35 years ago this week - DECUS San Diego, VAX/11-780 and VAX/VMS Introduced 
Tuesday, October 23, 2012, 04:29 PM
Posted by Administrator
Yes, that's right we have the 35th Anniversary of the introduction of VMS (or as HP now calls it "HP OpenVMS"). Where were you? What were you doing?

At that time I was a graduate student in Computer Science at San Francisco State University. I was also employed as a Research Engineer and working for the Dean of Science at the University on his research projects - studying ocean upwelling. We used PDP-11's, RSX-11M, RSX-11S, RT-11 and IAS in our projects. We ran the world's largest non-military portable computer system - an air-conditioned 20 foot shipping container with a raised floor and shock mounted racks for the "time-shared" PDP-11/45!

On going to DECUS that year we already knew what was happening by way of on-going discussions with DEC Software Engineering. But we had not be able to get exact details. Out of an interest in what was happening and how this "new" system would handle existing software I took a tape containing a MACRO-11 program - CHESS-11.

During the week I arranged to get some time on the system. A friend and former colleague of mine - Eric Pollack was in Software Engineering although his interest was in another area but he helped me get the time. And so we loaded the tape.

Sorry, no MTAACP yet!

But we could DUMP the tape to a file with ASCII format. Ok, but it was still a mess.

Hey, TECO - I was such a TECO hack. Had taken the IAS TECO written a TECO program to process a HELP file format for our "time sharing" system used by the scientists all across the country. So with a bit munging here and there we finally had clean MACRO-11 source.

The RSX emulation code of the VAX-11/780 (also known as the Application Migration Executive - AME) was working. So we had MACRO and TKB and PIP - hey it was still early the system did not ship for another 4 months.

We did assemble and build the image and ran it. Just like it was supposed to do. True we did not do it in native mode but we as students and customers did not yet have exposure to the MACRO-32 or LINKER. On the other hand we also showed that the 32-bit ports of the VMS were there and running. The device drivers, the disk ACP, the job scheduler were definitely doing their job as the new and interesting computer and operating system were born and introduced to the world.

To the best of my knowledge this "port" was the first other than what I am sure had been happening behind the scenes with large institutions and those universities who were known to have close relations with Digital Equipment Corporation.

So, where were you 35 years ago this week?

Tell your story. Join the celebration. Check out the OpenVMS 35th Anniverary Memory Page!!!

Also there is live audio session on Thursday, 25 October 2012:

On the occasion of the 35th anniversary of HP OpenVMS, HP invites you to join us for live audio session as we proudly mark the beginning of the celebration.

Agenda:

• Opening Remarks John Egolf, OpenVMS Lab
• Keynote Shobha Benakatti, Director, OpenVMS Lab
• Guest Speakers Susan Skonetski
Norman Lastovica

When: 9:00pm – 9:45pm India Standard Time
(10:30am-11:15am EST, 11:30pm-12:15am SGT, 5:30-6:15pm CET)

To determine the delivery time of the session in your local time zone:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html

Logistics for attending:

• Dial-in Numbers: 877.675.4345 (USA)
877.675.4346 (Canada)
(See "Bridge 2" list for others)

• Conference Code: 8840257

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Where were you 35 years ago? OpenVMS turns 35! 
Friday, October 19, 2012, 11:28 PM
Posted by Administrator
Well, if you were not at the West Coast DECUS convention in San Diego then you were not involved with the launch of OpenVMS...

Let's start a conversation here!

HP OpenVMS has started a project to celebrate this event!

Check out the OpenVMS 35th Anniversary!!!!


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Ingres emulating Oracle Classic RDBMS - Shift2Ingres progess on OpenVMS 
Monday, November 28, 2011, 04:02 AM
Posted by Administrator
Over the last year I have SLOWLY over the last 8 or 9 months been working toward getting a database running on OpenVMS which emulates Oracle Classic RDBMS but is based upon the Ingres Community Edition Relational Database with the help of an open source migration application called Shift2Ingres. Many things have gotten in the way. New contracts - great to have - they help pay for these sorts of projects - as well as food and clothing. And of course the 2011 Connect OpenVMS Boot Camp held in September where I gave two talks on this topic.

Well, more progress of the Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend. I took sort of a "bus man's holiday" and concentrated effort of getting further. Well, we are now about 75% of the way there. All of the tables are being created - a month ago there were 6 that were causing issues due to SQL syntax versus data names. All the SQL syntax issues are behind me for now.

we are migrating all the tables except for a couple. I need to do some work to handle large indices and debug an issue where the loading of data has some problems - most likely some issues with versions of software. The Shift2Ingres code is about 6 or 7 years old so there may be some issues with how it interfaces with current versions of Ingres.

Of course there are still PL/SQL translation issues but we have to get there first.

Well, I have to get back to consulting this next few days but what with the Christmas Holiday coming up I should be able to divert some of my energy to this very special project. On successful completion of this effort I will then have ported the open source ERP package OpenBravo to OpenVMS! In doing so I will have also implemented Ingres Version 10.1 on OpenVMS I64, Tomcat version 6.x, and Ant version 1.7 on OpenVMS.

Keep following this effort and we should have some nice news in the next 30 days or so.

Thanks for listening and thanks for keeping OpenVMS important!

Bill.
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Are you involved with the OpenVMS Hobbyist Program? 
Sunday, November 20, 2011, 12:32 PM
Posted by Administrator
Tell me what you have done with the OpenVMS Hobbyist Program.

I personally believe that the OpenVMS Hobbyist program is a great asset to HP and OpenVMS. But I have been challenged to show the return to OpenVMS from this program. My hope in this process we can work toward getting access to patches for the OpenVMS Hobbyist community. No guarantees, but I have to try.

So I am asking you, the OpenVMS Hobbyists, what Open Source applications have you ported? What utilities have you developed? Where are they published?

What have you done as far as possibly participating in field test programs?

Have you reported bugs or software problems either officially or unofficially? When? What was the issue?

The more detail the better. More information will help us show the benefit of this Program to the Community and to VMS specifically.

Thanks for listening and I look forward to getting this information.

Bill.

Bill Pedersen
CCSS - Computer Consulting System Services, LLC
211 Ruth Drive
Gaffney, SC 29341
Telephone: 864-490-8863
Mobile: 408-892-5204
Facsimile: 866-394-9148
www: www.ccsscorp.com
Skype Name: william.a.pedersen
LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/billpedersen

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Day Trip to Needham, MA - OpenVMS Boot Camp Preparations. 
Monday, June 13, 2011, 02:24 AM
Posted by Administrator
Just got back from a Day Trip to Needham!

Needham, you ask?

Yes, the Sheraton Needham is this year's location for the Connect OpenVMS Boot Camp. I took a day to visit the site and get to know the staff and the facility. This year's Boot Camp will be in a newly remodeled facility - the Sheraton is upgrading and renovating this facility this Summer - we will be the second group into the Hotel after the remodel. All of the public spaces are getting a work over - the Lobby, the Ballroom, the conference rooms. New computer-friendly environments are being developed in the Amphitheater (space for 50) as well as the Board Room and Directors Room (each can handle 16). We expect to use one of the latter two for our computer hands on lab sessions.

We will be only offering wireless access to the Boot Camp network this year for our attendees. Please come prepared for using wireless access. There will be no hardwired access points available this year.

Needham is about 16 miles out the Mass Pike from Logan International. It is less than a 20 minute drive or ride on the shutttle. Just off the I95/Route 128 just off exit 19A.

We are pretty much going to "own" the Sheraton the week of 18-22 September for the Boot Camp. As there are fewer rooms and smaller public spaces you can expect a much more intense and more intimate experience. The "Trophies" sports bar and "Bullard's" restaurant are both just off the Lobby. We expect to take over part of the Lobby for registration and networking. A quick ride in the elevator or a jaunt up the stairs brings you to the second floor foyer where there are 5 conference rooms. Down the first floor corridor to the Ballroom Foyer and you are at the Ballroom - of course. And if your go across this Foyer from the entrance to Dover and through the door and down a half flight of stairs you head to the 4 meeting rooms in the Executive Level - also accessible via the hall leading past the Lobby Elevators - a big circle! General session in the Ballroom, a session in the Amphitheater, a couple sessions on the second floor conference rooms and then back to the Ballroom for Lunch...

If this all sounds a bit confusing do not worry. There will be many staff and management from the Sheraton making sure you know how to get where your next session is located.

In the middle of all of this is an open air courtyard we hope to utilize - weather permitting. Hey, it is New England so anything can happen as far as the weather. It is also a great shortcut to the stairs up to the second floor conference rooms from the Ballroom.

We know we are expecting at least a C7000 chassis with some "i2" blades as well as a rx2800 i2 server. We will also have a hands on lab with up to 16 laptops configured for access to the servers or for local demonstrations and experimentation.

We are still soliciting sessions and look forward to any who wish to contribute. We would like to get the sessions finalized by early July. Please make sure you have either submitted your planned session or encouraged the speaker of your choice to do so as well. We have a great team reviewing these sessions and working to integrate them into a cohesive program - Sue Skonetski, Michelle Popejoy, Anders Johansson and Ray Turner are all helping on the Content Committee again this year.

If you as a member of the OpenVMS Community have any suggestions, requests or desires for content or format or even Keynote Speakers this year please contact us NOW!

Folks, we look forward to seeing all of you at the Boot Camp in September! Put it on your calendar!

See you there!

Thanks!

Bill.
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