A few random questions

[Mike Gende]

Hello There,

Thanks for the great responses to my last thread. A very responsive, helpful group. I've done a lot of reading lately but please allow me to ask a couple of new questions:

When our (recently purchased after-market) Alpha Server 1000a 5/400 RM initially boots, I get the >>> prompt. Is that a "bios type" prompt (don't know how else to describe it)? I then boot from the disk I've installed VMS on.

I've got some shrink-wrapped OpenVMS 7.1 here (which I used to install on one of my 13 outboard drives) but need a boat load of licenses (which I don't have). Anybody have a source for resonably priced VMS and layered product licenses?

In a more Alpha specific question, I want to upgrade the memory in this box to a gig. Does anyone know if just standard ECC memory will work or do I need to order something special?

Again, any pointers would be most appreciated.

Regards,

Mike

[Ian Miller. · Accepted solution]

cheapest way to get licence for software development (if you don't qualify for the hobbyist programme) is the dspp progrmme
www.hp.com/go/dspp

for the memory - seek out some Kingson memory - they made compatable memory that was a lot cheaper than memory from Digital.

The >>> prompt is sometimes known as the dead sargent prompt :-)

[Volker Halle]

Mike,

if you powerup your AlphaServer, you will get to the SRM or console prompt >>>
Think of it as some kind of BIOS command line prompt.

From the console prompt, you can boot from your system disk and/or set some environment variables (see >>> SHOW *).

If you want to buy additional hardware for this system, consider to visit the AlphaServer 1000A system options page:

http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/options/as1000a345/as1000a345_options.html

Volker.

[Arch_Muthiah]

Mike,

Most Alpha systems have both the SRM and ARC/AlphaBIOS console in their firmware. On one of these machines, if your machine starts up with ARC/AlphaBIOS by default, you can switch to SRM through the "Console Selection" option in the Advanced CMOS Setup menu. To make the change permanent, you should set the os_type environment variable in SRM to "OpenVMS" or "Unix", like this: >>> set os_type Unix

Reg Lic: I recently contacted so many North American resellers asn asked for their quote for few Alpha servers and licenses. There is a big price diff among them. I aslo asked HP to send the quote for the same. Among those, I found reasonable price from HP and two other resellers only. I have given those contatcs below for your info, try to call them to know the prices reasonlable for you.

[3rd party personal details posted without apparent permission removed by moderator]


Archunan

[John Travell]

Previous replies do not seem to me to have properly clarified the License issue. It all depends what you want to do with the machine.
A simplified view follows.

1. Purely personal interest, no commercial activity including development of something you intend to SELL. Go for Hobbyist license.
http://www.openvmshobbyist.com/get_yer_licenses/index.html

2. Development of something you intend to SELL, but no commercial production activity. DSPP license. http://www.hp.com/go/dspp

3. Commercial production activity. Full licenses.
JT:

[Stanley F Quayle]

I had incredible pain getting VMS licenses directly from HP. On licenses, you need to know the "pre-merger" part number, but no one at HP Sales has a way to figure out the part number.

I work with a HP license reseller now. If you're looking for full commercial licenses, email me at quayle@pobox.com and I'll pass on her contact information.

[Mike Gende]

Thanks for the responses, just what I was looking for. I'm going to contact a couple of you off-list to get some contact info for licensing. Again, many thanks to all.

Mike Gende