On Tue, 20 May 2003, James K. Lowden wrote:

> You're probably used to the PC world, where the distinction between
> hardware and software isn't so clear, and where the firmware is basically
> not capable of much.  PC's don't have a 'halt' button; access to the
> firmware (BIOS) is available only at boot time.  

Also, the BIOS is a mess. It knows too much and too little.
Just look at how you boot a PC.

> On the VAX, the firmware is always available.  Halt the system, diddle
> with the firmware (say, check or change the auto-reboot option), and
> continue.  While you're there, the OS is "on hold".  No muss no fuss.  

Ummm. That's the small-vaxen behaviour. :-)
Real VAXen don't put the OS on hold while you play with the front-end...
The OS keep running alongside the FE operations. :-)

Oh, and yes. I'm running NetBSD/vax on a VAX 8650.

	Johnny

Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                  ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt@update.uu.se           ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol