[Simh] VMS Network device support

[Gregg Levine]

On Sat, Jun 8, 2013 at 6:31 AM, Timothe Litt <litt at ieee.org> wrote:
> 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 been superseded - it's 13 years old, so we need to verify it.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
>>

Hello!
I gave the term DVNETRTG PAK to a search engine and with the
completely useless responses, plus one or two of useful responses this
one came up: http://www2.hmc.edu/www_common/OVMS073/v73/6496/6496pro.HTML
it must means something of a sort.

-----
Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8 at gmail.com
"This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."