Date: Thu, 08 Oct 98 08:46:58 PDT From: David Seifert <seifert@sequent.com> To: alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: SRM/ARC/AlphaBIOS/MILO Message-ID: <199810081546.IAA12163@eng4.sequent.com>
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> > > Why we don't want to use the ARC console, hmm?
> >
> > Yes- I agree- except that it's possible that SRM will disappear
> > for newer board level alpha products.
Perhaps a lobbying effort is in order? We need to convince Compaq
to provide SRM. I don't know what the sales of small machines
running DU, VMS, *BSD and Linux would be, but adding in availability of
low cost machines for "tire kicking" before commiting to a large
purchase, and the goodwill generated should make it worth their while.
I for one don't plan on buying any Alphas that don't have SRM.
> Ick. Are there any AlphaBIOS source licencees anywhere?
I haven't been able to get SRM sources even though I'm
working on the kernel-console interface for Bravo.
(Or does ARC/Alphabios come from Micros**t?)
> I'm
> specifically thinking about whether it'd be feasible to commission some
> work on it to a) produce a documented interface subset for all us
> suckers to use, and/or b) make it more server-friendly.
The Alpha AXP Architecture Reference Manual has some info.
Not sure how much ARC/AlphaBIOS info is in there, I skip over
anything that is specific to NT or VMS.
ISBN 1-55558-202-8 (3rd edition)
1-55558-145-5 (2nd edition)
The MILO approach is more appealing than using ARC/AlphaBIOS,
assuming its problems can be fixed. (e.g. add a reset command)
Another thing to keep in mind is that ARC/AlphaBIOS only machines
will have the NT version of PALcode. Linux has their own PALcode,
based on the DU version.
-Dave
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