[net.general] VM/IX on IBM 4341

sheldon@circadia.UUCP (Scott Bertilson) (11/13/84)

  I work with the Civil and Mineral Engineering Department at the
University of Minnesota which has a 4341 currently running VM/CMS.
We have been trying to get some concrete information from IBM about
VM/IX (System III under VM), but haven't had much luck with anyone
we have talked to.  I am hoping there are some people out there who
have direct experience with VM/IX who can help us decide whether we
are wise to attempt to acquire it.
				Thanks, Scott (Sheldon) Bertilson
				ihnp4!umn-cs!circadia!sheldon

geoff@ISM780.UUCP (11/29/84)

>    I work with the Civil and Mineral Engineering Department at the
>  University of Minnesota which has a 4341 currently running VM/CMS.
>  We have been trying to get some concrete information from IBM about
>  VM/IX (System III under VM), but haven't had much luck with anyone
>  we have talked to.  I am hoping there are some people out there who
>  have direct experience with VM/IX who can help us decide whether we
>  are wise to attempt to acquire it.
>                                  Thanks, Scott (Sheldon) Bertilson
>                                  ihnp4!umn-cs!circadia!sheldon
>

VM/IX is an enhanced sys III designed to run under VM/SP release 3 (with some
special VM revisions).  It is an IBM "Special bid PRPQ", which means that you
have to go through some special procedures to obtain the system from IBM.
There is a General Information Manual, IBM # GH20-6410-0, which provides a
general description (it is *not* a technical reference manual) of the system,
and how to go about ordering one.  The G.I.M. says you can order it (the GIM,
some recursion here) from your IBM rep, or your local IBM Branch office.

VM/IX can co-exist with CMS et al. on the same Real machine, but uses it's
own dedicated mini-disks etc. Asynchronous terminals are supported via
dedicated series/1 processors, which can provide up to 24 ports each.  To
qualify to get VM/IX, you need to have a 43XX with at least 2 meg of real
memory, 100 meg of virtual disk, a tape drive, and a  VM console, and one or
more series/1's (to interface asynchronous ASCII terminals, 327x's being
usable only as virtual system consoles), or the willingness to purchase same,
plus some miscellaneous hardware.  IBM may require an equipment and/or
software upgrade, in particular, your VM/SP will need to be upgraded to a
certain revision level of Release 3 (I'm not sure what level).

VM/IX was developed under contract to IBM by INTERACTIVE Systems Corp.  It is
essentially a port of ISC's IS/3, which runs on DEC hardware, except the
kernel, which, although functionally a sys3 kernel, was implemented to take
advantage of the services available from VM.  I'm sure other netlanders can
give you some feedback on IS/3's usablity (private mail would probably be
more appropriate for such correspondence).

		       For further information contact
			 Ben Settle at IBM -- Dallas
			    (phone# 214-556-5096)

   --{ Geoffrey Kimbrough -- VM/IX Support, INTERACTIVE Systems Corp. }--
			.../cca/ima/ism780/vmix/geoff