Posts: 47 Location: Windermere, UK Joined: 16.05.07
Posted on August 03 2009 06:08
Hi all
If anyone's interested I've just spent a month programming in VAX Macro to generate fractal graphics. I struggled getting examples of VAX Macro from the web, however it was a really fun experience overall.
I always liked the VAX instruction set, especially if you have some good macro libraries to work with (i..e putting variables on the stack rather than depending so much on globals, etc). Never needed to do too much floating point in Macro, though. Have used the EDITPC instruction for packed decimals. That's a strange little instruction.
I have a macro library so you could define stack variables like:
.entry Main,0
_STKINI
_STKDEF FP_DEVNAM .blkq 1 ; Device Name
_STKDEF FP_DEVNAMBUF .blkb 16 ; Device Name Buffer
_STKDEF FP_ITMLST .blkb 4*IL_LENGTH ; DVS Item List
_STKDEF FP_ITMLST2 .blkb 4*IL_LENGTH ; DVI Item List
_STKEND
... code ...
ret
Then you could do things like 'movl #0,FP_ITMLST(fp)' and keep all your goodies in the stack using the frame pointer.
malmberg August 04 2022 No more VAX hobbyist licenses.
Community licenses for Alpha/IA64/X86_64 VMS Software Inc.
Commercial VMS software licenses for VAX available from HPE.
ozboomer July 20 2022 Just re-visiting.. No more hobbyist licenses? Is that from vmssoftware.com, no 'community' licenses?
valdirfranco July 01 2022 No more hobbyist license...sad
mister_wavey February 12 2022 I recall that the disks failed on the public access VMS systems that included Fafner
parwezw January 03 2022 Anyone know what happened to FAFNER.DYNDS.ORG?
I had a hobbyist account here but can longer access the site.
gtackett October 27 2021 Make that DECdfs _2.1A_ for Vax
gtackett October 27 2021 I'm looking for DECdfs V2.4A kit for VAX.
Asking here just in case anyone is still listening.
MarkRLV September 17 2021 At one time, didn't this web site have a job board? I would love to use my legacy skills one last time in my career.
malmberg January 18 2021 New Hobbyist PAKs for VAX/VMS are no longer available according to reports. Only commercial licenses are reported to be for sale from HPE
dfilip January 16 2021 Can someone please point me to hobbyist license pak? I'm looking for VAX/VMS 7.1, DECnet Phase IV, and UCX/TCPIP ... have the 7.1 media, need the license paks ... thanks!
