> To: port-vax@netbsd.org
> CC: abs@netbsd.org

> In searching the net, you seem to be the ultimate supreme VAX guru.

*Who* is?  You sent to a mailing list, y'know, as well as a person.

> 1.  Why are you so interested in VAX computers?

Personally?  It's one of the nicest architectures I've ever seen (where
"nicest" is deliberately vague) - the instruction set is highly
orthogonal, the whole architecture is well documented...and I went
through my larval stage on one.

I also am trying to collect examples of as many different NetBSD ports
as I readily can (this reason has nothing to do with the VAX
specifically; it just happens to be one of the ports I've got an
example of at home).

A third possible answer is, in words I heard attributed to some jazz
musician when asked a similar question about jazz, "if ya hafta ask, ya
ain't never gonna find out".

> 2.  What languages can be programmed on a VAX?  Is C++ one of them?

Yes.  C, C++, FORTRAN, Pascal, Lisp, FORTH, BLISS, sh, csh, awk, DCL,
and those are just the ones I personally have seen.  I've never tried
it myself, but I imagine a PostScript engine exists that would run on a
VAX.  Someone could probably build a Java engine, though IIRC Java
demands IEEE floating point, which would be very slow on a VAX (it
would have to be done by software emulation, though it may be possible
to leverage some of the FP hardware).

> 3.  Do VAX computers use "dumb-terminals"?

Some of them, sometimes, just like almost any other computer family.

> 4.  If so, How many terminals can be hooked up to one VAX?

Depends on how many serial ports it has.  If I were to put all my
DHV-11s into my VAX, it would have, I think, 49 ports, each of which
could potentially have a terminal connected to it.

> 5.  Do the dumb terminals have floppy drives or tape drives, or any
> way of backing up data?

By definition, dumb terminals do not have that much intelligence.  I'm
having trouble imagining why you asked this question in association
with VAXen; there's nothing the least bit VAX-specific about it.

> 6.  What type of thesis project might a comp-sci student have worked
> on in 1994?

I have no idea.  Again, what's this got to do with VAXen?

> 7.  Could a VAX in 1994 be hooked up to the Internet?

Of course.  In the mid-'80s I was using VAXen that were networked among
themselves, and by 1987 they were on the net.  (I think you may need to
go do a bit more historical research; the VAX was, for a time, *the*
preeminent machine on the net.)

> 8.  How much might a VAX cost?

Well, I got mine for free.  You could probably pay as much as you care
to, depending on the model of VAX, how loaded it is with RAM and such,
and the peripherals included.

> I realize these are broad questions.. and that there are probably
> dozens of VAX models.

"Probably"?  You haven't done even that much research??  I count 39
models mentioned by name on the main NetBSD/vax web page alone (ie,
without even following any links).  Even if I counted a few twice,
that's still at least three dozen, and I was counting only those listed
as supported by NetBSD/vax.

> Can you tell me anything else about the VAX?  Why have they all but
> gone away?

Some possible reasons which occur to me offhand, some of which are
related to others:

- It's an old architecture, very CISC, and correspondingly difficult to
   evolve in modern directions (like multiple instruction issue or
   64-bitness).

- You can get a lot more crunch per dollar from any of many other
   architectures.

- DEC, now Compaq, has stopped selling them, and may even have stopped
   supporting them.

- Windows doesn't run on them.

					der Mouse

			       mouse@rodents.montreal.qc.ca
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