OpenGenera 2.0 Virtual Machine Environment | Hacker News Reader

OpenGenera 2.0 Virtual Machine Environment

github.com

71 pointsgnocchi15 comments

Fails to explain what "opengenera" is and why I would want to run it.

You're right it should have an introduction where it does mention what it is. This project might be in need of some love.

Open Genera is the Genera OS[1][2] which used to be run on Symbolics Machine. Open Genera[3] is the Genera OS running in a virtual machine.

[1] http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?GeneraOs

[2] http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/symbolics/ (mentioned on the wiki)

[3] http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?OpenGenera

This emulator version does not work very well. Not really worth the effort.

One can buy an official version of Open Genera at:

http://www.symbolics-dks.com

No information except a set of very old (still interesting, but old) snapshots of what appears to be a catalog of their products, and an admonishment to contact a person to learn more.

This is usually understood as enterprise-speak for "we don't want to give you a price, and if you have to ask, you can't afford it."

The most recent price list I got from David Schmidt @ Symbolics (2/23/10):

"Thank you for your request for information about Symbolics and our products. Our Open Genera software for HP/Compaq/DEC Alpha workstations running Tru64 Unix costs $5,000 for a single CPU license. There is an academic discount for students and teachers that brings the price down to $999. You should have a 300 mHz or greater Alpha workstation with at least 500 MB RAM, 4 MB cache and 1 GB of available disk space. Besides selling Open Genera and maintaining the installed base of Symbolics machines, we also sell refurbished Symbolics hardware. There is no hardcopy documentation, but there is complete documentation available on the hard disk of each system."

As of a few months ago when I checked, he said they no longer sell refurb hardware, keeping the remaining stock for service contracts/warranty work/etc.

The problem is that the official version of OpenGenera still runs only on the long defunct Digital/Compaq Alpha platforms. The emulator version is (or "was" because it's not a work-in-progress) a proof-of-concept for a port to x64 Linux, hence the dependency on old versions.

There is a new emulator...

Can you point me towards it?

http://www.unlambda.com/download/genera/snap4.tar.gz

Here's some instructions on setting it up:

http://www.cliki.net/VLM_on_Linux

Thanks, but this doesn’t look like the new emulator, whatever that is — the instructions are dated 2012.

lispm is referring to a new commercial emulator commissioned by the current owner of the genera intellectual property. You should contact http://www.symbolics-dks.com for more info.

I completely agree, but anyone officially affiliated with MIT has a poorly documented license to use genera and this gets something interactive in front of them. It would be really nice if there were a reasonably priced way to get a better version.

I really hope nobody in government uses this leaked version for 64bit Intel / Unix. This is buggy and requires to be run as root...

please don't.

Buy the Alpha version or ask whether it is possible to buy the new version.

I can't imagine that anyone who is using genera in production is using this.

Thanks for the link. I got to copy their scans.

One would expected that they would bother to put up a better web site.

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