4 ms·

The VAX and VMS were designed for each other. Many features in the VAX were created specifically to support VMS. That said, just as the PDP-11 was the parent of

The VAX and VMS were designed for each other. Many features in the VAX were created specifically to support VMS. That said, just as the PDP-11 was the parent of the VAX, the RSX-11 operating system was the parent of VMS. BTW, the original article is annoying unsubstantial.

bogomipz 8y ago
Thanks. I agree that the original article here is annoying and unsubstantial. Might you have some better references or links on the the history of VAX/VMS development and some of the lineage you mentioned such as the RSX-11? Cheers.
- davidgould 8y ago
  Search for a copy of "VAX VMS Internals and Data Structures". I have the version 4.4 book, but it appears later editions are available at Amazon and online as pdf. This is pretty dense reading and really goes into detail on the design and rationale for the design. I'd say it's a whole CS education in one volume. DEC had some pretty clever people and it shows in this book. You might find some more historical information at https://williambader.com/museum/vax/vaxhistory.html https://williambader.com/museum/vax/vaxhistory.html for VMS or for RSX-11 and PDP-11 here https://williambader.com/museum/vax/pdphistory.html https://williambader.com/museum/vax/pdphistory.html. Wikipedia has a good article on RSX-11 too. Apparently you can even legally run RSX-11M on a simulator. Check http://simh.trailing-edge.com/ http://simh.trailing-edge.com/ and http://rsx11m.com/ http://rsx11m.com/. I loved PDP-11s, particularly to write assembly, they were elegant. But it was always a struggle to fit a larger application into a 16 bit address space. I'd be tempted to try the simulator, but my current hobby computing is doing embedded firmaware on the STM8 which satisfies my desire to puzzle solve fitting a lot of function into too small resources.
  - bogomipz 8y ago
    Thank you these are great links, I appreciate it. Cheers.

bogomipz 8y ago

Thanks. I agree that the original article here is annoying and unsubstantial. Might you have some better references or links on the the history of VAX/VMS development and some of the lineage you mentioned such as the RSX-11? Cheers.

davidgould 8y ago
Search for a copy of "VAX VMS Internals and Data Structures". I have the version 4.4 book, but it appears later editions are available at Amazon and online as pdf. This is pretty dense reading and really goes into detail on the design and rationale for the design. I'd say it's a whole CS education in one volume. DEC had some pretty clever people and it shows in this book. You might find some more historical information at https://williambader.com/museum/vax/vaxhistory.html https://williambader.com/museum/vax/vaxhistory.html for VMS or for RSX-11 and PDP-11 here https://williambader.com/museum/vax/pdphistory.html https://williambader.com/museum/vax/pdphistory.html. Wikipedia has a good article on RSX-11 too. Apparently you can even legally run RSX-11M on a simulator. Check http://simh.trailing-edge.com/ http://simh.trailing-edge.com/ and http://rsx11m.com/ http://rsx11m.com/. I loved PDP-11s, particularly to write assembly, they were elegant. But it was always a struggle to fit a larger application into a 16 bit address space. I'd be tempted to try the simulator, but my current hobby computing is doing embedded firmaware on the STM8 which satisfies my desire to puzzle solve fitting a lot of function into too small resources.
- bogomipz 8y ago
  Thank you these are great links, I appreciate it. Cheers.