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From: engel@numerik.math.uni-siegen.de (Michael Engel)
Subject: Re: decstation 5000/133: linux/MIPS, OpenBSD/pmax or NetBSD/pmax
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Date: 30 Jun 97 10:17:30 GMT
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Hi,
kristoff.bonne@is.belgacom.be wrote:
: We have here a couple of decstation 5000/133 ('3min') stations.
: As we don't have a licence anymore for ultrix for these boxes (rumors tell
: me ultrix will not be net supported very long anymore ???), I was looking
: for a 'free' OS for them.
: I've been looking at the web, and found the following options:
: - Linux/MIPS
Linux/MIPS is still in a very early development stage, i.e. not usable for
the end user ... kernel hackers are always welcome, of course ;-)
: - OpenBSD/pmax
We have OpenBSD running on a couple of 2100/3100's and one 5000/200 here at
Siegen Univ. as well as on some (private) DS 5000/120 at home.
: - NetBSD/pmax.
The largest difference between NetBSD and OpenBSD on the DECstation is that
NetBSD lacked support for shared libraries last time I checked.
: I did found some info on them, but most of it was completely out-of-date.
Hmmm, try:
- Linux: http://www.softway.com.au/people/paul/dec/
- OpenBSD: http://www.openbsd.org
- NetBSD: http://www.netbsd.org
: - What is the most stable OS (at this time).
I'd recommend OpenBSD at the moment. It works quite well on our DECstations
here.
: - Which-one has the best 'support' (read: most programs, most users).
Most free software should compile on either system. Commercial software is
not available for any of the three. OpenBSD claim to have an Ultrix binary
compatibility mode, but we weren't able to get the kernel compiled with
compatibility enabled.
Note that the installation of either NetBSD or OpenBSD is by far not as
easy as Ultrix installation, but you get advantages like NFS V3 etc ...
regards,
Michael Engel (engel@unix-ag.uni-siegen.de)