• A few curious questions

    From bill@bill.gunshannon@gmail.com to comp.os.vms on Sun Jun 28 19:30:54 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms


    Here a a couple doozies for the collective knowledge here.

    Is the current Mimer DB derived from the on that ran on PDP-11's
    and the VAX back in the mid 80's?

    And here's a more obscure one. Anybody here familiar with
    EUNICE? I only got to access it as a user in my very first
    days of VAX/VMS exposure. According to the write-up in the
    VAX Software Sourcebook it was capable of everything found
    in BSD 4.1 BSD. It ran on top of VMS. VMS can not do fork().
    How did EUNICE do fork()?

    And one last non-technical one. Is there anyone from the
    old Wollongon Groups still around? Is there any chance of
    getting a copy of EUNICE and permission to run it? It does
    not have any commercial value that I can imagine (for obvious
    reasons) and After all these years I would love to play with
    it again. I assume running on one of my Vaxstation it would
    be screamer compared to when I ran it on an 11/750. :-)

    bill
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  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=C3=B8j?=@arne@vajhoej.dk to comp.os.vms on Sun Jun 28 20:39:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 6/28/2026 7:30 PM, bill wrote:
    Is the current Mimer DB derived from the on that ran on PDP-11's
    and the VAX back in the mid 80's?

    Believe so.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimer_SQL#History

    https://groups.google.com/g/pidp-11/c/xDUlCFx-G0s

    And here's a more obscure one.-a Anybody here familiar with
    EUNICE?-a I only got to access it as a user in my very first
    days of VAX/VMS exposure.-a According to the write-up in the
    VAX Software Sourcebook it was capable of everything found
    in BSD 4.1 BSD.-a It ran on top of VMS.-a VMS can not do fork().
    How did EUNICE do fork()?

    And one last non-technical one. Is there anyone from the
    old Wollongon Groups still around? Is there any chance of
    getting a copy of EUNICE and permission to run it? It does
    not have any commercial value that I can imagine (for obvious
    reasons) and After all these years I would love to play with
    it again. I assume running on one of my Vaxstation it would
    be screamer compared to when I ran it on an 11/750. :-)

    I remember having heard about it before.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_(software) says:

    <quote>
    Eunice was criticized for its performance problems and not quite
    complete Unix compatibility. Eunice's reputation for poor compatibility inspired the "Congratulations. You aren't running Eunice." message
    included in the Perl configure script.
    </quote>

    :-)

    Why would you want to run Eunice??

    1990's VMS 6.x Posix is newer and likely more compatible as it had
    to pass Posix certification.

    GNV is almost modern.

    Arne



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  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@ldo@nz.invalid to comp.os.vms on Mon Jun 29 02:22:19 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On Sun, 28 Jun 2026 20:39:46 -0400, Arne Vajh|+j wrote:

    1990's VMS 6.x Posix is newer and likely more compatible as it had
    to pass Posix certification.

    Yeah, but so did Windows NT
    <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOeku3hDzrM>.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to comp.os.vms on Mon Jun 29 06:57:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    bill <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    And here's a more obscure one. Anybody here familiar with
    EUNICE? I only got to access it as a user in my very first
    days of VAX/VMS exposure. According to the write-up in the
    VAX Software Sourcebook it was capable of everything found
    in BSD 4.1 BSD. It ran on top of VMS. VMS can not do fork().
    How did EUNICE do fork()?

    It did it very, very, very slowly.

    EUNICE was a bad idea all around. However, the Software Tools environment
    from gatech gave you a reasonably unixlike interface on top of Pr1mos and
    later VMS without making any of the underlying stuff unixlike.

    And one last non-technical one. Is there anyone from the
    old Wollongon Groups still around? Is there any chance of
    getting a copy of EUNICE and permission to run it? It does
    not have any commercial value that I can imagine (for obvious
    reasons) and After all these years I would love to play with
    it again. I assume running on one of my Vaxstation it would
    be screamer compared to when I ran it on an 11/750. :-)

    Jerry Scott is still on linkedin.
    --scott

    "Wollongong, it's gone all wrong."
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From bill@bill.gunshannon@gmail.com to comp.os.vms on Mon Jun 29 08:55:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 6/28/2026 8:39 PM, Arne Vajh|+j wrote:
    On 6/28/2026 7:30 PM, bill wrote:
    Is the current Mimer DB derived from the on that ran on PDP-11's
    and the VAX back in the mid 80's?

    Believe so.>
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimer_SQL#History

    https://groups.google.com/g/pidp-11/c/xDUlCFx-G0s
    Interesting. Wonder why only RSX at that point in time as there were
    a lot of serious businesses running RSTS.


    And here's a more obscure one. Anybody here familiar with
    EUNICE? I only got to access it as a user in my very first
    days of VAX/VMS exposure. According to the write-up in the
    VAX Software Sourcebook it was capable of everything found
    in BSD 4.1 BSD. It ran on top of VMS. VMS can not do fork().
    How did EUNICE do fork()?

    And one last non-technical one. Is there anyone from the
    old Wollongon Groups still around? Is there any chance of
    getting a copy of EUNICE and permission to run it? It does
    not have any commercial value that I can imagine (for obvious
    reasons) and After all these years I would love to play with
    it again. I assume running on one of my Vaxstation it would
    be screamer compared to when I ran it on an 11/750. :-)

    I remember having heard about it before.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_(software) says:

    <quote>
    Eunice was criticized for its performance problems and not quite
    complete Unix compatibility. Eunice's reputation for poor compatibility inspired the "Congratulations. You aren't running Eunice." message
    included in the Perl configure script.
    </quote>
    Everyone knew about the poor performance. But EUNICE wasn't the only
    poor performer. Whenever someone ran Ada on the system I was using
    everyone else just logged off and found some other way to occupy their
    time. :-)

    Like many other things at that time the software was too far ahead of
    the hardware.


    :-)

    Why would you want to run Eunice??
    Why would I want to run a VAX? It's fun. It's interesting. It's
    nostalgic.


    1990's VMS 6.x Posix is newer and likely more compatible as it had
    to pass Posix certification.
    Not interested in POSIX. I used that when it first came out on the
    VAX and wasn't impressed. It had been done better by STVOS but, sadly,
    like most academic endeavors the grad student graduated. The project
    withered on the vine and we waited a couple decades for someone to try
    and reinvent (badly) the wheel.



    GNV is almost modern.
    Isn't GNV nothing but a handful of userland utilities common to
    Unix? Not hardly the same as a functional Unix OS running on top
    of VMS.

    bill

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From bill@bill.gunshannon@gmail.com to comp.os.vms on Mon Jun 29 08:55:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 6/28/2026 8:39 PM, Arne Vajh|+j wrote:
    On 6/28/2026 7:30 PM, bill wrote:
    Is the current Mimer DB derived from the on that ran on PDP-11's
    and the VAX back in the mid 80's?

    Believe so.>
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimer_SQL#History

    https://groups.google.com/g/pidp-11/c/xDUlCFx-G0s
    Interesting. Wonder why only RSX at that point in time as there were
    a lot of serious businesses running RSTS.


    And here's a more obscure one. Anybody here familiar with
    EUNICE? I only got to access it as a user in my very first
    days of VAX/VMS exposure. According to the write-up in the
    VAX Software Sourcebook it was capable of everything found
    in BSD 4.1 BSD. It ran on top of VMS. VMS can not do fork().
    How did EUNICE do fork()?

    And one last non-technical one. Is there anyone from the
    old Wollongon Groups still around? Is there any chance of
    getting a copy of EUNICE and permission to run it? It does
    not have any commercial value that I can imagine (for obvious
    reasons) and After all these years I would love to play with
    it again. I assume running on one of my Vaxstation it would
    be screamer compared to when I ran it on an 11/750. :-)

    I remember having heard about it before.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_(software) says:

    <quote>
    Eunice was criticized for its performance problems and not quite
    complete Unix compatibility. Eunice's reputation for poor compatibility inspired the "Congratulations. You aren't running Eunice." message
    included in the Perl configure script.
    </quote>
    Everyone knew about the poor performance. But EUNICE wasn't the only
    poor performer. Whenever someone ran Ada on the system I was using
    everyone else just logged off and found some other way to occupy their
    time. :-)

    Like many other things at that time the software was too far ahead of
    the hardware.


    :-)

    Why would you want to run Eunice??
    Why would I want to run a VAX? It's fun. It's interesting. It's
    nostalgic.


    1990's VMS 6.x Posix is newer and likely more compatible as it had
    to pass Posix certification.
    Not interested in POSIX. I used that when it first came out on the
    VAX and wasn't impressed. It had been done better by STVOS but, sadly,
    like most academic endeavors the grad student graduated. The project
    withered on the vine and we waited a couple decades for someone to try
    and reinvent (badly) the wheel.



    GNV is almost modern.
    Isn't GNV nothing but a handful of userland utilities common to
    Unix? Not hardly the same as a functional Unix OS running on top
    of VMS.

    bill

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From bill@bill.gunshannon@gmail.com to comp.os.vms on Mon Jun 29 08:55:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 6/28/2026 8:39 PM, Arne Vajh|+j wrote:
    On 6/28/2026 7:30 PM, bill wrote:
    Is the current Mimer DB derived from the on that ran on PDP-11's
    and the VAX back in the mid 80's?

    Believe so.>
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimer_SQL#History

    https://groups.google.com/g/pidp-11/c/xDUlCFx-G0s
    Interesting. Wonder why only RSX at that point in time as there were
    a lot of serious businesses running RSTS.


    And here's a more obscure one. Anybody here familiar with
    EUNICE? I only got to access it as a user in my very first
    days of VAX/VMS exposure. According to the write-up in the
    VAX Software Sourcebook it was capable of everything found
    in BSD 4.1 BSD. It ran on top of VMS. VMS can not do fork().
    How did EUNICE do fork()?

    And one last non-technical one. Is there anyone from the
    old Wollongon Groups still around? Is there any chance of
    getting a copy of EUNICE and permission to run it? It does
    not have any commercial value that I can imagine (for obvious
    reasons) and After all these years I would love to play with
    it again. I assume running on one of my Vaxstation it would
    be screamer compared to when I ran it on an 11/750. :-)

    I remember having heard about it before.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_(software) says:

    <quote>
    Eunice was criticized for its performance problems and not quite
    complete Unix compatibility. Eunice's reputation for poor compatibility inspired the "Congratulations. You aren't running Eunice." message
    included in the Perl configure script.
    </quote>
    Everyone knew about the poor performance. But EUNICE wasn't the only
    poor performer. Whenever someone ran Ada on the system I was using
    everyone else just logged off and found some other way to occupy their
    time. :-)

    Like many other things at that time the software was too far ahead of
    the hardware.


    :-)

    Why would you want to run Eunice??
    Why would I want to run a VAX? It's fun. It's interesting. It's
    nostalgic.


    1990's VMS 6.x Posix is newer and likely more compatible as it had
    to pass Posix certification.
    Not interested in POSIX. I used that when it first came out on the
    VAX and wasn't impressed. It had been done better by STVOS but, sadly,
    like most academic endeavors the grad student graduated. The project
    withered on the vine and we waited a couple decades for someone to try
    and reinvent (badly) the wheel.



    GNV is almost modern.
    Isn't GNV nothing but a handful of userland utilities common to
    Unix? Not hardly the same as a functional Unix OS running on top
    of VMS.

    bill

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=C3=B8j?=@arne@vajhoej.dk to comp.os.vms on Mon Jun 29 09:21:16 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 6/29/2026 8:55 AM, bill wrote:
    On 6/28/2026 8:39 PM, Arne Vajh|+j wrote:
    GNV is almost modern.
    Isn't GNV nothing but a handful of userland utilities common to
    Unix?-a Not hardly the same as a functional Unix OS running on top
    of VMS.

    I believe that Eunice, Posix shell and GNV are all just a shell and
    utilities - not an OS. Nothing in the Wine/WSL2/XDE category.

    OK - Eunice and Posix also came with library support, but
    VMS C RTL out of the box today are probably more compatible
    with modern *nix SW than they were - things evolve and
    lot of effort has been put in making VMS C RTL reasonable
    compatible (sometimes by defining some magical logicals).

    Arne



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  • From bill@bill.gunshannon@gmail.com to comp.os.vms on Mon Jun 29 09:20:47 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 6/29/2026 6:57 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    bill <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    And here's a more obscure one. Anybody here familiar with
    EUNICE? I only got to access it as a user in my very first
    days of VAX/VMS exposure. According to the write-up in the
    VAX Software Sourcebook it was capable of everything found
    in BSD 4.1 BSD. It ran on top of VMS. VMS can not do fork().
    How did EUNICE do fork()?

    It did it very, very, very slowly.

    Not necessarily EUNICE's fault. As I said in my response to Arne,
    that was a time when software was too far ahead of hardware.


    EUNICE was a bad idea all around.

    I don't see why. Just too far ahead of it's time like many ideas
    of that era.

    However, the Software Tools environment from gatech gave you a reasonably unixlike interface on top of Pr1mos and later VMS without making any of the underlying stuff unixlike.

    I am very familiar with STVOS. Worked with it pretty much from the
    beginning and liked it. Still play with it today. If it's development
    had continued at the time there would probably never have been a need
    for POSIX except as a standard for STVOS.

    As for the methodology behind EUNICE, remember PRIMIX? That was Pr1me's attempt at the same thing. It's performance was as dismal as EUNICE and
    it also gave Pr1me a reason to withdraw permission from the project to
    do a native mode Unix on the 50 series which was just about to be
    announced and released.



    And one last non-technical one. Is there anyone from the
    old Wollongon Groups still around? Is there any chance of
    getting a copy of EUNICE and permission to run it? It does
    not have any commercial value that I can imagine (for obvious
    reasons) and After all these years I would love to play with
    it again. I assume running on one of my Vaxstation it would
    be screamer compared to when I ran it on an 11/750. :-)

    Jerry Scott is still on linkedin.


    I wonder if he even remembers EUNICE. :-)

    bill


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From bill@bill.gunshannon@gmail.com to comp.os.vms on Mon Jun 29 10:48:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 6/29/2026 9:20 AM, bill wrote:

    I am very familiar with STVOS.-a Worked with it pretty much from the beginning and liked it.-a Still play with it today.-a If it's development
    had continued at the time there would probably never have been a need
    for POSIX except as a standard for STVOS.

    As for the methodology behind EUNICE, remember PRIMIX?-a That was Pr1me's attempt at the same thing. It's performance was as dismal as EUNICE and
    it also gave Pr1me a reason to withdraw permission from the project to
    do a native mode Unix on the 50 series which was just about to be
    announced and released.



    I accidentally left this part out.

    In order to show what it had accomplished and what it likely
    could have accomplished, STVOS was not just on VMS and Primos.
    It ran to some level on over 50 different systems ranging from
    Mainframes to Microcomputers offering an unbelievable (at the time)
    source level compatibility.

    bill



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  • From cross@cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) to comp.os.vms on Mon Jun 29 15:35:45 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    In article <6a41bed2$0$665$14726298@news.sunsite.dk>,
    Arne Vajh|+j <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
    On 6/28/2026 7:30 PM, bill wrote:
    [snip]
    And here's a more obscure one.-a Anybody here familiar with
    EUNICE?-a I only got to access it as a user in my very first
    days of VAX/VMS exposure.-a According to the write-up in the
    VAX Software Sourcebook it was capable of everything found
    in BSD 4.1 BSD.-a It ran on top of VMS.-a VMS can not do fork().
    How did EUNICE do fork()?

    And one last non-technical one. Is there anyone from the
    old Wollongon Groups still around? Is there any chance of
    getting a copy of EUNICE and permission to run it? It does
    not have any commercial value that I can imagine (for obvious
    reasons) and After all these years I would love to play with
    it again. I assume running on one of my Vaxstation it would
    be screamer compared to when I ran it on an 11/750. :-)

    I remember having heard about it before.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_(software) says:

    <quote>
    Eunice was criticized for its performance problems and not quite
    complete Unix compatibility. Eunice's reputation for poor compatibility >inspired the "Congratulations. You aren't running Eunice." message
    included in the Perl configure script.
    </quote>

    I think it actually predates that.

    I suspect Larry Wall introduced it with `rn`, his news reader,
    before Perl. The `Configure` script that came with `trn` has
    the same text, and that was a fork (essentially) of `rn`.

    Indeed, one sees it in old from volume 1 of `comp.unix.sources`,
    posted in 1985; Wall didn't publish Perl until 1987:

    https://sources.vsta.org/comp.sources.unix/volume1/rn/part02

    - Dan C.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Craig A. Berry@craigberry@nospam.mac.com to comp.os.vms on Mon Jun 29 16:37:00 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 6/29/26 10:35 AM, Dan Cross wrote:
    In article <6a41bed2$0$665$14726298@news.sunsite.dk>,
    Arne Vajh|+j <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
    On 6/28/2026 7:30 PM, bill wrote:
    [snip]
    And here's a more obscure one.-a Anybody here familiar with
    EUNICE?-a I only got to access it as a user in my very first
    days of VAX/VMS exposure.-a According to the write-up in the
    VAX Software Sourcebook it was capable of everything found
    in BSD 4.1 BSD.-a It ran on top of VMS.-a VMS can not do fork().
    How did EUNICE do fork()?

    And one last non-technical one. Is there anyone from the
    old Wollongon Groups still around? Is there any chance of
    getting a copy of EUNICE and permission to run it? It does
    not have any commercial value that I can imagine (for obvious
    reasons) and After all these years I would love to play with
    it again. I assume running on one of my Vaxstation it would
    be screamer compared to when I ran it on an 11/750. :-)

    I remember having heard about it before.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunice_(software) says:

    <quote>
    Eunice was criticized for its performance problems and not quite
    complete Unix compatibility. Eunice's reputation for poor compatibility
    inspired the "Congratulations. You aren't running Eunice." message
    included in the Perl configure script.
    </quote>

    I think it actually predates that.

    I suspect Larry Wall introduced it with `rn`, his news reader,
    before Perl. The `Configure` script that came with `trn` has
    the same text, and that was a fork (essentially) of `rn`.

    Indeed, one sees it in old from volume 1 of `comp.unix.sources`,
    posted in 1985; Wall didn't publish Perl until 1987:

    https://sources.vsta.org/comp.sources.unix/volume1/rn/part02

    Interesting, I didn't know how much he took from previous projects. The
    eunice stuff in Configure matches very closely what's in the Perl 1.0
    sources:

    https://github.com/Perl/perl5/blob/16421f70f5b26ada5762d8a85272ac582fe2f9a5/Configure#L2419
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Simon Clubley@clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP to comp.os.vms on Wed Jul 1 18:45:32 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 2026-06-29, bill <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 6/28/2026 8:39 PM, Arne Vajhoj wrote:

    GNV is almost modern.
    Isn't GNV nothing but a handful of userland utilities common to
    Unix? Not hardly the same as a functional Unix OS running on top
    of VMS.


    They are the same thing (at least according to the Wikipedia link posted
    about Eunice). They both provide a compatibility library so that a Unix userland can be run on top of a foreign operating system (ie: VMS).

    You are not running "a functional Unix OS" on top of VMS. You are running userland tools by means of an interface layer and, if anything (based on
    the comments in this discussion), it sounds like the modern approaches to implementing that interface layer provide better solutions.

    It's really no different from the fact that I am running an Alpine Linux userland on my Android phone by means of an interface layer so I can use various Unix programs directly on the phone.

    Simon.
    --
    Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
    Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.
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  • From Dave McGuire@mcguire@lssmuseum.org to comp.os.vms on Wed Jul 1 19:24:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 6/28/26 19:30, bill wrote:
    And here's a more obscure one.-a Anybody here familiar with
    EUNICE?-a I only got to access it as a user in my very first
    days of VAX/VMS exposure.-a According to the write-up in the
    VAX Software Sourcebook it was capable of everything found
    in BSD 4.1 BSD.-a It ran on top of VMS.-a VMS can not do fork().
    How did EUNICE do fork()?

    And one last non-technical one.-a-a Is there anyone from the
    old Wollongon Groups still around?-a Is there any chance of
    getting a copy of EUNICE and permission to run it?-a It does
    not have any commercial value that I can imagine (for obvious
    reasons)-a and After all these years I would love to play with
    it again.-a I assume running on one of my Vaxstation it would
    be-a screamer compared to when I ran it on an 11/750.-a :-)

    Bill, just FYI, we at LSSM recovered EUNICE v3.1 from tape a couple
    of years ago, along with manuals. We've not tried to run it on anything
    but we believe it to be a complete distribution.

    -Dave
    --
    Dave McGuire, President/Curator
    Large Scale Systems Museum
    New Kensington, PA
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Kragen Javier Sitaker@kragen@canonical.org to comp.os.vms on Tue Sep 15 09:34:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    bill <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> writes:
    And here's a more obscure one. Anybody here familiar with
    EUNICE? I only got to access it as a user in my very first
    days of VAX/VMS exposure. According to the write-up in the
    VAX Software Sourcebook it was capable of everything found
    in BSD 4.1 BSD. It ran on top of VMS. VMS can not do fork().
    How did EUNICE do fork()?

    I just remember that Perl's Configure script said,
    rCLCongratulations. YourCOre not running Eunice.rCY

    Kragen
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Kragen Javier Sitaker@kragen@canonical.org to comp.os.vms on Tue Sep 15 09:38:24 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    bill <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 6:57 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It did it very, very, very slowly.

    Not necessarily EUNICE's fault. As I said in my response to Arne,
    that was a time when software was too far ahead of hardware.

    You could run Unix on a PDP-11. You couldnrCOt do that with VMS.

    Kragen
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Kragen Javier Sitaker@kragen@canonical.org to comp.os.vms on Tue Sep 15 09:39:55 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    Dave McGuire <mcguire@lssmuseum.org> writes:
    Bill, just FYI, we at LSSM recovered EUNICE v3.1 from tape a couple
    of years ago, along with manuals. We've not tried to run it on
    anything but we believe it to be a complete distribution.

    ThatrCOs fantastic news! I don't suppose you can release it legally, can
    you?

    Kragen
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From cross@cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) to comp.os.vms on Tue Sep 15 17:35:05 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    In article <87h5jqpu4f.fsf@debian>,
    Kragen Javier Sitaker <kragen@canonical.org> wrote:
    bill <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 6:57 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It did it very, very, very slowly.

    Not necessarily EUNICE's fault. As I said in my response to Arne,
    that was a time when software was too far ahead of hardware.

    You could run Unix on a PDP-11. You couldnrCOt do that with VMS.

    Apples and oranges, I'm afraid. You could run early versions of
    research Unix on PDP-11s, sure, but that's not really comparable
    to VMS: VMS compares more closely to 4BSD, which would _not_ run
    on a PDP-11.

    - Dan C.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From scott@scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) to comp.os.vms on Tue Sep 15 21:37:40 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) writes:
    In article <87h5jqpu4f.fsf@debian>,
    Kragen Javier Sitaker <kragen@canonical.org> wrote:
    bill <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 6:57 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It did it very, very, very slowly.

    Not necessarily EUNICE's fault. As I said in my response to Arne,
    that was a time when software was too far ahead of hardware.

    You could run Unix on a PDP-11. You couldnrCOt do that with VMS.

    Apples and oranges, I'm afraid. You could run early versions of
    research Unix on PDP-11s, sure, but that's not really comparable
    to VMS: VMS compares more closely to 4BSD, which would _not_ run
    on a PDP-11.

    Plus, Unix did run on a VAX, both BSD and a rather dodgy version
    from AT&T (no paging, just swapping). I used the later circa 1981.

    The first VMS releases actually included several RSX-M utilities
    (e.g. PIP) running in compatability mode because the native
    commands weren't available yet.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to comp.os.vms on Tue Sep 15 17:40:08 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    In article <EUiqS.3$GI1.2@fx01.iad>, Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote: >Plus, Unix did run on a VAX, both BSD and a rather dodgy version
    from AT&T (no paging, just swapping). I used the later circa 1981.

    Other variations too, like BRL Unix from the Army Ballistics Research Lab
    which was BSD with some radical modifications.
    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bill Gunshannon@bill.gunshannon@gmail.com to comp.os.vms on Wed Sep 16 08:15:07 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 9/15/26 08:38, Kragen Javier Sitaker wrote:
    bill <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 6:57 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It did it very, very, very slowly.

    Not necessarily EUNICE's fault. As I said in my response to Arne,
    that was a time when software was too far ahead of hardware.

    You could run Unix on a PDP-11. You couldnrCOt do that with VMS.

    Kragen

    Comparing hardware to software.
    You could run Unix on the VAX.
    And EUNICE did exactly that. It was Unix on VMS.
    kinda like what we do today with VM's but to far ahead for the
    capabilities of the hardware.

    Still, it was fun to try.

    bill
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bill Gunshannon@bill.gunshannon@gmail.com to comp.os.vms on Wed Sep 16 08:19:28 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 9/15/26 13:35, Dan Cross wrote:
    In article <87h5jqpu4f.fsf@debian>,
    Kragen Javier Sitaker <kragen@canonical.org> wrote:
    bill <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 6:57 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It did it very, very, very slowly.

    Not necessarily EUNICE's fault. As I said in my response to Arne,
    that was a time when software was too far ahead of hardware.

    You could run Unix on a PDP-11. You couldnrCOt do that with VMS.

    Apples and oranges, I'm afraid. You could run early versions of
    research Unix on PDP-11s, sure, but that's not really comparable
    to VMS: VMS compares more closely to 4BSD, which would _not_ run
    on a PDP-11.

    - Dan C.

    More than early research versions. Version 7 was
    pretty complete. And then you had Ultrix-11 which
    had a pretty good choice of production software
    available to it.

    What could you do on 4BSD that can't be done on 2.11?
    Other than run programs too big to fit on a PDP-11.

    bill

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From kludge@kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) to comp.os.vms on Wed Sep 16 09:26:32 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    Comparing hardware to software.
    You could run Unix on the VAX.
    And EUNICE did exactly that. It was Unix on VMS.
    kinda like what we do today with VM's but to far ahead for the
    capabilities of the hardware.

    And now, to the tune of Yellow Rose of Texas:

    Hardware compared to software
    Unix can run on the VAX.
    And Eunice really does that
    It's Unix on VMS..

    --scott
    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From cross@cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) to comp.os.vms on Fri Sep 18 12:58:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    In article <118cdvo$bh$1@panix2.panix.com>,
    Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
    In article <EUiqS.3$GI1.2@fx01.iad>, Scott Lurndal <slp53@pacbell.net> wrote: >>Plus, Unix did run on a VAX, both BSD and a rather dodgy version
    from AT&T (no paging, just swapping). I used the later circa 1981.

    Other variations too, like BRL Unix from the Army Ballistics Research Lab >which was BSD with some radical modifications.

    Unix was rather more fluid back in those days. :-)

    Later versions of System V did grow demand paging; internally,
    inside of AT&T, they had demand-paged, virtual memory support
    before BSD, though I don't think that particular VM system made
    it out of Bell labs; the 1127 guys chose to re-port 4.1BSD (or
    thereabouts) as the basis for 8th Edition and later, but their
    version was always rather different than what USG/USL were
    doing.

    - Dan C.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From cross@cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) to comp.os.vms on Fri Sep 18 13:04:22 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    In article <ngvfqgFiaqvU2@mid.individual.net>,
    Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 9/15/26 13:35, Dan Cross wrote:
    In article <87h5jqpu4f.fsf@debian>,
    Kragen Javier Sitaker <kragen@canonical.org> wrote:
    bill <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 6:57 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It did it very, very, very slowly.

    Not necessarily EUNICE's fault. As I said in my response to Arne,
    that was a time when software was too far ahead of hardware.

    You could run Unix on a PDP-11. You couldnrCOt do that with VMS.

    Apples and oranges, I'm afraid. You could run early versions of
    research Unix on PDP-11s, sure, but that's not really comparable
    to VMS: VMS compares more closely to 4BSD, which would _not_ run
    on a PDP-11.

    - Dan C.

    More than early research versions. Version 7 was
    pretty complete. And then you had Ultrix-11 which
    had a pretty good choice of production software
    available to it.

    I consider pretty much everything up through and including 32/V
    an "early version of Research unix." Sure, the system call
    interface was ok, but there was no IPC to speak of beyond pipes
    and multiplexed files, which never caught on (RIP Greg Chesson),
    and the filesystem was pretty anemic, etc.

    What could you do on 4BSD that can't be done on 2.11?
    Other than run programs too big to fit on a PDP-11.

    2.11 is also a bit of an unfair comparison; that was something
    of a back-port of 4BSD back to the PDP-11. Certainly, a primary
    motivation for moving to 32-bit paged memories was supporting
    larger programs (part of the DARPA grant stuff was supporting
    large Lisp systems on VAXen).

    - Dan C.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From cross@cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) to comp.os.vms on Fri Sep 18 13:06:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    In article <ngvficFiaqvU1@mid.individual.net>,
    Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 9/15/26 08:38, Kragen Javier Sitaker wrote:
    bill <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> writes:
    On 6/29/2026 6:57 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    It did it very, very, very slowly.

    Not necessarily EUNICE's fault. As I said in my response to Arne,
    that was a time when software was too far ahead of hardware.

    You could run Unix on a PDP-11. You couldnrCOt do that with VMS.

    Comparing hardware to software.
    You could run Unix on the VAX.
    And EUNICE did exactly that. It was Unix on VMS.
    kinda like what we do today with VM's but to far ahead for the
    capabilities of the hardware.

    Still, it was fun to try.

    I interpreted the message you responded to as a bit of a dig on
    VMS; as in, you could run Unix directly on both PDP-11 and VAX,
    but VMS only ran on the VAX, thus Unix was more flexible or
    portable.

    My "Apples and Oranges" comment was highlighting that the
    comparison isn't very good; at the time VMS was introduced,
    contemporary Unix versions were comparatively primitive in how
    they took advantage (or rather, did not take advantage) of the
    hardware.

    - Dan C.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Dave McGuire@mcguire@lssmuseum.org to comp.os.vms on Sun Sep 20 15:07:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 9/15/26 08:39, Kragen Javier Sitaker wrote:
    Bill, just FYI, we at LSSM recovered EUNICE v3.1 from tape a couple
    of years ago, along with manuals. We've not tried to run it on
    anything but we believe it to be a complete distribution.

    ThatrCOs fantastic news! I don't suppose you can release it legally, can you?

    Legally...maybe, maybe not. I've not researched the copyright
    status. I'm guessing the company is long gone, though.

    But at least it's not lost.

    -Dave
    --
    Dave McGuire, President/Curator
    Large Scale Systems Museum
    New Kensington, PA
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Simon Clubley@clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP to comp.os.vms on Thu Sep 24 18:27:23 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 2026-09-18, Dan Cross <cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net> wrote:

    I interpreted the message you responded to as a bit of a dig on
    VMS; as in, you could run Unix directly on both PDP-11 and VAX,
    but VMS only ran on the VAX, thus Unix was more flexible or
    portable.

    My "Apples and Oranges" comment was highlighting that the
    comparison isn't very good; at the time VMS was introduced,
    contemporary Unix versions were comparatively primitive in how
    they took advantage (or rather, did not take advantage) of the
    hardware.


    Also, think about the applications running on top of these
    operating systems.

    In the PDP-11 DEC OS world, if you wanted to run larger applications
    (by the standards of the PDP-11, not the VAX), you were into TKB
    overlays. [*] :-(

    How did PDP-11 Unix handle this problem ?

    Simon.

    [*] This was a method, used during linking, in which you described an
    overlay map, and the OS then mapped in and out various segments of your application at runtime as various parts of it were called by the rest
    of the application.

    The :-( is because I have direct personal experience of having to do
    this multiple times... :-) Never, ever, ever, again. :-)

    I was very glad to get to VAX and leave all that behind.
    --
    Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
    Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bill Gunshannon@bill.gunshannon@gmail.com to comp.os.vms on Thu Sep 24 15:11:21 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 9/24/26 14:27, Simon Clubley wrote:
    On 2026-09-18, Dan Cross <cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net> wrote:

    I interpreted the message you responded to as a bit of a dig on
    VMS; as in, you could run Unix directly on both PDP-11 and VAX,
    but VMS only ran on the VAX, thus Unix was more flexible or
    portable.

    My "Apples and Oranges" comment was highlighting that the
    comparison isn't very good; at the time VMS was introduced,
    contemporary Unix versions were comparatively primitive in how
    they took advantage (or rather, did not take advantage) of the
    hardware.


    Also, think about the applications running on top of these
    operating systems.

    In the PDP-11 DEC OS world, if you wanted to run larger applications
    (by the standards of the PDP-11, not the VAX), you were into TKB
    overlays. [*] :-(

    How did PDP-11 Unix handle this problem ?

    Ultrix-11 had overlays. I always ran an overlayed kernel on most of my
    bigger PPD-11's. But then, seems I had less trouble doing overlays than
    other folks. :-)


    Simon.

    [*] This was a method, used during linking, in which you described an
    overlay map, and the OS then mapped in and out various segments of your application at runtime as various parts of it were called by the rest
    of the application.

    The :-( is because I have direct personal experience of having to do
    this multiple times... :-) Never, ever, ever, again. :-)

    I was very glad to get to VAX and leave all that behind.


    Never saw it as much of a problem. Actually helped a lot in making
    more efficient programs.

    bill


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Stephen Hoffman@seaohveh@hoffmanlabs.invalid to comp.os.vms on Thu Sep 24 17:57:05 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 2026-09-15 12:38:24 +0000, Kragen Javier Sitaker said:

    You could run Unix on a PDP-11. You couldnrCOt do that with VMS.

    Reality is a little weirder: you can VMS on a box that is also a PDP-11.

    The -11 in VAX-11 indicates hardware PDP-11 support.

    A large chunk of early VMS was RSX giblets.

    SYE was one of the last remaining RSX giblets, last part of VMS V3.
    --
    Pure Personal Opinion | HoffmanLabs LLC

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson@johann@myrkraverk.invalid to comp.os.vms on Fri Sep 25 12:25:07 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 9/25/2026 5:57 AM, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
    On 2026-09-15 12:38:24 +0000, Kragen Javier Sitaker said:

    You could run Unix on a PDP-11.-a You couldnrCOt do that with VMS.

    Reality is a little weirder: you can VMS on a box that is also a PDP-11.

    The -11 in VAX-11 indicates hardware PDP-11 support.

    A large chunk of early VMS was RSX giblets.

    SYE was one of the last remaining RSX giblets, last part of VMS V3.



    And now the same physical hardware runs OS/2 and VMS, sometimes both at
    once. The world is really a strange place.
    --
    Johann | email: invalid -> com | http://www.myrkraverk.com/blog/
    I'm not from the Internet, I just work there. | via Easynews.com https://bsky.app/profile/myrkraverk.bsky.social | for ( ;; ) _:;
    Federated at https://fed.brid.gy/bsky/myrkraverk.bsky.social
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Michael S@already5chosen@yahoo.com to comp.os.vms on Fri Sep 25 15:30:01 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:25:07 +0800
    Johann 'Myrkraverk' Oskarsson <johann@myrkraverk.invalid> wrote:
    On 9/25/2026 5:57 AM, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
    On 2026-09-15 12:38:24 +0000, Kragen Javier Sitaker said:

    You could run Unix on a PDP-11.-a You couldnrCOt do that with VMS.

    Reality is a little weirder: you can VMS on a box that is also a
    PDP-11.

    The -11 in VAX-11 indicates hardware PDP-11 support.

    A large chunk of early VMS was RSX giblets.

    SYE was one of the last remaining RSX giblets, last part of VMS V3.



    And now the same physical hardware runs OS/2 and VMS, sometimes both
    at once.
    That's not particularly new.
    We were running VMS, in supported manner, nonetheless, on OS/2 capable
    hardware ~20 years. Not that anybody had a reason to try to run OS/2 on
    this hardware, but it was technically possible.
    Of course, VMS was running on top of Charon-VAX.
    Even back then it was not considered a new tech or very exciting.
    The world is really a strange place.
    She said "Curiouser and curiouser!"
    But only for those of us that are willing to be curious.
    I am unfortuntely closer to less willing.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From cross@cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) to comp.os.vms on Mon Sep 28 14:48:35 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    In article <1193q2b$2tr67$1@dont-email.me>,
    Simon Clubley <clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> wrote:
    On 2026-09-18, Dan Cross <cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net> wrote:

    I interpreted the message you responded to as a bit of a dig on
    VMS; as in, you could run Unix directly on both PDP-11 and VAX,
    but VMS only ran on the VAX, thus Unix was more flexible or
    portable.

    My "Apples and Oranges" comment was highlighting that the
    comparison isn't very good; at the time VMS was introduced,
    contemporary Unix versions were comparatively primitive in how
    they took advantage (or rather, did not take advantage) of the
    hardware.

    Also, think about the applications running on top of these
    operating systems.

    In the PDP-11 DEC OS world, if you wanted to run larger applications
    (by the standards of the PDP-11, not the VAX), you were into TKB
    overlays. [*] :-(

    How did PDP-11 Unix handle this problem ?

    PDP-11 Unix (well, I suppose 2BSD) supported overlays. From
    what I was told, it "just worked" and was rather automatic, so
    that it worked better than on the DEC OSes; I don't know whether
    that is true or not, nor can I recall who said that to me, or
    what their criteria was.

    [*] This was a method, used during linking, in which you described an
    overlay map, and the OS then mapped in and out various segments of your >application at runtime as various parts of it were called by the rest
    of the application.

    The :-( is because I have direct personal experience of having to do
    this multiple times... :-) Never, ever, ever, again. :-)

    I was very glad to get to VAX and leave all that behind.

    Yeah, there's something to be said for large virtual address
    spaces.

    - Dan C.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From cross@cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) to comp.os.vms on Mon Sep 28 14:49:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    In article <nhlautF2k3mU1@mid.individual.net>,
    Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    [snip]

    [*] This was a method, used during linking, in which you described an
    overlay map, and the OS then mapped in and out various segments of your
    application at runtime as various parts of it were called by the rest
    of the application.

    The :-( is because I have direct personal experience of having to do
    this multiple times... :-) Never, ever, ever, again. :-)

    I was very glad to get to VAX and leave all that behind.

    Never saw it as much of a problem. Actually helped a lot in making
    more efficient programs.

    Efficient in what regard?

    - Dan C.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Dave Froble@davef@tsoft-inc.com to comp.os.vms on Mon Sep 28 13:12:20 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 9/28/2026 10:49 AM, Dan Cross wrote:
    In article <nhlautF2k3mU1@mid.individual.net>,
    Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    [snip]

    [*] This was a method, used during linking, in which you described an
    overlay map, and the OS then mapped in and out various segments of your
    application at runtime as various parts of it were called by the rest
    of the application.

    The :-( is because I have direct personal experience of having to do
    this multiple times... :-) Never, ever, ever, again. :-)

    I was very glad to get to VAX and leave all that behind.

    Never saw it as much of a problem. Actually helped a lot in making
    more efficient programs.

    Efficient in what regard?

    - Dan C.


    Not efficient!

    I will allow that it can be educational. I learned to become very modular in my
    work, in those days. A separate subprogram for every little operation. I still
    like that type of design. Keeps things simple, and easy to identify issues.

    But overlays are a thing best left in the past.
    --
    David Froble Tel: 724-529-0450
    Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc. E-Mail: davef@tsoft-inc.com
    DFE Ultralights, Inc.
    170 Grimplin Road
    Vanderbilt, PA 15486
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bill Gunshannon@bill.gunshannon@gmail.com to comp.os.vms on Mon Sep 28 13:16:47 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 9/28/26 10:49, Dan Cross wrote:
    In article <nhlautF2k3mU1@mid.individual.net>,
    Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    [snip]

    [*] This was a method, used during linking, in which you described an
    overlay map, and the OS then mapped in and out various segments of your
    application at runtime as various parts of it were called by the rest
    of the application.

    The :-( is because I have direct personal experience of having to do
    this multiple times... :-) Never, ever, ever, again. :-)

    I was very glad to get to VAX and leave all that behind.

    Never saw it as much of a problem. Actually helped a lot in making
    more efficient programs.

    Efficient in what regard?


    The programmer had to learn a bit more about his program in order
    to make the overlays work properly and it kinda force you to look
    at things like program flow and structure more closely. Another
    facet of programming that has been lost in the age of Vibe Coding.

    bill


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bill Gunshannon@bill.gunshannon@gmail.com to comp.os.vms on Mon Sep 28 13:18:13 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 9/28/26 13:12, Dave Froble wrote:
    On 9/28/2026 10:49 AM, Dan Cross wrote:
    In article <nhlautF2k3mU1@mid.individual.net>,
    Bill Gunshannon-a <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    [snip]

    [*] This was a method, used during linking, in which you described an
    overlay map, and the OS then mapped in and out various segments of your >>>> application at runtime as various parts of it were called by the rest
    of the application.

    The :-( is because I have direct personal experience of having to do
    this multiple times... :-) Never, ever, ever, again. :-)

    I was very glad to get to VAX and leave all that behind.

    Never saw it as much of a problem.-a Actually helped a lot in making
    more efficient programs.

    Efficient in what regard?

    -a-a-a-a- Dan C.


    Not efficient!

    I will allow that it can be educational.-a I learned to become very
    modular in my work, in those days.-a A separate subprogram for every
    little operation.-a I still like that type of design.-a Keeps things
    simple, and easy to identify issues.

    But overlays are a thing best left in the past.


    Except for those of us who still enjoy the wonders of the early
    age of computing. :-)

    bill


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From cross@cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) to comp.os.vms on Mon Sep 28 19:43:48 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    In article <119e75n$2hsub$1@dont-email.me>,
    Dave Froble <davef@tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
    On 9/28/2026 10:49 AM, Dan Cross wrote:
    In article <nhlautF2k3mU1@mid.individual.net>,
    Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    [snip]

    [*] This was a method, used during linking, in which you described an
    overlay map, and the OS then mapped in and out various segments of your >>>> application at runtime as various parts of it were called by the rest
    of the application.

    The :-( is because I have direct personal experience of having to do
    this multiple times... :-) Never, ever, ever, again. :-)

    I was very glad to get to VAX and leave all that behind.

    Never saw it as much of a problem. Actually helped a lot in making
    more efficient programs.

    Efficient in what regard?

    Not efficient!

    I will allow that it can be educational. I learned to become very modular in my
    work, in those days. A separate subprogram for every little operation. I still
    like that type of design. Keeps things simple, and easy to identify issues.

    But overlays are a thing best left in the past.

    Agreed on all counts.

    I can certainly see overlays forcing the program to think more
    critically about a program, but I can't imagine how the system
    juggling overlays around in memory to compensate for a teeny
    address space is efficient in terms of using the machine.

    - Dan C.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From cross@cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) to comp.os.vms on Mon Sep 28 19:45:31 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    In article <nhvlnvFmcs4U1@mid.individual.net>,
    Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 9/28/26 10:49, Dan Cross wrote:
    In article <nhlautF2k3mU1@mid.individual.net>,
    Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    [snip]

    [*] This was a method, used during linking, in which you described an
    overlay map, and the OS then mapped in and out various segments of your >>>> application at runtime as various parts of it were called by the rest
    of the application.

    The :-( is because I have direct personal experience of having to do
    this multiple times... :-) Never, ever, ever, again. :-)

    I was very glad to get to VAX and leave all that behind.

    Never saw it as much of a problem. Actually helped a lot in making
    more efficient programs.

    Efficient in what regard?

    The programmer had to learn a bit more about his program in order
    to make the overlays work properly and it kinda force you to look
    at things like program flow and structure more closely.

    Ok, I get that, but that's not describing efficiency. Rather,
    it is describing a programming process that forces engaging with
    software on a deeper level, because otherwise, the program won't
    run.

    Another
    facet of programming that has been lost in the age of Vibe Coding.

    No argument there. LLMs can be useful, but only if you already
    know what you're doing. If you don't, you're going to have a
    bad time.

    - Dan C.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Ian@devnul@blackhole.com to comp.os.vms on Mon Sep 28 21:58:53 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 9/28/26 20:45, Dan Cross wrote:
    In article <nhvlnvFmcs4U1@mid.individual.net>,
    Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    On 9/28/26 10:49, Dan Cross wrote:
    In article <nhlautF2k3mU1@mid.individual.net>,
    Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    [snip]

    [*] This was a method, used during linking, in which you described an >>>>> overlay map, and the OS then mapped in and out various segments of your >>>>> application at runtime as various parts of it were called by the rest >>>>> of the application.

    The :-( is because I have direct personal experience of having to do >>>>> this multiple times... :-) Never, ever, ever, again. :-)

    I was very glad to get to VAX and leave all that behind.

    Never saw it as much of a problem. Actually helped a lot in making
    more efficient programs.

    Efficient in what regard?

    The programmer had to learn a bit more about his program in order
    to make the overlays work properly and it kinda force you to look
    at things like program flow and structure more closely.

    Ok, I get that, but that's not describing efficiency. Rather,
    it is describing a programming process that forces engaging with
    software on a deeper level, because otherwise, the program won't
    run.


    I think the idea was enable more with less, due to the real limits
    on hardware back in the day. Have used overlays on RT11 in the past,
    and much later, 6 x 8k fixed lookup tables for an 8051 series
    embedded project. A bit tortuous, but worked fine. Keil C for 8051
    was great in that respect. A bit easier for the RT11 case, where an
    8k data buffer was shared with temporarily unused code.

    But yes, does make one think a lot more about design.

    Another
    facet of programming that has been lost in the age of Vibe Coding.

    No argument there. LLMs can be useful, but only if you already
    know what you're doing. If you don't, you're going to have a
    bad time.

    - Dan C.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From scott@scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) to comp.os.vms on Tue Sep 29 17:23:39 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net (Dan Cross) writes:
    In article <119e75n$2hsub$1@dont-email.me>,
    Dave Froble <davef@tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
    On 9/28/2026 10:49 AM, Dan Cross wrote:
    In article <nhlautF2k3mU1@mid.individual.net>,
    Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:
    [snip]

    [*] This was a method, used during linking, in which you described an >>>>> overlay map, and the OS then mapped in and out various segments of your >>>>> application at runtime as various parts of it were called by the rest >>>>> of the application.

    The :-( is because I have direct personal experience of having to do >>>>> this multiple times... :-) Never, ever, ever, again. :-)

    I was very glad to get to VAX and leave all that behind.

    Never saw it as much of a problem. Actually helped a lot in making
    more efficient programs.

    Efficient in what regard?

    Not efficient!

    I will allow that it can be educational. I learned to become very modular in my
    work, in those days. A separate subprogram for every little operation. I still
    like that type of design. Keeps things simple, and easy to identify issues. >>
    But overlays are a thing best left in the past.

    Agreed on all counts.

    I can certainly see overlays forcing the program to think more
    critically about a program, but I can't imagine how the system
    juggling overlays around in memory to compensate for a teeny
    address space is efficient in terms of using the machine.

    Overlays, in this context, are similar in overhead to
    paging in modern virtual memory environments; albeit with
    a variable "page" size with associated allocation issues
    which sometimes required moving memory regions or rolling
    them out to drum/disk/pack. The code couldn't be pure
    as it wasn't re-entrant and passed parameters by
    placing them inline in code immediately after an
    NTR (subroutine call) or BCT (Branch Communicate to MCP)
    instruction.

    The Burroughs B3500 (1965) had a million digit (500 KB)
    app address space, and overlays were common (and fully
    supported syntactically by all the languages, including
    COBOL) since the branch instructions could only reach
    the first 99999 digits (100KB) due to the
    most significant operand digit indicating
    the optional index register to sum with the operand address
    (fixed in the next generation, the B4700 by the extended
    addressing feature).

    The extended addressing feature allowed full data access
    to the million digits, but still restricted branches to
    the first 300,000 digits.

    The B4800 MCP could be configured with a "quick pool" which
    cached overlays in memory - worked really well in reducing
    runtimes for heavily overlayed applications.

    The MCP itself needed to fit in the first 300k digits
    (150KB) of memory; it used overlays for most infrequently
    used functionality. A portion of the quick pool
    was reserved for frequently used MCP overlays.

    MCP/VS 2.0 (Released in 1985) included a hardware
    architecture update to support direct addressing
    to millions of segments by an application without
    the need to support overlays, although code files
    from 1965 would still execute corrrectly.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Simon Clubley@clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP to comp.os.vms on Tue Sep 29 18:57:55 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

    On 2026-09-28, Dan Cross <cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net> wrote:
    In article <nhvlnvFmcs4U1@mid.individual.net>,
    Bill Gunshannon <bill.gunshannon@gmail.com> wrote:

    The programmer had to learn a bit more about his program in order
    to make the overlays work properly and it kinda force you to look
    at things like program flow and structure more closely.

    Ok, I get that, but that's not describing efficiency. Rather,
    it is describing a programming process that forces engaging with
    software on a deeper level, because otherwise, the program won't
    run.


    Agreed. If we were talking about programming languages, it's like
    having to think with an assembly language mindset, instead of being
    able to think with an higher-level more abstracted programming language mindset.

    Another
    facet of programming that has been lost in the age of Vibe Coding.

    No argument there. LLMs can be useful, but only if you already
    know what you're doing. If you don't, you're going to have a
    bad time.


    Oh, I _so_ agree. :-)

    They have no understanding of the world they are describing.
    Unfortunately, they are good at making the uninitiated think that
    they do.

    Reading between the lines, it appears that the current safety fuss
    is less to do with safety and more to do with:

    1) locking in the dominance of the current players in the market,
    along with escaping liability for the actions of their products and

    2) trying to stop investors from thinking that the current approaches
    may not deliver on the initial "oh we can replace lots of people" and
    related promises.

    Simon.
    --
    Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
    Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.
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