OpenVMS x86 guides for VirtualBox

Having difficulties when installing the system? Your system runs slowly and requires some tweaking? You can get help here.

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raymii
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OpenVMS x86 guides for VirtualBox

Post by raymii » Sun Apr 16, 2023 4:44 pm

Hi All,

I was involved with the AXPBox project, an Alpha emulator based on ES40, but that seems to be finished, works just fine to get X11 / CDE running. Now that the x86 hobbyist program is available, I'm back into OpenVMS and am having a lot of fun. I wrote a few guides to help new people get started on VirtualBox:

- Part 1, covers installation in VirtualBox: https://raymii.org/s/blog/OpenVMS_9.2_f ... arted.html
- Part 2, covers licenses, networking and SSH: https://raymii.org/s/blog/OpenVMS_9.2_f ... art_2.html
- Part 3, covers installing the WebUI: https://raymii.org/s/blog/OpenVMS_9.2_f ... art_3.html
- Installing HAProxy and a bit of troubleshooting UNIX filenames: https://raymii.org/s/blog/OpenVMS_9.2_f ... Proxy.html

I also wrote a small piece on the hobbyist program for x86, https://raymii.org/s/blog/OpenVMS_9.2_f ... yists.html, which was featured on The Register: https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/13/ ... x86_hobby/
Alongside copious amounts of documentation, DEC was also famous for its hobbyist program, which allowed fans to get and run DEC OSes on their own non-production machines for free. After Compaq bought DEC, an early Reg article covered the extension of the hobbyist program to Alpha machines. Very nearly a quarter of a century later, VMS Software is in the process of extending its equivalent, the community licence program, to include x86 alongside Alpha and Itanium. Blogger Remy van Elst reports that although he hasn't received the notification himself, another hobbyist forwarded the email, and Remy was able to log in and download the x86 edition.

You will need a login for VSI's service portal, but if you've already got one, the files to look for are X86E921OE.ZIP for the software itself, plus x86community-20240401.zip for the license PAK. Remy has also published a handy guide on how to install the OS on VirtualBox – which, if you're running on Windows, requires disabling Hyper-V. The Reg FOSS desk hasn't tried the x86 edition just yet, but we've applied for a license and we'll report back if we get one.
I hope the guides and articles help other people who want to get started with OpenVMS using VirtualBox. I did get a bunch of emails after publishing them informing me of VMWare and a few other tips, but VirtualBox is my hypervisor of choice on desktops. I do have a lot of fun, hobbying, with OpenVMS, so the hobbyist license works great for me. Before it was available I even contacted VSI sales for a license, but the price I was willing to pay for a "personal" editition license was not something they would offer, which I understand. Now, a year later, the hobbyist license is amazing, all software is available, even the WebUI and new stuff like HAProxy, Mosquitto and the C++ compiler!

Feedback on the guides is more than welcome.
Last edited by raymii on Thu Apr 20, 2023 2:40 am, edited 1 time in total.


skymoco
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Re: OpenVMS x86 guides for VirtualBox

Post by skymoco » Wed May 03, 2023 1:39 pm

I tried following your guide, although I am a bit new to virtualbox, I think I was able to figure it out.

This is on a brand new Xeon server running Ubuntu and a fresh install of virtualbox. Running everything as a stardard user, not root.

I wasn't able to start the VM with the port set to 1023, I had to change the port to something above 1024 (I chose 2048).

It starts up, but I don't have any mapped fs. Just these devices. Did I miss something?
NoFSDevices.png

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cct
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Re: OpenVMS x86 guides for VirtualBox

Post by cct » Wed May 03, 2023 3:26 pm

I had similar, but it went away after a few stop/starts. Not sure I tried anything, but I managed to bbot the installer, and all was well

This was KVM under Ubuntu no a NUC12

Chris
Last edited by cct on Wed May 03, 2023 3:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
--
Chris


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Re: OpenVMS x86 guides for VirtualBox

Post by jonesd » Sun May 14, 2023 2:53 pm

On my Windows laptop, I was always forgetting I had to seperately telnet to the console port after starting the VM. I finally wrote a .BAT file that starts the VM via a VboxManage startvm command and then run putty with a saved configuration to give me my OpenVMS VM and console session in one step.


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Re: OpenVMS x86 guides for VirtualBox

Post by aloha » Mon May 15, 2023 12:23 pm

Ports 1024 and below on unix systems are privileged, and require superuser permissions to access, I'd use a higher port.


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Re: OpenVMS x86 guides for VirtualBox (Hyper-V issue and how to fix it)

Post by movesen » Thu May 18, 2023 4:54 am

Hi,

I installed my second OpenVMS on another physical test PC where I used to test a number of Hyper-V VM's.

I did see the below installation note, however it seems not enough:

Disable Hyper-V and install VirtualBox

You'll need to install VirtualBox and disable Hyper-V, otherwise you will get a boot error, No XSAVE instruction. Installing VirtualBox is a matter of downloading the installer and clicking next/next/next a few times.

Disabling Hyper-V is a bit more work. On an adminstrative command prompt, execute the following and reboot:

bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off


To fix the XSAVE instruction issues when booting OpenVMS you should completely remove Hyper-V from the Hosts PC. The above bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype is not enough.

For information how to disable Hyper-V completely from the host, see:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troub ... th-hyper-v

Best regards

Michael Ovesen
Worked 15 years for Digital in Denmark and Valbone :-)
Last edited by movesen on Thu May 18, 2023 4:56 am, edited 2 times in total.


richk1948
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Re: OpenVMS x86 guides for VirtualBox

Post by richk1948 » Sat Sep 02, 2023 2:14 pm

Hi All,

Like so many folks here, I'm in the throes of getting OpenVMSx86 up on a home system running Virtualbox.

I have things booting up and getting ready to start the install, but I'm stuck on the '<ctrl>]' issue. From telnet it doesn't respond as part 1 suggests to be able to give the 'unset crlf' command to the installer.

This is an ubuntu 22.04 MATE linux, running Virtualbox 6.1. I am using putty for the telnet source and the system has come up and is waiting for me to select the installation command. As the guide says, unless I can set things right with the crlf thing, I won't be able to set the password once the installation has finished.

I see one person solved this by fixing PUTTY to send the right response with the CR. I have made that change but it doesn't have any effect.

Can anyone help?

richk1948


sms
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Re: OpenVMS x86 guides for VirtualBox

Post by sms » Sat Sep 02, 2023 5:38 pm

Code: Select all

> I see one person solved this [...]

   Thanks for the helpful link.

> [...] I have made that change but it doesn't have any effect.

   With my weak psychic powers (and/or laziness), I can't see what you
did, or what happened when you did it.


> This is an ubuntu 22.04 MATE linux, running Virtualbox 6.1. I am using
> putty for the telnet source [...]

   I use VMware Fusion Player on a Mac with an XQuartz xterm (which
needed no special handling), so I don't have to deal with PuTTY.  If you
get desperate, I'd expect that you could install X on your GNU/Linux
system.  Or some other terminal emulator.


richk1948
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Re: OpenVMS x86 guides for VirtualBox

Post by richk1948 » Sun Sep 03, 2023 7:59 am

@sms.

I did not link that answer because it was a part of a previous post on this board / thread by @sojan. Here is a snip of his post to assist with your further understanding of my question.

[snip.. insert]

It says to press ctrl-], but I'm not able to locate the right keys on my Swedish
keyboard setup for that. I've tried both Putty and SecureCRT with no success.

Anyone having an hint on what to do here? Or if there is some setting in a
telnet client that ca be set before the connection is made?

Is "telnet>" displayed by the local telnet client or the remote telnet server?
If it is the server side, I guess there is not much that can be done on the
client side before the connection...

But hey! Just now found out that it works if I uncheck the setting in
Putty called "Return key sends Telnet New Line instead of ^M"...
I think it was that that made it, anyway.

Right... Now the install is rolling...

I'll post this anyway, if it helps anyone else... :-)

Regards, Jan-Erik.
[/endsnip]

So again, I made the change without the same outcome with Virtualbox. My host for Virtualbox is Ubuntu 22.04.

Answering your question specifically:

What I did: On Putty I clicked the box he listed above.
What I saw: No difference.
What I need: How someone in this circumstance corrected the '<ctl> ]' requirement

richk1948
Last edited by richk1948 on Sun Sep 03, 2023 8:47 am, edited 1 time in total.


babydr
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Re: OpenVMS x86 guides for VirtualBox

Post by babydr » Sun Sep 03, 2023 6:51 pm

@richk1948 , ^] = esc . Hopefully on your keyboard there is a key that send an ESCape character thru to the terminal .
And not having a Swedish format keyboard at hand , I am not sure if there is one either .
Hth , JimL
Last edited by babydr on Sun Sep 03, 2023 6:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.


sms
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Re: OpenVMS x86 guides for VirtualBox

Post by sms » Mon Sep 04, 2023 1:00 am

Code: Select all

> [...] ^] = esc . [...]

   Close.  ^[ (0x27) is ESC.  Telnet normally uses ^] (0x29) as its
special character.  Some Telnet clients have an option like
"-e escapechar" to let the victim specify something else.  Check the
documentation for your Telnet client of interest.  (And/or your
terminal/emulator docs for how to send 0x29.)

   Telnet does _not_ use ESC as its special character because there are
too many occasions where a user might want to send ESC to the remote
system.  Everything's complicated.

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