[Simh] EXT : Alpha ES40 emulator

[John H. Reinhardt]

On 2/19/2018 9:20 AM, Hittner, David T [US] (MS) wrote:
> The ES40 emulator does have some issues, and development has been discontinued. From the ES40 home page: http://es40.org/Homepage
> 
> 
>     Discontinuation Notice
> 
> ES40 emulator development has virtually been halted since 2009. The lead developer of ES40, Camiel Vanderhoevenis developing both Freeware and Commercial Alpha and VAX emulators for Migration Specialties.
> 
> FreeAXP <http://www.freeaxp.com/> is the Freeware Alpha emulator from Migration Specialties.
> 
> Avanti <http://www.migrationspecialties.com/Emulator-Alpha.html> is the Freeware Alpha emulator from Migration Specialties.
> 
> I (and the ES40 author) would highly recommend that you use Migration Specialties’s FreeAXP emulator instead of ES40 if you are just looking to successfully run OpenVMS on an Alpha emulator. FreeAXP is a stable and supported Alpha emulator for both OpenVMS and TRU64 and is available at no cost.
> 
> http://www.migrationspecialties.com/FreeAXP.html
> 
> Dave

The lack of a Non-Windows host makes this a non-starter for me.  All I have are Linux and macOS systems here. I won't buy a Windows license to run under an emulator to run an emulator for an Alpha.  The limitation to 128MB of memory on the FreeAXP emulator is also a problem.  Being free, I realize I have little firm ground to stand on, but I just wanted to make it known that it's hardly an ideal solution for everyone.

I look forward if/when SimH has as good of an Alpha emulation as it does PDP and VAX.

John H. Reinhardt