Annotation of www/vax.html, Revision 1.47
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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.
1.28 hugh 116: </ul>
1.39 miod 117: </p>
118:
119: <hr>
120: <a name="projects"></a>
121: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Projects (in no particular order):
122: </strong></font></h3>
1.28 hugh 123:
124: <p>
1.39 miod 125: <ul>
126: <li>Write driver for the VAXstation 2000's HDC9224
127: (floppy/MFM hard disk controller)
128: <li>MSCP support may still be rough
1.43 grange 129: <li>Finish writing POSIX threads (libpthread) support.
1.39 miod 130: <li>Write frame buffer drivers.
131: <li>Move to ELF and shared libraries.
132: <li>Support for any new systems we encounter
133: </ul>
1.25 hugh 134: </p>
1.28 hugh 135:
1.39 miod 136: <hr>
137: <a name="hardware"></a>
138: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Supported hardware:</strong></font></h3>
1.16 hugh 139:
140: <p>
1.39 miod 141: The list of supported hardware below is not meant to be exhaustive.
142: Due to a limited
1.18 hugh 143: <a href="want.html#vax">inventory of systems</a>
1.39 miod 144: available to developers, not all hardware combinations have been tested.
145: </p>
146:
147: <p>
148: As a result, OpenBSD/vax may actually run on your machine even if it's not
1.32 hugh 149: listed here, and we rely on your testing and feedback to keep this list up
1.39 miod 150: to date.
151: To help us improve the accuracy of this list, <b>PLEASE</b>
152: <a href="faq/faq4.html#SendDmesg">send your dmesg</a> after installation
153: to <a href="mailto:dmesg@openbsd.org">dmesg@openbsd.org</a>.
154: </p>
155:
156: <p>
157: <h4>Supported models</h4>
1.12 ericj 158: </p>
159:
1.13 ericj 160: <p>
1.39 miod 161: Almost all the on-board devices are supported on these models, except for
162: frame buffers and keyboard interfaces.
163: SCSI controller is only supported when listed.
1.13 ericj 164: </p>
165:
1.39 miod 166: <p>
167: <ul>
168: <li>VAXstation/MicroVAX 2000
169: <li>VAXstation 3100/{30,40} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
170: <li>VAXstation 3100/{38,48} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
171: <li>VAXstation 3100/76 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
172: <li>VAXstation 4000/VLC (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
173: <li>VAXstation 4000/60 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
174: <li>VAXstation 4000/90 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
175: <li>VAXstation 4000/96 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
176: <li>MicroVAX 3100/{10,20}{,e} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
177: <li>MicroVAX 3100/{30,40} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
178: <li>MicroVAX 3100/80 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
179: <li>MicroVAX 3100/90 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
180: <li>MicroVAX 3300
181: <li>VAX 4000 100 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
182: <li>VAX 4000 105 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
183: <li>VAX 4000 200
184: <li>VAX 4000 300
185: <li>VAX 4000 {400,500,600}
186: <li>VAX 4000 {500A,700A}
187: </ul>
188:
1.3 fn 189: <hr>
1.40 miod 190: <a name="hwdocs"></a>
191: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Documentation wanted:</strong></font></h3>
192:
193: <p>
194: <ul>
195: <li>Programming info for LCG or SPGFX framebuffers
196: <li>Software references for SHAC DSSI
197: <li>Any edition VARM
198: </ul>
199: </p>
200:
201: <hr>
202: <a name="install"></a>
203: <h3><font color="#0000e0">
204: <strong>Getting and installing OpenBSD/vax:</strong>
205: </font></h3>
206:
207: <p>
208: The latest supported OpenBSD/vax release is
1.46 miod 209: <a href="33.html">OpenBSD 3.3</a>.
1.40 miod 210: Here are the
1.46 miod 211: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/3.3/vax/INSTALL.vax">
212: OpenBSD/vax 3.3 installation instructions
1.40 miod 213: </a>.
214: </p>
215:
216: <p>
217: Snapshots are made available from time to time, in
218: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/vax">this location</a>
219: as well as in a few
220: <a href="ftp.html">mirrors</a>.
221: Here are the
222: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/vax/INSTALL.vax">
223: OpenBSD/vax snapshot installation instructions
224: </a> as well.
225: </p>
226:
227: <hr>
1.39 miod 228: <a href="plat.html">
229: <img height="24" width="24" src="back.gif" border="0" alt="Supported platforms">
230: </a>
231: <br>
232: <small><a href="mailto:www@openbsd.org">www@openbsd.org</a></small>
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