Firmware doesn't load

The .nvr is created upon the first clean exit from FreeAXP. It holds the console parameters (boot device, boot flags, etc.). The warning message on first boot is normal and should appear in the VLC.

The loss of the PuTTY session that supports the Alpha console is not normal and is likely the core problem here. Any issues running PuTTY for other purposes on this system?

Try manually launching the emulator:

< class='quote' style='width:400px;white-space:nowrap;overflow:auto'><code style='white-space:nowrap'>echo on
start "FreeAXP" "%ProgramFiles%&#92;FreeAXP&#92;FreeAXP.exe" /config=C:&#92;Users&#92;User&#92;Documents&#92;livingston&#92;resources&#92;openvms&#92;freeaxp&#92;Alpha02.cfg
exit<br><br><br></code>

In the VLC you should see the nvr message, a ROM decompression message similar to this:

< class='quote' style='width:400px;white-space:nowrap;overflow:auto'><code style='white-space:nowrap'>AC4-I-DECOMP: Decompressing ROM image.
0%....10%....20%....30%....40%....50%....60%....70%....80%....90%....100%<br><br><br></code>

And then a message about the disk image file being created. Once the file create completes, you should see the console prompt (&gt;&gt;&gt;) in the Alpha console (PuTTY session).

Post your log file if this fails.

Thanks

It would seem that the real problem is that putty doesn't connect to the emulator properly. The emulotor won't proceed with its initialization until a connection is established. The problem could be in resolving the name 'localhost', try replacing it with 127.0.0.1 to see if that resolves the issue.

Good luck!

Thanks to all who replied! As you said, PuTTY was the problem. I disabled it and am connecting to the emulator using VTstar. I don't know what PuTTY's problem is on this system. I tried installing FreeAXP on another Vista box and everything worked straightaway. Many thanks again. I'm one step closer.

Follow-up question. Is it reasonable to run OpenVMS-in-FreeAXP directly in Vista or would it make more sense to confine it to a VM? What are the pros and cons?

<hr>GEIN::SMITHFARM

It is really your choice. OpenVMS does not directly interact with Windows, so there is little risk to the host O/S. Using VMware complicates things slightly, but not enough to really matter. Choose whatever is easiest and most comfortable for you. As you browse the forum, you will see that some users have gotten quite creative using virtual machines and multiple emulators.

I blame the Windows Firewall...

...one bad click and you have marked the app as 'evil'.

Disable and give PuTTY another try.

- dan

Nope, Windows firewall already disabled long ago. When I start the emulator without PuTTY I can then manually telnet in, even using PuTTY. I just have to use 127.0.0.1 as the address instead of localhost. I don't see anything in the configuration file to stop it using "localhost" and tell it to use 127.0.0.1 instead. Could it be that "localhost" is somehow hardcoded into the FreeAXP program itself?

<hr>GEIN::SMITHFARM