd be of interest to hobbyists.  It's also possible that 
>this information has been superseded - it's 13 years old, so we need 
>to verify it.

I hear that the FAQ is so old that the author forgot he wrote it... 
Cool document, he should probably see about finding time to update 
it, though I also hear he has no free time.

The Hobbyist PAK's I got last year included DVNETRTG (what you need), 
DVNETEND, and DVNETEXT (used for extended functionality on DECnet/OSI 
on the Alpha).

>Third, VAX DECnet/OSI Phase V officially withdrew support for the 
>DMR11, DMV11, KMV1A, KMS1P and  KMS11 devices.
>I don't know if they stopped working, or just stopped being 
>supported.  DEC suggested DMR->Ethernet, DMV/KMV-> DSV and KMS -> 
>DMF32 as replacements. (The DMC had previously been retired as the 
>DMR was a more capable device, and the DMC had some ucode bugs.)
>
>This may mean that we have to use -11s for routers, if we can't get 
>HP to include these PAKs in the Hobbyist PAK for VMS.
>
>Of course, anyone who is replacing real hardware with an emulator 
>can (as I understand it) move PAKs from real hardware to their 
>emulator.
>
>We can probably find enough PAKs this way for development, but 
>someone will have to take on finding the right person in HP to help 
>create a real solution.  Since the folks who set up the hobbyist 
>program are long gone, it may be a challenge, even though I don't 
>see any reason for HP to refuse.
>
>Meantime, we should solve the technical problems first.  They're 
>probably easier...

What hardware and OS are you trying to implement DECnet Router on? 
BTW, IIRC, you need to run Phase IV for routing.  ISTR that is why I 
moved from DECnet/OSI Phase V to Phase IV at home.

Anyway, the real reason I jumped into this thread is that I have some 
interest in setting up a VAX emulator as a DECnet Router.  My 
VAXstation 4000's are to unstable anymore to function reliably as a 
router.

Zane




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| Zane H. Healy                    | UNIX Systems Administrator |
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