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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>
1.55 nick 53: <li><a href="#hardware">Supported hardware</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>
1.1 deraadt 57:
1.3 fn 58: <hr>
1.39 miod 59: <a name="history"></a>
60: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>History:</strong></font></h3>
1.28 hugh 61:
1.12 ericj 62: <p>
1.32 hugh 63: VAX has been a supported OpenBSD architecture since early 2000, when code was
64: synchronized with NetBSD's port. Being the second architecture to run BSD Unix
65: (in 1979!), it seems appropriate that these venerable vaxen should still have
1.39 miod 66: a modern OS.
67: </p>
68:
69: <p>
70: The current codebase is mostly from Berkeley, with contributions of free
71: code from Digital, Mt Xinu, NetBSD, OpenBSD and others.
1.12 ericj 72: </p>
73:
74: <p>
1.53 jolan 75: After the port was synchronized with the NetBSD codebase, fixes and improvements
76: were made, such as support for 16 partitions per drive, support for more VAX
1.39 miod 77: models, improved emulation of unimplemented instructions, and so on.
1.28 hugh 78: </p>
79:
1.39 miod 80: <p>
81: Development is ongoing, and changes are shared among VAX hackers even to
82: this day. The result of this work is an operating system that is stable
83: and familiar to any OpenBSD user.
84: </p>
85:
86: <hr>
87: <a name="status"></a>
88: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Current status:</strong></font></h3>
89:
90: <p>
91: Currently, all the hardware listed in the
1.55 nick 92: <a href="#hardware">supported hardware</a> section below boots
1.39 miod 93: multi-user, and supports enough of the on-board devices to be generally
1.54 pedro 94: usable.
1.39 miod 95: Some models can only run diskless at the moment, though.
96: </p>
1.35 hugh 97:
98: <p>
1.39 miod 99: Since none of the VAXstation frame buffers are currently supported, there
1.45 jmc 100: are currently no X Window System servers available.
101: However, a complete set of X clients and utilities is available,
1.39 miod 102: allowing OpenBSD/vax machines to behave as X11 font servers, or run
1.45 jmc 103: X clients on remote display.
1.35 hugh 104: </p>
105:
1.39 miod 106: <p>
107: There a few problems still left in the OpenBSD/vax port, though:
1.35 hugh 108: <ul>
1.39 miod 109: <li>The current compiler sometimes has optimizer issues (i.e. gcc -O2
110: produces incorrect code, while -O1 or -O0 work). They are slowly being
111: worked on as we are aware of them. Most code should work nowadays.
112: <li>Addressing limits in the pmap module. This can cause the kernel to panic.
1.42 david 113: Some of these situations have been taken care of and fail gracefully,
1.39 miod 114: but there might be unfixed cases.
1.28 hugh 115: </ul>
1.39 miod 116:
117: <hr>
118: <a name="projects"></a>
119: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Projects (in no particular order):
120: </strong></font></h3>
1.28 hugh 121:
122: <p>
1.39 miod 123: <ul>
124: <li>Write driver for the VAXstation 2000's HDC9224
125: (floppy/MFM hard disk controller)
126: <li>MSCP support may still be rough
127: <li>Write frame buffer drivers.
128: <li>Move to ELF and shared libraries.
129: <li>Support for any new systems we encounter
130: </ul>
1.28 hugh 131:
1.39 miod 132: <hr>
133: <a name="hardware"></a>
134: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Supported hardware:</strong></font></h3>
1.16 hugh 135:
136: <p>
1.39 miod 137: The list of supported hardware below is not meant to be exhaustive.
138: Due to a limited
1.18 hugh 139: <a href="want.html#vax">inventory of systems</a>
1.39 miod 140: available to developers, not all hardware combinations have been tested.
141: </p>
142:
143: <p>
144: As a result, OpenBSD/vax may actually run on your machine even if it's not
1.32 hugh 145: listed here, and we rely on your testing and feedback to keep this list up
1.39 miod 146: to date.
147: To help us improve the accuracy of this list, <b>PLEASE</b>
148: <a href="faq/faq4.html#SendDmesg">send your dmesg</a> after installation
149: to <a href="mailto:dmesg@openbsd.org">dmesg@openbsd.org</a>.
150: </p>
151:
152: <p>
153: <h4>Supported models</h4>
1.12 ericj 154:
1.13 ericj 155: <p>
1.39 miod 156: Almost all the on-board devices are supported on these models, except for
157: frame buffers and keyboard interfaces.
158: SCSI controller is only supported when listed.
1.13 ericj 159: </p>
160:
1.39 miod 161: <p>
162: <ul>
163: <li>VAXstation/MicroVAX 2000
164: <li>VAXstation 3100/{30,40} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
165: <li>VAXstation 3100/{38,48} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
166: <li>VAXstation 3100/76 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
167: <li>VAXstation 4000/VLC (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
168: <li>VAXstation 4000/60 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
169: <li>VAXstation 4000/90 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
170: <li>VAXstation 4000/96 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
171: <li>MicroVAX 3100/{10,20}{,e} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
172: <li>MicroVAX 3100/{30,40} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
173: <li>MicroVAX 3100/80 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
1.51 miod 174: <li>MicroVAX 3100/85 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
1.39 miod 175: <li>MicroVAX 3100/90 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
176: <li>MicroVAX 3300
177: <li>VAX 4000 100 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
178: <li>VAX 4000 105 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
179: <li>VAX 4000 200
180: <li>VAX 4000 300
181: <li>VAX 4000 {400,500,600}
182: <li>VAX 4000 {500A,700A}
183: </ul>
184:
1.3 fn 185: <hr>
1.40 miod 186: <a name="hwdocs"></a>
187: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Documentation wanted:</strong></font></h3>
188:
189: <p>
190: <ul>
191: <li>Programming info for LCG or SPGFX framebuffers
192: <li>Software references for SHAC DSSI
193: <li>Any edition VARM
194: </ul>
195:
196: <hr>
197: <a name="install"></a>
198: <h3><font color="#0000e0">
199: <strong>Getting and installing OpenBSD/vax:</strong>
200: </font></h3>
201:
202: <p>
203: The latest supported OpenBSD/vax release is
1.56 ! miod 204: <a href="36.html">OpenBSD 3.6</a>.
1.40 miod 205: Here are the
1.56 ! miod 206: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/3.6/vax/INSTALL.vax">
! 207: OpenBSD/vax 3.6 installation instructions
1.40 miod 208: </a>.
209: </p>
210:
211: <p>
212: Snapshots are made available from time to time, in
213: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/vax">this location</a>
214: as well as in a few
215: <a href="ftp.html">mirrors</a>.
216: Here are the
217: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/vax/INSTALL.vax">
218: OpenBSD/vax snapshot installation instructions
219: </a> as well.
220: </p>
221:
222: <hr>
1.39 miod 223: <a href="plat.html">
224: <img height="24" width="24" src="back.gif" border="0" alt="Supported platforms">
225: </a>
226: <br>
227: <small><a href="mailto:www@openbsd.org">www@openbsd.org</a></small>
1.3 fn 228: <br>
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