Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: John Ames Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec Subject: Re: Considering the idea of saving up for a DECstation PMAX Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2025 07:54:37 -0700 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 18 Message-ID: <20250331075437.00007794@gmail.com> References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2025 16:54:41 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="9a1498646daf9a7235bb2cd9764bc88b"; logging-data="429823"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX180nFRuOXf2ZPznLqHDNVq5jQulpZMl4e4=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:8GMfqr+ax6BOJT96DD3B8008gpY= X-Newsreader: Claws Mail 4.3.0 (GTK 3.24.42; x86_64-w64-mingw32) Xref: csiph.com comp.sys.dec:4279 On Sun, 30 Mar 2025 01:24:46 -0000 (UTC) TronNerd82 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.