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5: <title>OpenBSD/vax</title>
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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>
1.41 jufi 50: <li><a href="#history">History of the port</a>
1.39 miod 51: <li><a href="#status">Current status</a>
52: <li><a href="#projects">Project list</a>
1.40 miod 53: <li><a href="#hardware">Supported hardware list</a>
1.39 miod 54: <li><a href="#hwdocs">Documentation wanted</a>
55: <li><a href="#install">Getting and installing OpenBSD/vax</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
1.45 ! jmc 101: are currently no X Window System servers available.
! 102: However, a complete set of X clients and utilities is available,
1.39 miod 103: allowing OpenBSD/vax machines to behave as X11 font servers, or run
1.45 ! jmc 104: X 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.
1.42 david 114: Some of these situations have been taken care of and fail gracefully,
1.39 miod 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
1.43 grange 131: <li>Finish writing POSIX threads (libpthread) support.
1.39 miod 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="hardware"></a>
140: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Supported hardware:</strong></font></h3>
1.16 hugh 141:
142: <p>
1.39 miod 143: The list of supported hardware below is not meant to be exhaustive.
144: Due to a limited
1.18 hugh 145: <a href="want.html#vax">inventory of systems</a>
1.39 miod 146: available to developers, not all hardware combinations have been tested.
147: </p>
148:
149: <p>
150: As a result, OpenBSD/vax may actually run on your machine even if it's not
1.32 hugh 151: listed here, and we rely on your testing and feedback to keep this list up
1.39 miod 152: to date.
153: To help us improve the accuracy of this list, <b>PLEASE</b>
154: <a href="faq/faq4.html#SendDmesg">send your dmesg</a> after installation
155: to <a href="mailto:dmesg@openbsd.org">dmesg@openbsd.org</a>.
156: </p>
157:
158: <p>
159: <h4>Supported models</h4>
1.12 ericj 160: </p>
161:
1.13 ericj 162: <p>
1.39 miod 163: Almost all the on-board devices are supported on these models, except for
164: frame buffers and keyboard interfaces.
165: SCSI controller is only supported when listed.
1.13 ericj 166: </p>
167:
1.39 miod 168: <p>
169: <ul>
170: <li>VAXstation/MicroVAX 2000
171: <li>VAXstation 3100/{30,40} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
172: <li>VAXstation 3100/{38,48} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
173: <li>VAXstation 3100/76 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
174: <li>VAXstation 4000/VLC (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
175: <li>VAXstation 4000/60 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
176: <li>VAXstation 4000/90 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
177: <li>VAXstation 4000/96 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
178: <li>MicroVAX 3100/{10,20}{,e} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
179: <li>MicroVAX 3100/{30,40} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
180: <li>MicroVAX 3100/80 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
181: <li>MicroVAX 3100/90 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
182: <li>MicroVAX 3300
183: <li>VAX 4000 100 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
184: <li>VAX 4000 105 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
185: <li>VAX 4000 200
186: <li>VAX 4000 300
187: <li>VAX 4000 {400,500,600}
188: <li>VAX 4000 {500A,700A}
189: </ul>
190:
1.3 fn 191: <hr>
1.40 miod 192: <a name="hwdocs"></a>
193: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Documentation wanted:</strong></font></h3>
194:
195: <p>
196: <ul>
197: <li>Programming info for LCG or SPGFX framebuffers
198: <li>Software references for SHAC DSSI
199: <li>Any edition VARM
200: </ul>
201: </p>
202:
203: <hr>
204: <a name="install"></a>
205: <h3><font color="#0000e0">
206: <strong>Getting and installing OpenBSD/vax:</strong>
207: </font></h3>
208:
209: <p>
210: The latest supported OpenBSD/vax release is
211: <a href="32.html">OpenBSD 3.2</a>.
212: Here are the
213: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/3.2/vax/INSTALL.vax">
214: OpenBSD/vax 3.2 installation instructions
215: </a>.
216: </p>
217:
218: <p>
219: Snapshots are made available from time to time, in
220: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/vax">this location</a>
221: as well as in a few
222: <a href="ftp.html">mirrors</a>.
223: Here are the
224: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/vax/INSTALL.vax">
225: OpenBSD/vax snapshot installation instructions
226: </a> as well.
227: </p>
228:
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>
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