MicroVax II/VMS - why 70mb isn't enough.

[Andrew Back]

On Sun, 19 Aug 2007, Mr Ian Primus wrote:

> Well, Sridhar and I spent yesterday doing some
> tinkering - I brought over my MicroVax II and we
> attempted to load VMS onto it. Easier said than done.

<<SNIP>>

> At this point, it was 3:30 AM. We decided to call it a
> day (night?). Maybe I'll try NetBSD again. There has
> to be a way to get an OS onto a Vax in 70 megabytes.

My first VAX was a MicroVAX 2000 and it booted VMS from a local RD53 
(71Mb?). This would have been something around VAX/VMS v5.4 and included 
the help library and DECnet Phase IV, but no IP. My memory is a bit fuzzy 
but I think I had it booting a bare minimal system from an RD52 as well, 
but couldn't swear to this. At the time the place I worked at had a PC 
maintenance dept that was well stocked with MFM/RLL drives, and I remember 
trying all sorts in the thing with little or no success.

Andrew