-The pmax port of OpenBSD is being worked on by Thomas Graichen (graichen@openbsd.org). The status
-is that i have it so far running now (a lot of thanks to Dieter Mayer
-who made all this possible by sending me a Decstaion 5000/200 -
-thanks) and i have also started to create snapshots of OpenBSD/pmax
-and X11 for OpenBSD/pmax from time to
-time - you may get them from
-the usual OpenBSD ftp servers.
-
+
History and status:
-
Differences to NetBSD/pmax:
-
-
we have native shared libraries
-
the port is self-hosting (i.e. it only uses in-tree tools - there is
-no need for externel binutils).
-
i try too keep the release of snapshots and releases close to
-releasing X11 binaries too (X11R5 servers and X11R6 clients - both
-compiled with ProjectRoot /usr/X11R6)
-
you get all the usual OpenBSD improvements, additions and fixes
-
+
The pmax port of OpenBSD is being worked on by Thomas Graichen (graichen@OpenBSD.org).
+From the pmax specific code it is heavily based on NetBSD/pmax. I usually
+try to keep it in sync with all fixes and improvements from NetBSD/pmax.
+Starting with the 2.1 release of OpenBSD the pmax port is now no longer
+only available in form of snapshots but i still plan to make new snapshots
+of the current state of OpenBSD/pmax from time to time available. So far
+it is running very stable for me and is also reported to do so from a lot
+of other people on different kinds of machines. I want to take the chance
+here to say thanks to Dieter Mayer and Rob Urban for supplying me with
+the hardware to do the development on. Also i want to thank all the people
+from the NetBSD/pmax team and mailinglists for their help in many situations.
+If you are interested in getting OpenBSD/pmax you can either use the latest
+formal release of OpenBSD or one of the snapshots of OpenBSD/pmax if you
+are interested in tracking the current state - you may get them both from
+the usual OpenBSD ftp servers.
-
-Aside from that the hardware support is nearly identical to NetBSD/pmax.
-
+
I'm very interested in getting feedback from people running OpenBSD/pmax
+on their machines ... so if you do so - please send me a mail about it
+... this way i can get a feeling of how many people are using it - thanks.
-
-This is also the place there i plan to put all hints for the installation
-and fixes for problems while doing it to.
-
+
Despite of the fact that the hardware specific code in OpenBSD/pmax
+doesn't differ much from NetBSD/pmax there are for the system as a whole
+some ...
we have native shared libraries (... but also for NetBSD/pmax there
+are snapshots with shared libraries based mostly on the OpenBSD shared
+library support from per fogelstrom available now - but the latest formal
+release of it - 1.2 is completely statically linked)
+
+
the port is self-hosting (... that means it only uses in-tree tools
+- there is no need for externel binutils).
+
+
i try too keep the release of snapshots and releases close to releasing
+X11 binaries too (X11R5 servers and X11R6 clients - both compiled with
+ProjectRoot /usr/X11R6) so that you should have a usable system including
+X11 without having to build or search all the stuff yourself
+
+
you get all the usual OpenBSD improvements, additions and fixes - most
+important here the security related stuff and fixes
+
+
i have tried to make the installation of the release as simple as possible
+... i hope to improve this further with the next release
+
+
+
Supported machines:
+
+
OpenBSD/pmax currently supports the following machines:
+
+
+
decstation 2100 and 3100 (pmin and pmax)
+
+
decstation 5000/120, /125 and /133 (3min)
+
+
decstation 5000/200 (3max)
+
+
decstation 5000/240 (3maxplus)
+
+
decstation 5000/20 and /25 (personal decstation)
+
+
+
OpenBSD/pmax does currently not run on:
+
+
+
decstation 5100 (r2000 based cousin of the decstation 3100)
+
+
decsystem 5400 and 5500 (close to myfair and myfair II vax with mips
+cpu)
+
+
decsystem 5800 (close to vax 8800 with mips cpus)
+
+
+
Per Fogelstrom (pefo@OpenBSD.org)
+now also has one of the r4000 cpu upgraded decstations ... so i expect
+support for them soon.
+
+
Supported devices:
+
+
If something is wrong here - please let me know!
+
+
Framebuffer:
+
+
+
pm mono (1024x864x1) or color (1024x864x8) onboard framebuffer (pmin
+and pmax)
Keep in mind that you need a monitor which can do sync on green- because
+all the above framebuffers give sync on green output. Also the monitor
+should be multisync-capable or it should have a dec-compatible fixed frequency.
+All the above framebuffers should be supported by the x server too.
+
+
+
Ethernet:
+
+
+
onboard amd lance ethernet interface
+
+
turbochannel amd lance lance interface card
+
+
+
SCSI:
+
+
+
onboard dec SCSI controller - sii (pmin and pmax)
+
+
onboard dec SCSI controller - asc
+
+
turbochannel dec SCSI controller card - asc
+
+
+
Misc:
+
+
+
dec lk201 or compatible keyboard
+
+
dec or compatible mouse
+
+
onboard serial ports on most machines
+
+
+
Hints and fixes for OpenBSD/pmax 2.1 release:
+
+
At this place i plan to collect all hints for the installation of the
+2.1 release and fixes for problems while doing it to. Up to now there are
+no known problems to mention here.
