vTape question

You can have whatever was available under Digital Unix. You will need an X-windows client like Cygwin or Reflection-X on the outside to access the GUI. I am sure a few Unix gurus will post a bit more information.

FreeAXP (and Avanti) do not emulate a graphics card. That is why DECwindows and other GUI cannot be directly on the emulator.

The LDDRIVER program at www.digiater.nl/lddriver.html supports virtual tape devices and can run on most recent versions of VMS. I do not know if it is compatible with a .vtape file.