Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2001 23:10:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Matthew Jacob <mjacob@feral.com> To: Donald Burr of Borg <dburr@borg-cube.com> Cc: FreeBSD Alpha Mailing List <freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Installing FreeBSD on an AlphaPC 164LX - Alpha newbie needs help Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0107282308050.39575-100000@beppo> In-Reply-To: <000f01c117d4$7099fc90$0700a8c0@collective.borgcube.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
If your ARC has the entry soemthing like (I'm going from memory) "Switch to Other Operating System"- try and do that. You need to switch to SRM support. That's not the same as ARC/AlphaBIOS. I also got a similar machine to yours from EBay- I found it reasonable to reflash SRM into it when it didn't have it. The 21140 is supported by the 'de' driver. I haven't a clue about the gracphics card. FX!32- I dunno either. On Sat, 28 Jul 2001, Donald Burr of Borg wrote: > 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/ > P.O. Box 91212, Santa Barbara, CA 93190-1212 \----------------------------- > Phone: (805)957-9666 Present Day... Present Time! > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-alpha" in the body of the message > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-alpha" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.BSF.4.21.0107282308050.39575-100000>