From owner-freebsd-hackers Fri Jul 13 11:44:10 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from smtp8.xs4all.nl (smtp8.xs4all.nl [194.109.127.134]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9A5B437B406 for ; Fri, 13 Jul 2001 11:44:04 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from wkb@freebie.xs4all.nl) Received: from freebie.xs4all.nl (freebie.xs4all.nl [213.84.32.253]) by smtp8.xs4all.nl (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA23172; Fri, 13 Jul 2001 20:44:02 +0200 (CEST) Received: (from wkb@localhost) by freebie.xs4all.nl (8.11.4/8.11.3) id f6DIi2Y01371; Fri, 13 Jul 2001 20:44:02 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from wkb) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 20:44:02 +0200 From: Wilko Bulte To: Terry Lambert 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> References: <010601c10b78$a1a65c60$0501010a@gamersgarrison.com> <3B4F3EFC.8EF564BA@mindspring.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <3B4F3EFC.8EF564BA@mindspring.com>; from tlambert2@mindspring.com on Fri, Jul 13, 2001 at 11:33:32AM -0700 X-OS: FreeBSD 4.3-STABLE X-PGP: finger wilko@freebsd.org Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG 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. 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