rjm957
Member
Subject says it all. Considering getting a microvax 3100-40 system, depending on the replies I get.
| VCF West | Aug 01 - 02 2025, | CHM, Mountain View, CA |
| VCF Midwest | Sep 13 - 14 2025, | Schaumburg, IL |
| VCF Montreal | Jan 24 - 25, 2026, | RMC Saint Jean, Montreal, Canada |
| VCF SoCal | Feb 14 - 15, 2026, | Hotel Fera, Orange CA |
| VCF Southwest | June, 2025 | University of Texas at Dallas |
| VCF Southeast | June, 2025 | Atlanta, GA |
-
Please review our updated Terms and Rules here
Do microvax system require licenses for its Operating System(s) and programming compilers/interpreters?
- Thread starter rjm957
- Start date
davidrg
Experienced Member
OpenVMS and Ultrix require a license. The various layered products for both are typically licensed separately. Licenses can only be transferred if you pay a fee to HPE which may or may not be possible now. Without license PAKs you won't get far with OpenVMS.
HPE ended their free OpenVMS "hobbyist" licensing program a few years ago and I'm not sure they still sell new licenses though perhaps some resellers still do. HP Financial Services was for a while selling second-hand licenses from ex-lease machines but they were pretty expensive at about US$500 per product IIRC. Ultrix licenses have, AFAIK, not been available in any form for 25-30 years or more.
So realistically there is no way to legally get Ultrix or OpenVMS license PAKs for a reasonable price. NetBSD is free but it won't really feel much different than running it on a slow PC.
HPE ended their free OpenVMS "hobbyist" licensing program a few years ago and I'm not sure they still sell new licenses though perhaps some resellers still do. HP Financial Services was for a while selling second-hand licenses from ex-lease machines but they were pretty expensive at about US$500 per product IIRC. Ultrix licenses have, AFAIK, not been available in any form for 25-30 years or more.
So realistically there is no way to legally get Ultrix or OpenVMS license PAKs for a reasonable price. NetBSD is free but it won't really feel much different than running it on a slow PC.
g4ugm
Veteran Member
Yes you need licences. Your machine may come with licences. after all these machines were used with VMS so must at some point have had licences. Some of the resellers also have VMS licences.
Yes, you need licenses.
Going the legal way will most likely mean you will pay more on your licenses than on your 3100-40. It is not cheap running unsupported obsolete software packages on an unsupported obsolete OS installed on an obsolete barely-working dumpster-salvaged piece of hardware manufactured by a company long gone twice removed.
Alon.
Going the legal way will most likely mean you will pay more on your licenses than on your 3100-40. It is not cheap running unsupported obsolete software packages on an unsupported obsolete OS installed on an obsolete barely-working dumpster-salvaged piece of hardware manufactured by a company long gone twice removed.
Alon.
gslick
Veteran Member
Avast, ye mateys, I hear some scurvy dogs just google pakgen.c by VAXbusters, then generate their own license keys, and then get on with sailing the high seas in the good ship OpenVMS, without any worries that someone will send the Dread Pirate Roberts to hunt them down. That would be inconceivable! 
Caluser2000
Banned
You naughty naughty boy. You deserve a good spankingAvast, ye mateys, I hear some scurvy dogs just google pakgen.c by VAXbusters, then generate their own license keys, and then get on with sailing the high seas in the good ship OpenVMS, without any worries that someone will send the Dread Pirate Roberts to hunt them down. That would be inconceivable!
