My name is Renee and I'm a former VAX/VMS Developer from the Clusters and I/O group. I was a part of the group that did Host Based Shadowing Phase-I and the project leader for phase II. I worked for Dec for a total of fourteen years, ten in the field and four in VMS ENgineering. I left just as 5.5-2 (Codename Amber) shipped. I loved the VAX and just could not get interested in the Alpha.
I'd love to find an old 5.5-2 distribution.... I see things like tcip and C being thrown around and those things just weren't a part of out lives back then.
I'd love to sit down and write some bliss32 I really miss Bliss32 and I miss the instruction set. I'd also love to write some assembler because the VAX had the most elegant instruction set that the world has ever seen and I really miss writing in it.
Laughing... i see that silly Shark. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeew. Decus may have come up with that but VMS never would have.
Welcome to the forums! I'm very happy to have ex-DEC members as part of the Hobbyist Program.
Actually, OpenVMS did come up with it around V6.0-V6.2 timeframe. According to Warren Sander, the shark logo was used on some mugs or T-shirts. Since sharks have been around forever, and never stops, etc, etc, it was chosen as an unoffical mascot - and been heartily accepted by the community. The text accidently read "OpenVMS Vernon V6.x" rather than "OpenVMS Version V6.x" hence the name of the mascot.
Albert the Cheshire Cat was from DECUS (VMS SIG Mascot), representing the virtual nature of (Open)VMS, and still serves as a reminder of the beauty of the VAX systems.
VMS V5.5-2 was a fine distribution, one of the golden releases still found in the field. And while AXP and IPF are interesting, I agree that writing assembler on a VAX was a real treat. They just don't make CISC like that anymore. I'll let you know if I can locate a V5.5-2 CD set... It should run just fine under SIMH, I think...
malmberg August 04 2022 No more VAX hobbyist licenses. Community licenses for Alpha/IA64/X86_64 VMS Software Inc. Commercial VMS software licenses for VAX available from HPE.
ozboomer July 20 2022 Just re-visiting.. No more hobbyist licenses? Is that from vmssoftware.com, no 'community' licenses?
valdirfranco July 01 2022 No more hobbyist license...sad
mister_wavey February 12 2022 I recall that the disks failed on the public access VMS systems that included Fafner
parwezw January 03 2022 Anyone know what happened to FAFNER.DYNDS.ORG? I had a hobbyist account here but can longer access the site.
gtackett October 27 2021 Make that DECdfs _2.1A_ for Vax
gtackett October 27 2021 I'm looking for DECdfs V2.4A kit for VAX. Asking here just in case anyone is still listening.
MarkRLV September 17 2021 At one time, didn't this web site have a job board? I would love to use my legacy skills one last time in my career.
malmberg January 18 2021 New Hobbyist PAKs for VAX/VMS are no longer available according to reports. Only commercial licenses are reported to be for sale from HPE
dfilip January 16 2021 Can someone please point me to hobbyist license pak? I'm looking for VAX/VMS 7.1, DECnet Phase IV, and UCX/TCPIP ... have the 7.1 media, need the license paks ... thanks!
