Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2001 19:16:13 -0700 From: "Donald Burr of Borg" <dburr@borg-cube.com> To: "FreeBSD Alpha Mailing List" <freebsd-alpha@freebsd.org> Subject: Installing FreeBSD on an AlphaPC 164LX - Alpha newbie needs help Message-ID: <000f01c117d4$7099fc90$0700a8c0@collective.borgcube.com>
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I posted this message to -questions earlier. It was suggested that I also
post this message to the freebsd-alpha list (which I did not know existed)
because there would be a greater possibility of someone being able to help
me here (since Alphas are a rather unusual beast). Any and all
help/assistance/advice/etc. is greatly appreciated.
While cleaning out an equipment room at work, I found a fun new toy to play
with: an Aspen Systems Durango AlphaPC 164LX system. (DEC 21164, 533 MHz)
It's got NT installed on it right now. This is totally unacceptable -- I'd
like to get FreeBSD going on this beastie ASAP! So I downloaded the 4.3
Alpha ISO image and have been reading through the text files on it. They
have been pretty helpful, but I still have some questions on the procedure.
Though I am very familiar with FreeBSD on x86 (and I am familiar with the
x86 architecture), I know next to nothing about Alphas. Hopefully tehre are
some folks out there who've been through it, and can assist me with some
advice. The FreeBSD/alpha HARDWARE.TXT file, however, mentions
* I am pretty sure that my particular machine is compatible with FreeBSD.
(I see "PC164LX" as listed as being compatible in HARDWARE.TXT) Is anyone
successfully running FreeBSD on one of these beasts? How does it perform?
* This machine currently has the AlphaBIOS firmware on it (is this the same
as ARC?) I understand that I will need SRM in order to boot/install
FreeBSD. I am kind of leery of flashing my BIOS, and I would like to be
able to go back to AlphaBIOS if I ever want to run NT on this machine.
(This machine came from a 3-D shop, and thus the NT drive has a whole bunch
of nifty 3-D modeling, animation, etc. software on it, which I may want to
play with at some point down the line.)
The FreeBSD/alpha INSTALL.TXT file mentions:
In some cases, it is possible to switch between AlphaBIOS (or ARC)
firmware and SRM.
Is this possible with my hardware? If so, how do I set it up?
If not, then I guess I will have to flash to an SRM image. If I do this, is
it possible to flash back to AlphaBIOS if I should ever desire to? Or is it
possible to somehow boot WinNT from within SRM?
* It currently has a Diamond Fire GL 1000 Pro video card in it. This card,
I believe, uses the 3DLabs GLINT chipset. How well is this supported by
XFree86? Whieh version should I use (3.x or 4.x?)
* This machine has an "DECchip 21140" 10/100 ethernet controller on it. I
believe it should work with the FreeBSD "dc" driver? (or was that the "de"
driver?)
* Windows NT has this nifty little software called "FX!32" that lets you run
Windows NT/x86 binaries on the Alpha. I *believe* that there is a similar
piece of software available for Linux/alpha. What about FreeBSD? NetBSD?
Anyway, thanks in advance for whatever advise you can offer, and please
excuse these questions from an Alpha newbie. Thanks all!
Donald Burr of Borg <dburr@borg-cube.com> | FreeBSD: The Power to Serve!
WWW: http://www.borg-cube.com/ ICQ #16997506 | http://www.freebsd.org/
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