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Re: Considering the idea of saving up for a DECstation PMAX

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On Sun, 30 Mar 2025 01:24:46 -0000 (UTC)
TronNerd82 <tronnerd82@aol.com> wrote:

> I think it'd be fun to pick up an old PMAX DECstation 3100 and try to
> get it working (though anything DEC put out was built like a tank, so
> I probably wouldn't have much of any work to do) and try getting a
> modern operating system on it like NetBSD, perhaps even try porting
> Slackware to it.
> 
> The whole idea is nothing particularly outstanding, but I think old
> DEC hardware is super cool. Would it be a worthwhile endeavor??

Probably doable! It's a good few versions back by now, but I got NetBSD
(5, I think...?) running on a MicroVAX 3100/90 without too much trouble.
(Did have to do some finagling to split a usable install across 4x400MB
hard disks, but nothing worse than creative use of symlinks.) Not zippy,
but actually usable; the MIPS systems would probably do a bit better.

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Considering the idea of saving up for a DECstation PMAX TronNerd82 <tronnerd82@aol.com> - 2025-03-30 01:24 +0000
  Re: Considering the idea of saving up for a DECstation PMAX John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com> - 2025-03-31 07:54 -0700
  Re: Considering the idea of saving up for a DECstation PMAX Dave McGuire <mcguire@lssmuseum.org> - 2025-04-21 22:06 -0400

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