NOTE: FUZZY:: no longer exists in this incarnation. It's been replaced by an Alpha Personal Workstation 433au called FURRY::. I've retained the following page out of historical interest and to assist other in starting up a simulated VAX system

My personal "VAX" or "IT'S ALIVE!"

My "VAX" is really a Celeron 500 MHz PC, 128 megabytes of RAM and a 9 gigabyte disk. If you ask this computer what operating system it runs, it'll tell you Debian Linux with a 2.4.18 kernel. But just about the only thing Linux is running is the infamous SIMH VAX Simulator from The Computer History Simulation Project. Here's my initialization file.

The computer in the picture is pretending to be a VAXServer 3900 with 64 meg RAM, 3 RU92 drives, 3 RRD40 CDROMs, one TK50 Tape drive and one DZ11 Terminal Multiplexor.

(Talk about delusions of grandeur...)

Disks:

(All are disk files at the linux level, and RA92s to VMS)

FUZZY$DUA0:           Mounted              0  OVMSVAXSYS     2069199   296   1
FUZZY$DUA1:           Mounted              0  USERS          2876325     1   1
FUZZY$DUA2:           Mounted alloc        0  SPARE          2875113     1   1

CDROMs:

(DUA3 is /dev/hdc to linux, the others are disk files. All are RRD40s to VMS)

FUZZY$DUA3:           Mounted alloc        0  VAXVMS073         6237     1   1
                      wrtlck          
FUZZY$DUB4:           Mounted alloc        0  FREEWARE50_1     73464     1   1
                      wrtlck          
FUZZY$DUB5:           Mounted alloc        0  FREEWARE50_2     37620     1   1
                      wrtlck

Tape:

(This is a 96 megabyte ZIP disk (/dev/sda) posing as a 94 megabyte TK50 tape)

FUZZY$MUA0:           Mounted alloc        0     ZIP               0     1   1
                      foreign

Printer:

(this is /dev/lp0 on linux)

LPA0:                 Online spooled       0
                      alloc

The printer is daisy-chained off the ZIP disk. This doesn't work real well, and i should go score a cheapie SCSI card and plug a SCSI ZIP into that. Someday.

The "console" you see is a Texas Instruments Silent 700 Model 703 300 baud thermal-print terminal posing as an LA36.

(Many thanks to the folks behind the Deathrow Cluster and hangers out on the Upper Deck BBS, just for being there and being there so well.)
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Chris Osburn / Seattle, Washington, USA, Earth

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