The VAX platform is no more for OpenBSD | Hacker News Reader

The VAX platform is no more for OpenBSD

undeadly.org

18 pointsprotomyth14 comments

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A relevant thread in misc@:

https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=145357927822796&w=2

naddy@ also weighed in:

https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=145359161725192&w=2

deraadt@ said this a few days ago:

https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=145715162325192&w=2

My guess is, this was a "the VAX guy dropped, the hardware failed, and it was slowing down the project", rather than anything to do with project direction.

Big news though. Wonder which platform is next.

> Big news though. Wonder which platform is next.

sparc? I've heard from a few people that it doesn't run reliably.

sparc64 seems fine however. I run it without a problem.

sgi was miod's baby. Now that he's moved on it may not have long to live.

Miod's lack of further involvement is related to him joining TrustInSoft, or is there something else happening?

I don't personally know him so I really can't authoritatively about what's on his mind. He posted this[0] in Nov. 2015. From my reading of it it sounds like he no longer sees his porting work as fruitful.

[0] http://pastebin.com/W9RbUUN1

Thanks a lot for the link!

Hopefully it's the LUNA. Most of the rest are more useful.

From what I've gathered the OpenBSD project does all of their builds on the native hw, as opposed to using crosscompiles. This ensures the hw port actually works and also validates code in general. For example sparc(64) requires strict pointer alignement and is big endian. Code that fails because of those architectural differences may have other problems. Looking forward maybe static analysis diminishes the utility of this practice.

Anyway I was a latecomer to vax. My first one was a 4000 VLC I bought off ebay to mess around with when I was in highschool in the early 2000s. I ran openbsd on it and used it as a dns server for a while. My mom later threw it out while I was away at college, along with a perfectly fine indy. Oh well I should have know better.

Anyway it's sad to see it go but if no one is stepping up to do the work or there isn't any hardware to run it on, dropping it makes sense for the project.

Also OpenBSD has been using a very old version of gcc for the same reason OSX uses an old version of bash: GPLv3. The future of OpenBSD probably lies with LLVM so any architectures which don't have solid llvm targets are probably doomed as well.[0]

[0] I just noticed someone on the list made a similar observation: https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=145375994431577&w=2

I remember taking assembler class circa 1998 on a VAX at Drake University. 8 addressing modes and that floating point that wrapped around like a snake eating it's tail.

I don't want a RasPi or an Arduino. I want a VAX on USB.

Buy a NuVax:

http://logical-co.com/

This company specializes in VAX clones for legacy systems they're too afraid to port. Especially in military or older companies. I'm sure it can recreate most of your experience accurately in both good and bad ways. :)

Right on. I remember using a VAX in the 1980's and it still seems like the fastest computer I ever used. Everything that came after seemed sluggish by comparison. Then many years ago I tried someone's VAX image in the simh simulator running on on MS Windows. It was "too fast", if there is such a thing. I want a pocket-sized VAX.

Maybe there is an FPGA implementation somewhere?

Even the better OS that ran on it ditched it for Alphas. It's about time OpenBSD followed OpenVMS's lead again. ;)

I installed it on simh a few weeks ago. It took a few tries, but compared to the netbsd which I never did get 100%, it was a smooth ride. Now where did I save that...

Please don't tell me that ENIAC support is next on the chopping block.

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