Renewal of OpenVMS Hobbyist Program PAKs and access to the FTP server

[lenticularis]

Hi,

I know the HPE OpenVMS Hobbyist program has been concluded and a new one was opened by VSI, but I wonder about a few things concerning the current members of the program.

Firstly I'd like to ask whether it is still possible to obtain a PAK renewal for VAX, Alpha and/or Itanium. I saw somewhere that PAKs were provided with expiration date of up until 2022-01-01 when the program was announced to be concluded in the spring.

Secondy I'd like to know if the FTP servers with the kits for the aforementioned architectures are still running and if it is possible to obtain the current username and password for them. (I tried emailing the OpenVMS Customer Lab about a month ago, but got no response and a Reddit user on r/openvms likely has the same experience, so I assume the address isn't active anymore.)

Thank you,

Tom

[Hein_vdHeuvel_d · Accepted solution]

The HPE OpenVMS customer lab provided hobbyist licenses indeed stopped being provided spring 2020. I requested a set just before closing received an FTP link mid-May an but that link/yuser/pass  no longer worked in June.

As you indicated, you should carefully look at what and how VSI is now offering Hobbyist licenses.  That's the right thing to do.

If you are a true hobbyist - scouts honor - then I wouldn't feel to bad approaching a friend for a set of licenses, strictly for hobbyist usage. The FINAL licenses did not have a personal identification or but it stipulated " You may NOT transfer your rights to use the Software,". A typical license would read:  

:
/AUTHORIZATION=HOBBYIST-I64-KEYFINAL-200301 - 
/TERMINATION_DATE=1-JAN-2022 
:

'Alliance" members  received a final license good for 5 years -

/AUTHORIZATION=ALLIANCE-1-VMS-260101 -
/TERMINATION_DATE=1-JAN-2026

fwiw - there is also a set of none date restricted illegal licenses floating around - <Generated by LMFGEN.EXE v1.0 beta at 1-JAN-2012  ! "THE BEER-WARE LICENSE" > 

hth,

Hein.

[lenticularis]

Thank you for your response. I already have the VSI Community license and it works perfectly, but obviously it doesn't include VAX licenses.

The information about LMFGEN, final licenses and the final license for Alliance partners is very interesting.

Tom