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HP OpenVMS Systemsask the wizard |
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The Question is: I want to try and use the Hobbyist VMS version on my Alpha XL-266 workstation. Before purchasing the OpenVMS Hobbyist CD and license I would like to know if my hardware platform is supported to run OpenVMS Alpha. Thank you for your answer - Patrick The Answer is : The OpenVMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and the Ask The Wizard (ATW) area both contain discussions of this topic. In particular, please read the OpenVMS FAQ section entitled "Will OpenVMS Run On The Alpha XL Series?" and please see various discussions of the XL series here in ATW. Review of these documents -- the OpenVMS Wizard strongly encourages you to download and to use the text version of the FAQ, as that version is trivial to search using your web browser or other local search tools. While other formats are available for the FAQ, they are more difficult to search. If you wish to know which platforms are officially supported by OpenVMS, please review the OpenVMS Software Product Description. VAX and Alpha systems can have substantial low-level hardware variations, and adding support for a platform effectively involves porting OpenVMS to each new family of systems. (While easier than a port to a new architecture, this port can still be an involved and complex undertaking.) Variations can and do exist even within a family, and these (such as the IDE controller differences found across various members of the Professional Workstation series; please see the FAQ) can prohibit particular I/O widget support or potentially platform support. Put another way, just becausea system uses an Alpha processor does not mean that OpenVMS supports it, nor that OpenVMS will boot on it. In this case, the XL series is and will remain unsupported by OpenVMS. Again, OpenVMS is not supported on the XL series.
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