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ZX6000 OpenVMS Success |
urbancamo
Member
Posts: 47
Location: Windermere, UK
Joined: 16.05.07 |
| Posted on September 02 2008 03:29 |
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HP OpenVMS Version 8.3-1H1 installed on my ZX6000 (20GB RAM, 73GB HD, 2 x 1.3Ghz) without incident. It is running flawlessly.
I am going to post a message to my blog (http://blog.wickensonline.co.uk) about how to run the OpenVMS CDE desktop remotely to a Linux box running a VNC server. It is running over 1GB ethernet at home and is indistinguishable from a local session.
Regards, Mark. |
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RE: ZX6000 Graphics |
urbancamo
Member
Posts: 47
Location: Windermere, UK
Joined: 16.05.07 |
| Posted on September 02 2008 06:07 |
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I successfully got an ATI 7500 PCI card to run an X Server display using a PCI slot in the PCI/AGP card cage but the picture quality was very poor (and if memory serves me correctly there were some unexpected artifacts in the display). This may be attributed to the individual card - I will know in the near future as I have a new one on order. The picture quality wasn't up to much with the card installed in a DS10L either.
However, running a CDE dtsession remotely on a linux box within a vncserver running fullscreen on a dedicated desktop appears and runs just like using the OpenVMS X Server directly. I can detect no discernable lag, and can use the DVI connection between the linux box and the TFT to full effect. It is the setup I was looking for 
Regards, Mark. |
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RE: ZX6000 OpenVMS Success |
urbancamo
Member
Posts: 47
Location: Windermere, UK
Joined: 16.05.07 |
| Posted on September 02 2008 10:20 |
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I have a search on ebay for an MP card but I get the distinct feeling that they are going to be a very rare item outside of commercial prices.
Thanks for the help, Mark. |
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RE: ZX6000 OpenVMS Success |
jkmccarthy
Member
Posts: 21
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Joined: 08.01.08 |
| Posted on September 02 2008 18:55 |
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Hi Mark --
I can confirm that the sub-par performance with ATI Radeon 7500 PCI in your machine is most likely due to your particular card. I have dual ATI Radeon 7500s in my zx6000 driving LCD monitors at 1280x1024, and the video quality on both displays is very good. I see the same video output on the analog VGA and digital DVI connections (the VMS driver operates the cards in "clone" display mode by default, and to my knowledge this can't be modified under VMS although it can under Linux). Used, the ATI Radeon 7500s are inexpensive enough that I'd encourage you to pick up a few and see if a replacement card (or two :-) solves your problem.
I received help on-line from several kind souls to create an OpenVMS 8.3 install DVD, but since then (and currently) am in a "holding pattern" of sorts, patiently waiting for an OpenVMS Hobbyist Kit to become available on Itanium in order to be able to install Fortran, C, Pascal, etc., so my zx6000 becomes a >real< VMS workstation.
(Naturally I'd appreciate being contacted via private message by anyone who might be able to help me out on the compiler front...).
Glad to hear of another VMS-enthusiast / zx6000 owner out there. Congratulations on your installation + boot success.
Regards,
Jim
http://108.245.139.61:8000/~jkm/computers.htm
Edited by jkmccarthy on September 02 2008 18:57 |
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RE: ZX6000 OpenVMS Success |
urbancamo
Member
Posts: 47
Location: Windermere, UK
Joined: 16.05.07 |
| Posted on September 02 2008 21:24 |
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I have a (reportedly) new ATI 7500 on it's way to me as we speak, so hopefully I will be able to confirm your point of view shortly.
To those who are interested my blog now contains a report on how to run a CDE desktop remotely on a Linux VNC server. Not rocket science, but may say a few google searches on the way. It is at http://blog.wickensonline.co.uk. It does work rather beautifully.
Mark. |
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RE: ZX6000 OpenVMS Success |
eMGee
Member
Posts: 87
Location: The Netherlands
Joined: 28.03.10 |
| Posted on January 02 2011 16:19 |
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They seem extremely rare, which is almost an understatement. Under HP-UX I can take advantage of the wonderful FireGL X1-256 card, in one of my rx2600s, but unfortunately HP never even implemented simple framebuffer support for it (a real shame). I'd be so interested to see what Open3D is like under OpenVMS. I heard it's not bad at all, quite good (under Alpha, haven't read much of I64 experiences).
Edited by eMGee on January 22 2011 15:19 |
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RE: ZX6000 OpenVMS Success |
DrJohnnyFever
Member
Posts: 4
Joined: 11.06.14 |
| Posted on June 11 2014 15:01 |
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I have had excellent luck with OpenVMS 8.4 and 8.3-1h1 on the ZX6000. I use the management processor card for VGA/decwindows and a Thinkpad running PuTTY for text console. I put 1.5GHz itaniums from an SGI Altix in my first machine.
There were a few cheap ZX6000's on eBay, I bought 2 of them up. Running OpenVMS on the one with the upgraded CPUs and HP-UX on the stock 900MHz one.
The only issue I've had with OpenVMS is that it will only allow X Windows / DEC Windows on VGA, no text console. Must use serial for the text console. If anyone has a workaround for this I'd be grateful. |
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RE: ZX6000 OpenVMS Success |
malmberg
Moderator
Posts: 530
Joined: 15.04.08 |
| Posted on June 14 2014 13:02 |
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The DECWindows is an optional component of the install and normally requires the DECW-MOTIF license key to use in addition to the VMS license key. Since the Itanium keys are bundled into operating environments, it should be ready to use.
In either the systartup_vms or sylogicals template files there should be instructions on how to inhibit starting up DECWindows.
The default VGA Glass TTY mode on VMS hardware is typically very limited and as I recall is a VT52, not an ANSI terminal, so about the only editor that works is TECO.
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RE: ZX6000 OpenVMS Success |
reinhardtjh
Member
Posts: 32
Location: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Joined: 15.12.05 |
| Posted on June 16 2014 20:14 |
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DrJohnnyFever wrote:
The only issue I've had with OpenVMS is that it will only allow X Windows / DEC Windows on VGA, no text console. Must use serial for the text console. If anyone has a workaround for this I'd be grateful.
I don't believe there is one. I have a ZX2000, ZX6000, RX2600 and a RX2660 and only the RX2660 supports the "glass TTY" on the VGA output. The only options for the others are the management board's serial port console or network interface.
This post at Hoffman Labs ( http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/1640#comment-2182 ) mentions this issue (paragraph 6) and jive with my memory as well. I believe the RX2620 got a firmware upgrade that might have supported the glass TTY mode but I'm not sure. The late, great Fred Kleinsorge wrote and maintained most of the VGA code until his death in 2011. If you search C.O.V. you can probably find some of his posts about this topic as it came up occasionally.
Okay, I found a second reference on the Hoffman Labs site: http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/1132
This also indicates that the Glass TTy option is not available on the ZX2000,ZX6000,RX2600. Looks like the option is available starting with OpenVMS 8.3H-1 but only for the supported systems (i.e. RX2620 and later). The ZX2000, ZX6000 and RX2600 use the Intel ZX1 CPU bridge chip set and firmware development stopped for them quite some time ago. The RX2620 and newer use the ZX2 chip set. This page gives a good overview of the Integrity situation for OpenVMS http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/9
John H. Reinhardt
Edited by reinhardtjh on June 16 2014 20:29 |
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RE: ZX6000 OpenVMS Success |
reinhardtjh
Member
Posts: 32
Location: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Joined: 15.12.05 |
| Posted on June 16 2014 21:07 |
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And with a bit of an odd feeling I note that it's been 3 years to the day already since Fred's passing. *heavy sigh*
Edit: It's actually 3:07AM EDT 17-Jun-2014. I don't know what's up with this site's clock. It seems to be half a world behind.
Edited by reinhardtjh on June 16 2014 21:08 |
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