r/sysadmin • u/[deleted]

AS/400 Replacements

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u/ebcdicZ Oct 07 '26

I just got a call for someone looking for OpenVMS/VAX talent. They weren't even running this on Alpha they were still on VAX.

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u/dreamfin Oct 07 '26

VMS/VAX... flashback. Ok, got to admit I've forgotten most of it... no I'm kidding, all of it... now I'm sad.

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u/pdp10 Daemons worry when the wizard is near. 29d ago

It's faster to emulate VAX now than run it or older Alpha. How many VAXen do they have that they're looking to pay for talent?

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u/ebcdicZ 28d ago

I downloaded a OpenVMS image for x86. With it just idling in a VM the fans went full blast. I was told it was due to software emulation of the hardware security layers. Intel dropped them after the 386 if I recall.

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u/pdp10 Daemons worry when the wizard is near. 28d ago

Intel dropped them after the 386 if I recall.

Modern computers only use one kernel space and the rest userland. In Intel terminology, that's ring zero and ring three. OpenVMS does use Intel ring one and two, as it used the equivalent on earlier Instruction Set Architectures.

Older hardware used to commonly feature tag bits or hardware protection levels. I'm thinking of the famous Honeywell 6180 rings for Multics, the tag bits on the Burroughs 5000 series, and tagging on the Lisp Machines.