[Simh] VMS Network device support

[Timothe Litt]

Inline

This communication may not represent my employer's views,
if any, on the matters discussed.

On 07-Jun-13 20:59, Zane H. Healy wrote:
> 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.
My personal plans?  Yes.  Naturally people who use simh for other 
purposes need to get other licenses.  Most of the developers of simh use 
the hobbyist program for licensing DEC software, as do many of the users.
>
>> 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 this information has been superseded - it's 13 years old, so we need 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.
>
None of us admit to having free time...we'd get put to work if we did.  
Still, an update would be nice.
> 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).
>
Good to hear that oversight was fixed.  There was some discussion when 
the program was initiated (I had a minor role); the product managers 
were happy to see a community of users/expertise, but cautious about the 
potential for abuse.  Now that VAX/VMS is not in the mainstream, I think 
the case can be made for making all products available.  (Well, except 
those where HP would have to pay a royalty to someone else...there was a 
little of that.)
>> ...
>
> 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.
>
Hardware: DUP, KDP, DMC, DMR interfaces to start with.  Probably the 
QBus variants eventually.
Architecture/OS: All of them :-)
Right now, we're working on network device support for the PDP-10 - the 
particular hardware only has serial line DECnet.
Thus the interest in routing; that allows them to get to the ethernet, 
and thence the world.
And TOPS-10's ANF-10 network interconnects PDP-11s.

> 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.
>
Should work fine today on ethernet.  But sync lines are what's under way.
> Zane
>
>
>
>


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