Annotation of www/vax.html, Revision 1.59
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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:
29: <p>
30: A mailing list dedicated to the OpenBSD/vax port is available at
31: <u><font color="#23238e">vax@openbsd.org</font></u>.
32: To join the OpenBSD/vax mailing list, send a message body of <b>"subscribe
33: vax"</b> to <a href="mailto:majordomo@openbsd.org">majordomo@openbsd.org</a>.
34: Please be sure to check our <a href="mail.html">mailing list policy</a> before
35: subscribing.
36:
37: <p>
38: The current port maintainers are
39: <a href="mailto:bjc@cvs.openbsd.org">Brandon Creighton</a>
40: and <a href="mailto:hugh@cvs.openbsd.org">Hugh Graham</a>.
41: Others are definitely welcome to contribute!
42:
43: <a href="#toc"></a>
44: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><i>Table of contents</i></font></h3>
45: <p>
46: <ul>
1.41 jufi 47: <li><a href="#history">History of the port</a>
1.39 miod 48: <li><a href="#status">Current status</a>
49: <li><a href="#projects">Project list</a>
1.55 nick 50: <li><a href="#hardware">Supported hardware</a>
1.39 miod 51: <li><a href="#hwdocs">Documentation wanted</a>
52: <li><a href="#install">Getting and installing OpenBSD/vax</a>
53: </ul>
1.1 deraadt 54:
1.3 fn 55: <hr>
1.39 miod 56: <a name="history"></a>
57: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>History:</strong></font></h3>
1.28 hugh 58:
1.12 ericj 59: <p>
1.32 hugh 60: VAX has been a supported OpenBSD architecture since early 2000, when code was
61: synchronized with NetBSD's port. Being the second architecture to run BSD Unix
62: (in 1979!), it seems appropriate that these venerable vaxen should still have
1.39 miod 63: a modern OS.
64:
65: <p>
66: The current codebase is mostly from Berkeley, with contributions of free
67: code from Digital, Mt Xinu, NetBSD, OpenBSD and others.
1.12 ericj 68:
69: <p>
1.53 jolan 70: After the port was synchronized with the NetBSD codebase, fixes and improvements
71: were made, such as support for 16 partitions per drive, support for more VAX
1.39 miod 72: models, improved emulation of unimplemented instructions, and so on.
1.28 hugh 73:
1.39 miod 74: <p>
75: Development is ongoing, and changes are shared among VAX hackers even to
76: this day. The result of this work is an operating system that is stable
77: and familiar to any OpenBSD user.
78:
79: <hr>
80: <a name="status"></a>
81: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Current status:</strong></font></h3>
82:
83: <p>
84: Currently, all the hardware listed in the
1.55 nick 85: <a href="#hardware">supported hardware</a> section below boots
1.39 miod 86: multi-user, and supports enough of the on-board devices to be generally
1.54 pedro 87: usable.
1.39 miod 88: Some models can only run diskless at the moment, though.
1.35 hugh 89:
90: <p>
1.39 miod 91: Since none of the VAXstation frame buffers are currently supported, there
1.45 jmc 92: are currently no X Window System servers available.
93: However, a complete set of X clients and utilities is available,
1.39 miod 94: allowing OpenBSD/vax machines to behave as X11 font servers, or run
1.45 jmc 95: X clients on remote display.
1.35 hugh 96:
1.39 miod 97: <p>
98: There a few problems still left in the OpenBSD/vax port, though:
1.35 hugh 99: <ul>
1.39 miod 100: <li>The current compiler sometimes has optimizer issues (i.e. gcc -O2
101: produces incorrect code, while -O1 or -O0 work). They are slowly being
102: worked on as we are aware of them. Most code should work nowadays.
103: <li>Addressing limits in the pmap module. This can cause the kernel to panic.
1.42 david 104: Some of these situations have been taken care of and fail gracefully,
1.39 miod 105: but there might be unfixed cases.
1.28 hugh 106: </ul>
1.39 miod 107:
108: <hr>
109: <a name="projects"></a>
110: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Projects (in no particular order):
111: </strong></font></h3>
1.28 hugh 112:
113: <p>
1.39 miod 114: <ul>
115: <li>Write driver for the VAXstation 2000's HDC9224
116: (floppy/MFM hard disk controller)
117: <li>MSCP support may still be rough
118: <li>Write frame buffer drivers.
119: <li>Move to ELF and shared libraries.
120: <li>Support for any new systems we encounter
121: </ul>
1.28 hugh 122:
1.39 miod 123: <hr>
124: <a name="hardware"></a>
125: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Supported hardware:</strong></font></h3>
1.16 hugh 126:
127: <p>
1.39 miod 128: The list of supported hardware below is not meant to be exhaustive.
129: Due to a limited
1.18 hugh 130: <a href="want.html#vax">inventory of systems</a>
1.39 miod 131: available to developers, not all hardware combinations have been tested.
132:
133: <p>
134: As a result, OpenBSD/vax may actually run on your machine even if it's not
1.32 hugh 135: listed here, and we rely on your testing and feedback to keep this list up
1.39 miod 136: to date.
137: To help us improve the accuracy of this list, <b>PLEASE</b>
138: <a href="faq/faq4.html#SendDmesg">send your dmesg</a> after installation
139: to <a href="mailto:dmesg@openbsd.org">dmesg@openbsd.org</a>.
140:
141: <p>
142: <h4>Supported models</h4>
1.12 ericj 143:
1.13 ericj 144: <p>
1.39 miod 145: Almost all the on-board devices are supported on these models, except for
146: frame buffers and keyboard interfaces.
147: SCSI controller is only supported when listed.
1.13 ericj 148:
1.39 miod 149: <p>
150: <ul>
151: <li>VAXstation/MicroVAX 2000
152: <li>VAXstation 3100/{30,40} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
153: <li>VAXstation 3100/{38,48} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
154: <li>VAXstation 3100/76 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
155: <li>VAXstation 4000/VLC (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
156: <li>VAXstation 4000/60 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
157: <li>VAXstation 4000/90 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
158: <li>VAXstation 4000/96 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
159: <li>MicroVAX 3100/{10,20}{,e} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
160: <li>MicroVAX 3100/{30,40} (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
161: <li>MicroVAX 3100/80 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
1.51 miod 162: <li>MicroVAX 3100/85 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
1.39 miod 163: <li>MicroVAX 3100/90 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
164: <li>MicroVAX 3300
165: <li>VAX 4000 100 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
166: <li>VAX 4000 105 (<font color="#009900">SCSI</font>)
167: <li>VAX 4000 200
168: <li>VAX 4000 300
169: <li>VAX 4000 {400,500,600}
170: <li>VAX 4000 {500A,700A}
1.59 ! kettenis 171: <li><a href="vax-simh.html">SIMH VAX</a>
1.39 miod 172: </ul>
173:
1.3 fn 174: <hr>
1.40 miod 175: <a name="hwdocs"></a>
176: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Documentation wanted:</strong></font></h3>
177:
178: <p>
179: <ul>
180: <li>Programming info for LCG or SPGFX framebuffers
181: <li>Software references for SHAC DSSI
182: <li>Any edition VARM
183: </ul>
184:
185: <hr>
186: <a name="install"></a>
187: <h3><font color="#0000e0">
188: <strong>Getting and installing OpenBSD/vax:</strong>
189: </font></h3>
190:
191: <p>
192: The latest supported OpenBSD/vax release is
1.56 miod 193: <a href="36.html">OpenBSD 3.6</a>.
1.40 miod 194: Here are the
1.56 miod 195: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/3.6/vax/INSTALL.vax">
196: OpenBSD/vax 3.6 installation instructions
1.40 miod 197: </a>.
198:
199: <p>
200: Snapshots are made available from time to time, in
201: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/vax">this location</a>
202: as well as in a few
203: <a href="ftp.html">mirrors</a>.
204: Here are the
205: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/vax/INSTALL.vax">
206: OpenBSD/vax snapshot installation instructions
207: </a> as well.
208:
209: <hr>
1.39 miod 210: <a href="plat.html">
211: <img height="24" width="24" src="back.gif" border="0" alt="Supported platforms">
212: </a>
213: <br>
214: <small><a href="mailto:www@openbsd.org">www@openbsd.org</a></small>
1.3 fn 215: <br>
1.59 ! kettenis 216: <small>$OpenBSD: vax.html,v 1.58 2004/11/15 21:00:05 kettenis Exp $</small>
1.3 fn 217:
218: </body>
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