[Simh] More VAX Simulators

[Matt Burke]

On 10/05/2019 12:42, paulhardy2 at btinternet.com wrote:
> Has anyone recently managed to get any of these three VAXstations
> doing a network boot? 

There are some known issues with the LANCE Ethernet controller which I'm
currently investigating. The problem could be related to the issue
reported here:

https://github.com/simh/simh/issues/698

> I then tried booting from CDROM and installing VMS (5.5-2H4 - I want to replicate a particular historical system). Installing VMS and Motif went OK, and I can boot from DKA0 and login to VMS, but the system looks like a MicroVAX rather than a VAXstation. Do I need something in my ini file to enable the graphics? I'd assumed that because these executables say VAXstation, that it would be enabled by default.

You need one of these commands:

set cpu model=VAXstation
set cpu model=VAXstationGPX
set cpu model=VAXstationSPX

or the equivalent:

set vc enable
set va enable
set ve enable

Note that the SPX video option is only partially implemented and is not
really usable right now.

The executables are named VAXstation because that was the marketing name
for these systems. When the graphics are disabled it will be reported as
a VAXserver by VMS but the real systems never carried this name.

We start with the graphics disabled so that the user can choose which
video option they want to enable. Also it's possible the simulator could
have been built without SDL support.

Matt