[HN Gopher] OpenVMS 9.2 for x86 is finally available for hobbyists
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       OpenVMS 9.2 for x86 is finally available for hobbyists
        
       Author : jandeboevrie
       Score  : 51 points
       Date   : 2023-04-09 20:43 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (raymii.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (raymii.org)
        
       | shrubble wrote:
       | It's certainly a different take on operating systems... will be
       | interesting to see if there is any interest now that you can spin
       | it up as a VM on your KVM server box. Can't figure out the RAM
       | needed to run it from the notes I have read, however...
        
         | tyingq wrote:
         | From "VMS Software / Documentation / x86-64 V9.2 Installation
         | Guide"
         | 
         | https://docs.vmssoftware.com/vsi-openvms-x86-64-v92-installa...
         | 1.2.1. Recommended Settings for Virtual Machines       VSI
         | recommends that your OpenVMS virtual machine be configured
         | with:            Memory Minimum of 6 GB            Minimum
         | Number of CPUs: 2
        
       | nubinetwork wrote:
       | Nice, I had kindof given up on thinking they would open this up,
       | but someone here mentioned a couple weeks ago that VMSI were
       | waiting on compilers or something.
       | 
       | Can't wait to try this out later this week, I haven't used VMS in
       | years, and never had to install it... gonna be interesting.
        
       | zabzonk wrote:
       | i used VMS in the very early 80s, when i was working at a college
       | which was part of the university of london. i never cottoned on
       | to it - that versioning file system (obviously designed to sell
       | hard disks) and all that SYS$SYSTEM stuff (i mean - why?).
       | 
       | and then i changed jobs somewhere else, using a dec-10, and
       | discovered what a really horrible OS was like.
        
       | mrlonglong wrote:
       | Yay!
        
       | CodeWriter23 wrote:
       | Does it have Rogue I mean DUNGEO ?
        
       | johndoe0815 wrote:
       | Finally an OS that uses all four protection rings of x86 CPUs? :)
        
         | fredoralive wrote:
         | It seems x86 rings don't quite work like a VAX's, so they have
         | to emulate them. The issues you have trying to run a Real OS on
         | a Toy CPU... (ducks)
        
           | johndoe0815 wrote:
           | Interesting, did the VMS team publish something about the
           | emulation? That would be interesting for my OS course...
        
             | fredoralive wrote:
             | The source of the bit about VMS only using 2 rings on x86
             | from the Wikipedia article is
             | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8kcfvJ1Iec , which I did
             | skim to check that source for what the differences were (it
             | seems to be around page protection between rings[1], circa
             | 14 minutes in). I assume it gives more information, but I
             | don't have time to watch more of it.
             | 
             | [1] Before I checked I was under the misunderstanding that
             | AMD64 had just got rid of the extra rings alongside stuff
             | like BCD instructions, so was trying to find a source for
             | that.
        
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       (page generated 2023-04-09 23:00 UTC)