[rescue] Dec/Compaq ES40 & OpenVMS

[Mark Benson]

On 13 Jul 2011, at 13:02, Lionel Peterson <lionel4287 at gmail.com> wrote:

> First, yes it is a nice 'box' - I figure it's about the same size as the
V880
> I'm picking up later today (17U according to websites I've looked at) - if
nothing else, I'll have two very solid end tables for my 'man cave' when I
> clean out the basement.

Yeah, like I said it's a little on the large side :)

> Second, I've not used VMS, but I did some time with other DEC OS, so I think
I have a sense of what I'm in for - a lot of reading ;^)

Yes. I have no experience on DEC systems so I had to do some heavy RTFM.
Thankfully the 'Users Guide' and 'System Managers Manual' plus various tomes
for the optional add-on parts are all pretty well laid out and written so
provide plenty of help. I recommend at the very least the User's Guide as it
teaches you basics of using the system, file structures, editor etc. Very
handy.

Docs are all here anyway:

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/os83_index.html

> Finally, I need to dig out a serial console so I can see what appears on
> power-up, my VT terms are still buried in the basement...

Yeah a serial terminal is useful especially as that machine will likely not
have had a glass console.

Regards OS, obtaining media is tricky. There are Hobbyist kits for 7.3 VAX and
8.3 Alpha available, but they take time to reach you.

Licenses are easier(ish). Go to http://www.encompasserve.org and use their
registration service (it's via TELNET to a real VMS machine, it's very quaint
:D) and it will issue you with a membership number. This number will allow you
to obtain licenses via http://vmshobbyist.org/licenses.php  You will need to
wait up to a week for your membership to be registered.

OpenVMS will install and boot without the licenses but virtually no
functionality will be available once it does until you load some.

--
Mark Benson

http://markbenson.org/blog
http://twitter.com/MDBenson