Linux on VAX - Dead ?

[Jan-Benedict Glaw]

Hi!

On Tue, 2023-03-21 13:02:32 -0800, babydr DBA James W. Laferriere <babydr at baby-dragons.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Mar 2023, Jan-Benedict Glaw wrote:
> > On Thu, 2023-03-16 13:56:27 -0800, babydr DBA James W. Laferriere <babydr at baby-dragons.com> wrote:
> > > On Sun, 15 Jan 2023, Jan-Benedict Glaw wrote:
> > > > On Sun, 2023-01-15 01:18:27 +0000, Maciej W. Rozycki <macro at orcam.me.uk> wrote:
> > > ...snip...
> > > > While the Linux port is a sad story as it somewhat came to an end, at
> > > > least the system availability may get better. You know, I was long
[...]
> >  So... Linux on VAX is dead.  GCC for VAX is more vivid than ever
> > before. Linux on VAX is possible.
> 
> 	This is actually Very good to hear .  Was of the impression that we were at
> a point of no return from messages previously received .

I think the old Linux kernel port is pretty dead. It's as functional
as it was in those days, but horribly outdated. If I were to start a
new attempt, I wouldn't try to pull in all the (upstream) Linux
patches, but start with current Linus's HEAD and bring in pieces of
our former port.

  Quite some parts should "just work", they'll only need minor
touch-ups to come back (somewhat) to life. A bit more love would be
nice (ie. adopt the Device Tree schema.) Other parts need a deeper
rework: The memory management subsystem comes to mind. Upstream Linux
had an important change there (another layer for PTEs IIRC), which was
non-trivial for me at that time. That was the single point when I
couldn't keep up with merging/adopting Linus' upstream changes.

  The second thing we need is libc/libc/libpthread. NPTL threading
along with an API for thread-local storage needs to be done.

> 	As you were recounting that you are working on a remote site to have your
> system(s) available to you remotely ,  I am hoping that has or is well on
> its way to fruition .
> 
> 	Please keep the list posted on ANY items that are of issue(s) ?
> 	With luck and availability of resources we can help .

  It's the usual stuff: Time and money. :)  I grew older, became a
dad. Time with my family is one thing. Building a nice lab is another.
Needs additional rental fees and electricity.

  I'd love to see a community-funded Old Computer Lab, to allow for a
wide variety of automated tests with legacy hardware. But I fear
there's not enough people around that care about the old stuff, so
it's about finding a compromise that an individual person can support.

  OTOH, if there were enough people, we'd come together on that
subject and achieve a lot more than any single person could do!

MfG, JBG

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