#VMSSoftware

2024-03-26

VSI has reportedly ended their hobbyist community licensing program for OpenVMS Alpha and OpenVMS I64, and is restricting the OpenVMS x86-64 licensing to pre-built and pre-licensed downloads.

Which ends the general usefulness of older hardware platforms for OpenVMS hobbyists, and constrains what can happen on OpenVMS x86-64.

VSI have previously discontinued perpetual licenses for all platforms, and new versions for Alpha and for Itanium.

Outside of some guest images intended for training classes, it's all commercially-licensed SaaS on x86-64 from here on out.

#VSI #OpenVMS #retrocomputing #digitalequipment #DEC #VMSSoftware #VMSSoftwareInc

2023-07-27

For those still working with and developing OpenVMS apps, a large repository of source code examples:

eight-cubed.com/examples.shtml

#OpenVMS #DigitalEquipmentCorporation #VMSSoftware

2023-05-26

VMS Software (VSI) has a Python qualification tool available for determining hardware compatibility of OpenVMS x86-64 on your local Intel or AMD server:
vmssoftware.com/openkits/alpop

Example run:

OpenVMS 9.x compatibility quick-check

Summary:
Your CPU appears to be compatible with OpenVMS 9.2 and up.

Detailed info:

Vendor ID : GenuineIntel
CPU name : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7500 CPU @ 3.40GHz

Necessary for OpenVMS 9.x:
Intel or AMD CPU : Yes
SSE 4.1 : Yes
XSAVE : Yes
TSC : Yes
APIC : Yes
MTRR : Yes

Optional for OpenVMS 9.x:
PCID : Yes
X2APIC : Yes
FSGSBASE : Yes
MD_CLEAR : Yes
XSAVEOPT : Yes

And to think, Alpha EV7z peaked at 1.3 GHz, and a top-binned Itanium Poulson, err, Kittson peaked at 2.66 GHz, and here an old and slow i5 is now well past both at 3.4 GHz. (Yes, I am well aware of the perils of comparing clock speeds across disparate architectures, but thanks for mentioning that.)

#OpenVMS #DigitalEquipmentCorporation #DEC #VSI #VMSSoftware #retrocomputing #retrocomputers #retrocomputering #x86 #x86_64 #x64 #Itanium #Alpha

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