Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!clyde.concordia.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!njin!spcvxa!terry
From: terry@spcvxa.spc.edu (Terry Kennedy)
Newsgroups: comp.os.rsts
Subject: Re: RSTS to VMS Migration - Help
Message-ID: <48.26049ea7@spcvxa.spc.edu>
Date: 19 Mar 90 08:56:07 GMT
References: <23462@usc.edu> <2343@syma.sussex.ac.uk> <920@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> <9214@shlump.nac.dec.com> <1454@mountn.dec.com> <2463@bnr-fos.UUCP>
Organization: St. Peter's College, US
Lines: 29

In article <2463@bnr-fos.UUCP>, friedman@chekov.UU.NET (Barry Friedman) writes:
> If you can get the source code to BASIC+ and a translator is available
> who knows, it might be cheaper then re-writing a complex application.

  Yes, you can get the source - it's part of the full RSTS source kit. It
is available on your choice of magtape or fiche (I have the magtape version).

  However, VMS already has a very similar language - VAX BASIC. Up until
BP2 V2.4 (RSTS/E) and VAX BASIC 3.0 (VMS), they shared the same source files
(in Bliss) except for some system-dependant stuff. Yes, I know that BP2 isn't
Basic+, but the tools for converting from + to 2 are well-known and available
from a number of sources.

  The problem is that the programs you'll have problems with are those which 
use funny file open modes, or sys() calls, etc. These are pretty much ignored
by Basic+ and are passed on to the monitor for processing.

  There is, of course, ROSS/V (at least I think that's the name) from EG&H,
which provides as complete a RSTS environment as possible on the VAX. How-
ever, I don't think it has been upgraded past RSTS V8 features, and it may 
not work with VMS V5. Also, it was designed as a migration aid, and the per-
formance was not as high as native code would be. Of course, you could con-
tact EG&H to see if they would tailor the package to your needs - however,
if you really want to run a VAX as a slow PDP-11, why not just get another
PDP-11 and save money? 8-)

	Terry Kennedy		Operations Manager, Academic Computing
	terry@spcvxa.bitnet	St. Peter's College, US
	terry@spcvxa.spc.edu	(201) 915-9381