PDP-11 arch & OS ownership, was Re: [HECnet] NT 4 on AlphaServer es40

[Gregg Levine]

On Mon, Feb 11, 2013 at 10:12 PM, Brett Bump <bbump at rsts.org> wrote:


On Mon, 11 Feb 2013, Dave McGuire wrote:

On 02/11/2013 08:30 PM, Johnny Billquist wrote:

What happened to Mentec and the PDP-11 support after DEC made the
silly decision to spin the division off? And yes you should. The
PDP-10 was an interesting system and one lived for a long time in the
basement of an MIT building during the middle 90s.


Mentec continued on for about 10 years, and then disappeared in a puff
of smoke. However, during those 10 years (take or give a few), first
DEC, then Compaq then HP continued to support and sell PDP-11
software, even though Mentec was the guys owning and developing.

When Mentec Inc. did disappear, the software bits were bought out by
another company. And that is where it sits today. If we could get HP
to actually release the IP for this software, then maybe something
hobbyist-like could happen, but as it sits right now, HP control bits
and pieces, making it a very complex situation. I'm not sure if you
can still contact HP and get a new license for RSX, but it might be.
But getting anyone to legally release the stuff seems difficult. :-(


It was a UK firm (Calyx).   Peter Dick was going to see if he could find
a
contact there to untangle some of the mess.   At least that was in our
last
discussions on the matter (and that was April 15, 2009).   No word since
then.


Uh... No... The Software was bought from what was left of Mentec by a
company named xx2247 ltd. Located in Colorado.


Ownership passed from Mentec to Calyx before XX2247.

                          -Dave


Oh reaaaaaally now!   Well I still have my key (if not an 11 to go with it)
but it appears that I have been out of the loop for a while.   But if it is
in Colorado, then closer to me, and easier than swimming across the pond.

Hmm...

Domain ID:D98296498-LROR
Domain Name:XX2247.ORG
Created On:27-Jun-2003 20:58:47 UTC
Last Updated On:01-Dec-2009 22:46:56 UTC
Expiration Date:27-Jun-2013 20:58:47 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Wild West Domains, LLC (R120-LROR)
Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:CR30615963
Registrant Name:John Wilson
Registrant Organization:XX2247

Ah, ha ha ha ha!   Ok, John fess up.   What is the real scoop? ;-)

Brett

Hello!
Oh my aching field density equalizers! If he's the name behind it then
we've got a big bear by his paws here.

And Dave this is really not your fault.
-----
Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8 at gmail.com
"This signature fought the Time Wars, time and again."