Anyone used personal Alpha?

[Peter Zeiszler]

Has anyone here used Personal-Alpha? Any opinions?
Can this support decwindows to present X emulation? From the online docs it looks like with 2 loopbacks it might be able to present x-windows. I might just have to try playing with a couple systems to see how this might work.

http://www.openvms.org/stories.php?story=07/02/06/4976304

[Volker Halle · Accepted solution]

Peter,

I've been using a Personal Alpha system in our mixed architecture, mixed version, mixed hardware (VAX, Alpha, Itanium) and CHARON-VAX cluster for quite some time. It works great and is very stable. I've been using it for running OpenVMS F8.3 fieldtest and the final V8.3 release.

I've also been running a Personal Alpha on my notebook for demonstration purposes and if I need to see a DCL prompt in a hotel room at night ;-)

I've not yet tried the Microsoft Loopback network adapter yet, but it's on my list of things to try. I have successfully displayed DECwindows from the Personal Alpha to my PC at home.

It's a nice thing to run, especially as it has become freeware yesterday !

Volker.

[Peter Zeiszler]

Volker - you must be the one that posted on the forum that are on that web site. I read your notes you had. I am thinking of pulling that to my laptop and trying it out. I love being able to do x-graphics (i.e. CDE) to show how easy VMS is to use (like help getting me help).

Its always good to get more information on products before jumping in with both feet.

[ptrskg]

Hi Peter,

Yes, I tested it for some mounth ago and was surprised that the performance was better than I exppected, even on my laptop.
My plans are to have a couple of vm's with different vms-versions and use them when demonstrating our software to customers and as Volker sad, not to be without the prompt> when times get hard.

Peter

[Stanley F Quayle]

PersonalAlpha has just been re-released as freeware:

http://www.charon-axp.com/

And the latest version is 1.0.20.

And in case you're interested in upgrading:

People who paid for PersonalAlpha can upgrade to any version of the commercial product (CHARON-AXP) with a credit of 2x the price they paid through December 31, 2007.

[Shameless Plug Alert(tm) -- I am a CHARON-VAX/CHARON-AXP reseller.]

[Tom O'Toole]

Are all SRIs products all windows ONLY?

[Hoff]

Microsoft Windows? Apparently, yes. I had a discussion about that just yesterday. The SRI products are also generally Windows 64-bit versions, based on a discussion with SRI just this week.

Trailing Edge SIMH operates on various platforms. I have that installed on a Mac OS X box, though I've not booted it as yet. I have loaded up to the "SRM" console and gone in for a look.

There's another thread going on now: http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1098449

[Stanley F Quayle]

> Microsoft Windows? Apparently, yes.

The Alpha emulators require a 64-bit environment, since the Alpha is a 64-bit processor. The current products require Windows. Interesting future product directions require a NDA with SRI.

Not all of SRI's emulators require Windows -- some CHARON-VAX versions can run on Alpha. A GS1280 might make a very nice emulator platform.

CHARON-VAX doesn't require the 64-bit version of Windows. Good old XP or Server 2003 are just fine.