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To: peter@taronga.com (Peter da Silva)
cc: p.richards@elsevier.co.uk (Paul Richards), hackers@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: Alpha Based Machines (Was: Re: IBM 57SLC) 
In-reply-to: Your message of "Thu, 28 Nov 1996 07:57:02 CST."
             <199611281357.HAA21153@bonkers.taronga.com> 
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Date: Mon, 02 Dec 1996 15:14:41 +0000
From: Matt Thomas <thomas@whydos.lkg.dec.com>
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In  <199611281357.HAA21153@bonkers.taronga.com> , you wrote:

> > How many of us now have Alphas? I bought 2 multia's last month one of
> > which has NT on it and one has Linux. A FreeBSD Alpha port might now
> > have enough bodies around to make a good go of it.
> 
> I think that if you want to work on BSD on the Alpha you'd probably be better
> off working with the NetBSD or OpenBSD folks, who already have ports...
> 
> I think that FreeBSD is clearly the easiest and most accessible BSD port out
> there, and keeping all the FreeBSD effort behind the one arrow is reasonable,
> isn't it? After all, we already have two teams working on the "support all
> platforms" front.

> Those Multias are damn cute, but I'm afraid that they're a one-shot thing. I
> can't seem to convince any of the DEC people I talk to that a REAL PC-priced
> Alpha box is an economic necessity if they're going to survive long-term.

The following vendors showed Alpha based systems at Comdex:

Aspen Systems                   Dual 21164 500MHz "Twin Peaks"
Carrera Computers               Cobra 21164 366-500MHz
Deskstation Technology          Raptor ReFlex 500MHz
Enorex Microsystems, Inc.       Alpha 21164 366-500MHz at $2,999 -$5,999
Industrial Computer             PCIMG Alpha SBC 21064
Microway                        Screamer 21164 Motherboard
The Panda Project               Archistrat 4S Alpha Workstation
Polywell Computers              Webserver 500C
Vivid Image Co.                 VI 100 + VI 225 Controllers

Note that Enorex systems (and others) are based on the PC164 motherboard
which can support the SMT console and thus NetBSD/alpha.  Note that the
default configurations are for EIDE which is not supported by NetBSD. 
Basically, if you can get a configuration that is usable for Digital UNIX
or OpenVMS, it'll probably work with NetBSD/alpha.  
-- 
Matt Thomas               Internet:   matt@3am-software.com
3am Software Foundry      WWW URL:    http://www.3am-software.com/bio/matt.html
Westford, MA              Disclaimer: I disavow all knowledge of this message