Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 20:44:02 +0200 From: Wilko Bulte <wkb@freebie.xs4all.nl> To: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> Cc: buzzwang@gamersgarrison.com, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD install on AlphaBios equipped DEC Alpha's Message-ID: <20010713204402.A1348@freebie.xs4all.nl> In-Reply-To: <3B4F3EFC.8EF564BA@mindspring.com>; from tlambert2@mindspring.com on Fri, Jul 13, 2001 at 11:33:32AM -0700 References: <010601c10b78$a1a65c60$0501010a@gamersgarrison.com> <3B4F3EFC.8EF564BA@mindspring.com>
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On Fri, Jul 13, 2001 at 11:33:32AM -0700, Terry Lambert wrote: > Group Captain Buzzwang wrote: > > > > I have 4 DEC Alpha XLT's here (all are 300mhz 256m ram) that I have > > wanted to put to use for some time. I really, really wanted to install > > FBSD on them but FBSD doesn't support an Alpha that isn't using SRM > > firmware. All 4 of mine are equipped with the latest (v5.66) AlphaBIOS > > as that is all that is available anymore from Digital/Compaq. I queried > > them about it a couple months ago and the reply was rather abrupt: "It's > > not available." > > > > I just finished installing Debian GNU/Linux on one of them. I tried it > > because I was told that Debian has a method of using the AlphaBIOS (made > > for installing WinNT only) to install and run Linux. > > > > It seems Debian uses to files: linload.exe and another referred to as > > MILO (Mini Loader) to bootstrap the OS into operation. It actually works > > out quite well, and I was a little surprised to see things running in a > > short time. Problem is that I want to use FBSD, not Linux, on these > > boxes. I have nothing against Linux, but I figure that it's better to > > run FBSD with Linux support than just straight Linux. That and I find > > that I really like FBSD anyway. > > MILO loads it's own firmware, which the Linux people wrote > from scratch. You are lucky it works on your particular > hardware. > > FreeBSD has a more sophisticated VM model than Linux, and > the Linux-written firmware is missing a number of crucial > instructions which are not missing from SRM, and so can > not use the Linux firmware, without modifications which > no one has written yet. > > You should post your question to the -alpha mailing list, No.. you should read the documentation that is part of the FreeBSD/alpha distribution. > instead of -hackers, since there has been some work on > making the AlphaBIOS work natively (e.g. without replacing > it with hand written and incomplete firmware which may not > be appropriate, or may damage your machine irreparably, if > there is too great a mismatch). I believe they had it to > the point of being able to load the kernel into memory, and > start up some of the memory management, last time they posted > about it, but that was some time ago. > > You may also find that they know where you can find an SRM > firmware for the machine, if it isn't one of the ones where > the necessary chip gate has been lasered to death to keep > people from using SRM with the chip. <sigh>The same explanatory docs go to great lengths to explain that the XL and XLT machines don't have SRM. It DOES NOT EXIST. In case anybody is interested: the XL[T] were done by DECs PC engineering groups who were only interested in NT. W/ -- | / o / / _ Arnhem, The Netherlands email: wilko@FreeBSD.org |/|/ / / /( (_) Bulte "Youth is not a time in life, it is a state of mind" To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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