Annotation of www/vax.html, Revision 1.39
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1.3 fn 3: <html>
1.1 deraadt 4: <head>
5: <title>OpenBSD/vax</title>
1.39 ! miod 6: <link rev="made" href="mailto:www@openbsd.org">
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9: <meta name="description" content="the OpenBSD/vax page">
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11: <meta name="distribution" content="global">
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14:
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! 16: <a href="index.html"><img alt="[OpenBSD]" height="30" width="141" src="images/smalltitle.gif" border="0"></a>
! 17: <p>
! 18: <h2><font color="#e00000">OpenBSD/vax</font></h2>
! 19:
! 20: <hr>
1.10 johns 21:
1.39 ! miod 22: <p>
! 23: <a href="images/vax.jpg">
! 24: <img src="images/vax.jpg" width="350" height="467" align="right" alt="[nothing sucks like a vax]">
! 25: </a>
! 26: OpenBSD/vax runs on a large set of the VAX computers manufactured by
! 27: <a href="http://www.digital.com">Digital</a> (then Compaq, now Hewlett-Packard).
! 28: </p>
! 29:
! 30: <p>
! 31: A mailing list dedicated to the OpenBSD/vax port is available at
! 32: <u><font color="#23238e">vax@openbsd.org</font></u>.
! 33: To join the OpenBSD/vax mailing list, send a message body of <b>"subscribe
! 34: vax"</b> to <a href="mailto:majordomo@openbsd.org">majordomo@openbsd.org</a>.
! 35: Please be sure to check our <a href="mail.html">mailing list policy</a> before
! 36: subscribing.
! 37: </p>
! 38:
! 39: <p>
! 40: The current port maintainers are
! 41: <a href="mailto:bjc@cvs.openbsd.org">Brandon Creighton</a>
! 42: and <a href="mailto:hugh@cvs.openbsd.org">Hugh Graham</a>.
! 43: Others are definitely welcome to contribute!
! 44: </p>
! 45:
! 46: <a href="#toc"></a>
! 47: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><i>Table of contents</i></font></h3>
! 48: <p>
! 49: <ul>
! 50: <li><a href="#history">Past history of the port</a>
! 51: <li><a href="#status">Current status</a>
! 52: <li><a href="#projects">Project list</a>
! 53: <li><a href="#hwdocs">Documentation wanted</a>
! 54: <li><a href="#install">Getting and installing OpenBSD/vax</a>
! 55: <li><a href="#hardware">Supported hardware list</a>
! 56: </ul>
! 57: </p>
1.1 deraadt 58:
1.3 fn 59: <hr>
1.39 ! miod 60: <a name="history"></a>
! 61: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>History:</strong></font></h3>
1.28 hugh 62:
1.12 ericj 63: <p>
1.32 hugh 64: VAX has been a supported OpenBSD architecture since early 2000, when code was
65: synchronized with NetBSD's port. Being the second architecture to run BSD Unix
66: (in 1979!), it seems appropriate that these venerable vaxen should still have
1.39 ! miod 67: a modern OS.
! 68: </p>
! 69:
! 70: <p>
! 71: The current codebase is mostly from Berkeley, with contributions of free
! 72: code from Digital, Mt Xinu, NetBSD, OpenBSD and others.
1.12 ericj 73: </p>
74:
75: <p>
1.39 ! miod 76: After the port was sychronized with the NetBSD codebase, fixes and improvements
! 77: were made, such as support for 16 partition per drive, support for more VAX
! 78: models, improved emulation of unimplemented instructions, and so on.
1.28 hugh 79: </p>
80:
1.39 ! miod 81: <p>
! 82: Development is ongoing, and changes are shared among VAX hackers even to
! 83: this day. The result of this work is an operating system that is stable
! 84: and familiar to any OpenBSD user.
! 85: </p>
! 86:
! 87: <hr>
! 88: <a name="status"></a>
! 89: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Current status:</strong></font></h3>
! 90:
! 91: <p>
! 92: Currently, all the hardware listed in the
! 93: <a href="#hardware">supported hardware list</a> section below boots
! 94: multi-user, and supports enough of the on-board devices to be generally
! 95: useable.
! 96: Some models can only run diskless at the moment, though.
! 97: </p>
1.35 hugh 98:
99: <p>
1.39 ! miod 100: Since none of the VAXstation frame buffers are currently supported, there
! 101: are currently no X-Window servers available.
! 102: However, a complete set of X-Window clients and utilities is available,
! 103: allowing OpenBSD/vax machines to behave as X11 font servers, or run
! 104: X-Window clients on remote display.
1.35 hugh 105: </p>
106:
1.39 ! miod 107: <p>
! 108: There a few problems still left in the OpenBSD/vax port, though:
1.35 hugh 109: <ul>
1.39 ! miod 110: <li>The current compiler sometimes has optimizer issues (i.e. gcc -O2
! 111: produces incorrect code, while -O1 or -O0 work). They are slowly being
! 112: worked on as we are aware of them. Most code should work nowadays.
! 113: <li>Addressing limits in the pmap module. This can cause the kernel to panic.
! 114: Some of these situations have been been taken care of and fail gracefully,
! 115: but there might be unfixed cases.
! 116: <li>Missing SIGINFO support. This is being worked on.
1.28 hugh 117: </ul>
1.39 ! miod 118: </p>
! 119:
! 120: <hr>
! 121: <a name="projects"></a>
! 122: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Projects (in no particular order):
! 123: </strong></font></h3>
1.28 hugh 124:
125: <p>
1.39 ! miod 126: <ul>
! 127: <li>Write a SIGINFO implementation.
! 128: <li>Write driver for the VAXstation 2000's HDC9224
! 129: (floppy/MFM hard disk controller)
! 130: <li>MSCP support may still be rough
! 131: <li>Finish writing POSIX threads (libc_r) support.
! 132: <li>Write frame buffer drivers.
! 133: <li>Move to ELF and shared libraries.
! 134: <li>Support for any new systems we encounter
! 135: </ul>
1.25 hugh 136: </p>
1.28 hugh 137:
1.39 ! miod 138: <hr>
! 139: <a name="hwdocs"></a>
! 140: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Documentation wanted:</strong></font></h3>
! 141:
! 142: <p>
1.25 hugh 143: <ul>
1.39 ! miod 144: <li>Programming info for LCG or SPGFX framebuffers
! 145: <li>Software references for SHAC DSSI
! 146: <li>Any edition VARM
1.25 hugh 147: </ul>
1.39 ! miod 148: </p>
! 149:
! 150: <hr>
! 151: <a name="install"></a>
! 152: <h3><font color="#0000e0">
! 153: <strong>Getting and installing OpenBSD/vax:</strong>
! 154: </font></h3>
! 155:
! 156: <p>
! 157: The latest supported OpenBSD/vax release is
! 158: <a href="32.html">OpenBSD 3.2</a>.
! 159: Here are the
! 160: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/3.2/vax/INSTALL.vax">
! 161: OpenBSD/vax 3.2 installation instructions
! 162: </a>.
! 163: </p>
1.25 hugh 164:
165: <p>
1.39 ! miod 166: Snapshots are made available from time to time, in
! 167: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/vax">this location</a>
! 168: as well as in a few
! 169: <a href="ftp.html">mirrors</a>.
! 170: Here are the
! 171: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/vax/INSTALL.vax">
! 172: OpenBSD/vax snapshot installation instructions
! 173: </a> as well.
1.16 hugh 174: </p>
1.28 hugh 175:
1.39 ! miod 176: <hr>
! 177: <a name="hardware"></a>
! 178: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Supported hardware:</strong></font></h3>
1.16 hugh 179:
180: <p>
1.39 ! miod 181: The list of supported hardware below is not meant to be exhaustive.
! 182: Due to a limited
1.18 hugh 183: <a href="want.html#vax">inventory of systems</a>
1.39 ! miod 184: available to developers, not all hardware combinations have been tested.
! 185: </p>
! 186:
! 187: <p>
! 188: As a result, OpenBSD/vax may actually run on your machine even if it's not
1.32 hugh 189: listed here, and we rely on your testing and feedback to keep this list up
1.39 ! miod 190: to date.
! 191: To help us improve the accuracy of this list, <b>PLEASE</b>
! 192: <a href="faq/faq4.html#SendDmesg">send your dmesg</a> after installation
! 193: to <a href="mailto:dmesg@openbsd.org">dmesg@openbsd.org</a>.
! 194: </p>
! 195:
! 196: <p>
! 197: <h4>Supported models</h4>
1.12 ericj 198: </p>
199:
1.13 ericj 200: <p>
1.39 ! miod 201: Almost all the on-board devices are supported on these models, except for
! 202: frame buffers and keyboard interfaces.
! 203: SCSI controller is only supported when listed.
1.13 ericj 204: </p>
205:
1.39 ! miod 206: <p>
! 207: <ul>
! 208: <li>VAXstation/MicroVAX 2000
! 209: <li>VAXstation 3100/{30,40} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
! 210: <li>VAXstation 3100/{38,48} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
! 211: <li>VAXstation 3100/76 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
! 212: <li>VAXstation 4000/VLC (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
! 213: <li>VAXstation 4000/60 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
! 214: <li>VAXstation 4000/90 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
! 215: <li>VAXstation 4000/96 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
! 216: <li>MicroVAX 3100/{10,20}{,e} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
! 217: <li>MicroVAX 3100/{30,40} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
! 218: <li>MicroVAX 3100/80 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
! 219: <li>MicroVAX 3100/90 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
! 220: <li>MicroVAX 3300
! 221: <li>VAX 4000 100 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
! 222: <li>VAX 4000 105 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
! 223: <li>VAX 4000 200
! 224: <li>VAX 4000 300
! 225: <li>VAX 4000 {400,500,600}
! 226: <li>VAX 4000 {500A,700A}
! 227: </ul>
! 228:
1.3 fn 229: <hr>
1.39 ! miod 230: <a href="plat.html">
! 231: <img height="24" width="24" src="back.gif" border="0" alt="Supported platforms">
! 232: </a>
! 233: <br>
! 234: <small><a href="mailto:www@openbsd.org">www@openbsd.org</a></small>
1.3 fn 235: <br>
1.39 ! miod 236: <small>$OpenBSD$</small>
1.3 fn 237:
238: </body>
239: </html>
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