I fell in love with VAX/VMS in college in 1985, then had the great good fortune to land a job (because I happened to have taken a course in Macro assembly programming) writing the software for the LVT Digital Image Recorder which used a slightly modified MicroVAX as its turnkey front-end system. I held that job for almost ten years and was very active on Usenet newsgroup comp.os.vms the entire time, where I helped some people and learned a tremendous amount.
I got pretty darned good at VMS application programming, system management, networking, and various esoteric byways and backroads. (For instance, I wrote DECwindows apps in Macro for several years, until my bosses relented and bought us C...) I never got as good as some people, though (Glenn Everhart and Joe Meadows spring to mind). A guy I worked with WAS on that godly level--he once wrote the beginnings of his own little OS that booted from a TK50 right onto the bare hardware in place of VMS... but I treated him badly and it came to an unhappy end. Walter, I'm sorry... Toward the end of that job we went over to OpenVMS Alpha--on the 1.5-1H1 pre-release!--but I never warmed up to it the way I had the VAX. No more Macro, no more Patch, no more Standalone Backup.... Half the cool stuff was gone. RISC? *YUCK* ;-)
After that job evaporated (thanks a LOT, Windows NT...) I went off to *nix world for a living, but acquired three MicroVAXes at various times to "keep my hand in." I was also able to do a little impromptu LVT support long after the company had folded, when a guy who'd bought a used one, ten years after my time, found my name in some command procedure comments and tracked me down to pick my brains. We're now good friends.
I think it was he who sent me a VAXstation 4000/60 (on which I, in turn, found a lady's name in some command procedure comments and tracked her down; we're good friends now too). Unfortunately, until last week I hadn't booted it since I moved in 2007. I'd long since forgotten everything I ever knew about VMS, so was ready to get rid of it, but couldn't bear the idea of "putting it to the curb." I tried to sign up here to post an ad to sell it or even give it away, but didn't find the account activation email until tonight.
--And now it's too late, because when I booted it up to assess its state, and gather its specs, for that ad, I found some long-lost files I decided I wanted back, which meant some fiddling to get an FTP server going... and it turned out that my HANDS remembered everything even if "I" didn't--and in one magical evening I was head-over-heels back in love. I'm not selling NOW!
I do need answers to a few problems, though, so I signed up anyway. Off to post my first question!
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!
