OpenBSD/pmax

OpenBSD/pmax used to run on a large set of the Digital MIPS-based DECstation and DECserver family. These machines were the counterpart of the VAX-based VAXstations, until the Alpha line was ready.

The OpenBSD/pmax port was discontinued after the 2.7 release.

There is currently no one working on bringing this port back to life. The source code is still available in the CVS Attic, and code can be found in NetBSD as well.

Table of contents

• History of the port
• Supported hardware
• Getting and installing OpenBSD/pmax

History:

The pmax port of OpenBSD was started by Thomas Graichen shortly before the OpenBSD 2.0 release, based on the NetBSD/pmax sources. It was then slowly brought in shape, becoming self-hosted, and moving to ECOFF, then ELF binaries.

A few releases later, Thomas Graichen stopped working on this port, and nobody stepped in. The port was slowly left in oblivion, with no new code and hardly any bugfixes, although releases were still being made.

A timid effort was made after the 2.7 release to revive the port, but MIPS-specific toolchain problems prevented the system from building itself for a long time, and development went on hiatus again. When the problem was finally fixed, it was decided however to stop supporting it and remove the code from the tree.

Supported hardware:

Supported models

• DECstation 2100 (PMIN) and 3100 (PMAX)
• DECstation 5000/120, 5000/125 and 5000/133 (3MIN)
• DECstation 5000/200 (3MAX)
• DECstation 5000/240 (3MAXPLUS)
• Personal DECstation 5000/20, 5000/25, 5000/33 and 5000/50 (MAXINE)

Supported peripherals

• Frame buffers
  • On-board PM monochrome (1024x864x1) or 8-bit color (1024x864x8) on PMIN and PMAX
  • On-board PMAG-DV (1024x864x8) on Personal DECstation
  • TURBOchannel PMAG-AA (mfb) (1280x1024x1)
  • TURBOchannel PMAG-BA (cfb) (1024x864x8)
  • TURBOchannel PMAGB-BA (sfb) (1280x1024x8)
  XFree86 works on all supported frame buffers.
• Ethernet
  • On-board Lance ethernet
  • TURBOchannel PMAD-AA or PMAD-AB Lance ethernet
• SCSI Controllers
  • On-board SCSI Controller (sii) on PMIN and PMAX
  • On-board SCSI Controller (asc) on other models
  • TURBOchannel PMAZ-AB SCSI Controller (asc)
• Miscellaneous devices
  • DEC LK-201 or compatible keyboard
  • DEC VSXXX or compatible mouse
  • On-board serial ports on most models

Getting and installing OpenBSD/pmax:

The last supported OpenBSD/pmax release was OpenBSD 2.7. It is not available on ftp sites anymore, but releases up to 2.3 were available on CD.