On Sat, 3 Jan 1998, James Robinson wrote:

> Thanks to all who sent me a message...... ;-)
> I have a few questions for the group:
> 1) I am going to get a VAX 8200 given to me. Is it worth the time to
>     get it running NetBSD.

	I would guess it depends on your enthusiasm to available space
	ratio :)

	As far as I am aware the network interface on the 8200 is not 
	currently supported due to lack of hardware documentation.
	(If anyone has such documentation I'm sure there is someone
	willing to look at a driver :)

> 2) What is a VAX 8200? (Haven't seen it yet, and I don't have an old
>     Dec direct Catalog with it in it.)

	The only info I could find is:
+-------+--------+--------------------------------+--------------
| Speed |  Bus   | Model Name                     | Nickname
+-------+--------+--------------------------------+--------------
| 0.9-2 | BI,CI  | VAX 8200, 8300, 8250, 8350     | Scorpio
+-------+--------+--------------------------------+--------------
	(Thanks to http://www.anglia.ac.uk/~systimk/History/Vaxes.Txt)

	Dec have info on the 8250 - which is probably similar...
http://www.digital.com/info/alphaserver/solutions/ibi/oldspecs/vax8250.html
 
> 3) I tried to make a boot tape on VMS 4.4, an a TK50. I keep getting
>     errors about incompleat copies to the tape.

	Pass - I never had to touch VMS on my uVax :)

> 4) Can I get (buy or send tape) a Distrubution on tk50 or what ever the
>     VAX 8200 has for a boot media?

	I'm sure someone would be willing to send you one - where are you
	(geographically) located.

> 5) I have a DEC Multia 166. I run linux on it but am thinking of NetBSD to
>     do cross compiles. Is this somthing I should look into or just run on
>     the VAX?

	It would be easier to cross compile from NetBSD than linux, though
	it should be possible to do it under linux as well.

	Personally I find it very nice to be able to run the same OS on
	different hardware - I run NetBSD on i386 & sparc hardware (am 
	looking at other boxes I have around - vax,arm32,alpha,mac68k, but
	its all a question of time :)

		David/abs

       ( Now you know "What would happen"... Disappointing isn't it? )