[HECnet] Running the RSX-11 MAIL-11 client on VAX VMS with the RSX emulation installed

[Sampsa Laine]

BTW, this is the RSX mail client I was talking about:

http://sampsa.com/decmail11.png

I'm sure there must be SOMEONE with a fairly easy to use RSX image for SIMH on this list? :)



On 6 Sep 2015, at 14:22, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> wrote:

> On 2015-09-06 15:18, Sampsa Laine wrote:
>> Bummer.
>> 
>> Does anyone have a nice turnkey image of RSX (with DECNET) that I could run this on?
> 
> RSX and "turnkey" do not really mesh that well in a sentence... :-)
> DEC did try it. It was called MicroRSX. I do not want to play with that. But it might work for you if you actually prefer something you can't customize... :-)
> Afraid I don't have it, though.
> 
>> I've been itching to run a PDP-11 OS for a while now but am a total n00b..
> 
> You should. PDP-11s are fun. However, it all depends on your definition of fun.
> 
> 	Johnny
> 
>> 
>> Sampsa
>> 
>> 
>> On 6 Sep 2015, at 13:29, Johnny Billquist <bqt at softjar.se> wrote:
>> 
>>> On 2015-09-06 04:53, Mark Matlock wrote:
>>>> Samosa,
>>>>    The RSX-11 Mail system consists of 4 tasks as I recall. The ...MAI task that does most of the interaction with the user is a pretty straight forward Fortran program. Then the actually task that sends mail ...SEN is also a Fortran program. It communicates with the MAL$$$ task which is written in BasicPlus2 and this is the most complicated program as it accepts the various DECnet connections and stores the messages for retrieval by the ...MAI task. Lastly, the MAL$$$ program connects to a MAL... task written in Fortran whose sole job is to notify the user if they are logged in that they just got mail. This system was written by DEC and put on one of the early RSX SIG tapes, but I remember seeing the files also in a folder on ftp.update.uu.se which may be a better place to get the files as I'm sure Johnny has updated and improved them.
>>>> 
>>>>     As far as running on VMS, I would think it could be done. I don't know that you would have to run RSX compatibility, but that might be easiest. With out it there are probably a number of date/time routines that would need to be modified to work with VMS time formats. The Fortran is probably quite easy to port but I don't know about the Basic part. That said the RSX task sends email to VMS fine as I recall, but this is the area I would think would be most difficult. Also, the way RSX stores in the email files different than VMS a.
>>>> 
>>>>    Johnny could probably provide a much better overview however.
>>> 
>>> Yes, as I suspect Sampsa is talking about the mail program on MIM, which is not the thing you are talking about, Mark.
>>> 
>>> DEC actually made a product called MAIL-11, which is what I have installed.
>>> 
>>> It's mostly written in BASIC+2, and have a slightly different set of tasks with responsibilities. And it has way more features than the DECUS MAIL-11.
>>> 
>>> But I do not think it is possible to run under VMS. However, it might be that it is possible to use just the client, since I believe it can talk to a mail server on another machine. But I have never looked how that work in DECnet.
>>> 
>>> 	Johnny
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Mark
>>>> 
>>>>> On Sep 5, 2015, at 5:13 PM, Sampsa Laine <sampsa at mac.com> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Guys,
>>>>> 
>>>>> Is it possibles to run the RSX-11 MAIL client on a VAX that has the RSX compatibility module installed?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Will it work alongside the normal VMS MAIL client?
>>>>> 
>>>>> I'm asking because frankly the mail client on MIM is much nicer to use than the standard VMS mail client..
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sampsa
>>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
>>>                                  ||  on a psychedelic trip
>>> email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
>>> pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
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>> 
> 
> 
> --
> Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
>                                  ||  on a psychedelic trip
> email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
> pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol
> _______________________________________________
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