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From: arg@regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de (Armin Gruner)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: Porting 4.4-Lite to VAX
Date: 12 May 1994 16:01:43 +0200
Organization: Technical University of Munich, Germany
Lines: 45
Message-ID: <2qtcs7$2vi@region.regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de>
References: <1994May11.190620.29816@dsi.bc.ca> <2qrde7$9mh@nermal.cs.uoguelph.ca>
NNTP-Posting-Host: region.regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de
rmacklem@uoguelph.ca (Rick Macklem) writes:
>Rob Ballantyne (rsb@dsi.bc.ca) wrote:
>[stuff deleted]
>: - What (and how much) exactly is missing from 4.4BSD that would have
>: to be constructed from scratch?
>There is no VAX architectural support in 4.4Lite, but I believe there is
>work being done on porting NetBSD to the VAX architecture. Also, my vague
>understanding is that both NetBSD and FreeBSD will be switching over
>to a 4.4BSD Lite code base, making it into an unencumbered bootable
>system. (Others out there in net land probably have a much better
>handle on what is going on than I. Maybe someone else can fill us in?)
>: - What (and how much) would have to be re-written for the VAX.
>Just a wild guess, but the VS3100 might use a lot of the same chips that
>the MIPS DECstations do (and which there are drivers for in 4.4BSD Lite).
>If this is the case, you should be able to make the pmax drivers work
>for the VS3100 pretty easily. (Anyone out there know what chips are used
>for SCSI, Ethernet, etc. on the VS3100?)
>: - How open is DEC about its hardware? Would I be able to find out the
>: low level stuff I need to?
>My experience is that they have not tried to keep it a secret, although
>sometimes the documents have never been published, which implies that you
>need some sort of non-disclosure agreement with DEC to get copies of them.
>(They are usually called Functional Specifications and it can be fun trying
> to find out what the part #(s) is/are:-)
There are VAX portions (i.e. drivers) in the networking-II-release
(well, which must be replaced by 4.4lite when it is available), but I
think you can always use it as a reference. Networking Release II is still
available on gatekeeper and uunet.
Regards
Armin
--
____
Armin Gruner, Technische Universitaet, Muenchen \ /
http://www.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/~gruner \/
Nur wer sich aendert, bleibt sich treu - Wolf Biermann