Helping a newbie with a Digital Server 5305
mowestusa
5305. In looking around for a free OS that I could
install, it seems as if NetBSD is the best option for
the alpha platform.
I'm a little confused right now as to how to get
NetBSD installed, so I would appreciate some help and
direction.
1. I can't find my alpha server listed in any of the
lists that mention compatable hardware. Does this mean
that not even NetBSD will work on this machine? (On
the HP site it mentions that you can install tru64Unix
or OpenVMS on it, so I'm assuming you can have a free
Unix on there too.)
2. It asks for Windows NT at boot, so I'm assuming
this is a bios issue. Yet, I only found information
about the SRM Console on www.alphalinux.org. It
mentioned that I need to upgrad the SRM firmware
before attempting to install. Is this true? Are there
different steps that I need to follow to install
NetBSD and using the SRM Console?
3. It has a floppy drive and a CD-ROM drive, so can I
use the CD-ROM image to install NetBSD like I do when
I install Ubuntu Linux on an i386?
4. Does anyone know if X11 works on this model alpha?
Please give me any advice you have in getting this up
and running. If it just is not worth the effort, let
me know, and I won't waste my time. I am relatively
new to Linux, but have enjoyed working with that OS,
so I hope to expand my OS education/hobby with NetBSD
using the alpha port.
Steve
mowe...@yahoo.com
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Brian L. Stuart
> 5305.
Fun machine. Unfortunately, I didn't get mine for free.
And I had to add memory to boot...
> In looking around for a free OS that I could
> install, it seems as if NetBSD is the best option for
> the alpha platform.
That was my conclusion as well. Though I did boot the
Gentoo Alpha distro of Linux at one point. My preference
was for NetBSD and that's what's been running for about
a year and a half on it.
> 1. I can't find my alpha server listed in any of the
> lists that mention compatable hardware. Does this mean
> that not even NetBSD will work on this machine?
It does indeed work. As far as NetBSD compatibility
is concerned, it's really an AlphaServer 1200. The 5000
series was the "NT-only" version, but it still has SRM
and will happily boot NetBSD.
> 2. It asks for Windows NT at boot, so I'm assuming
> this is a bios issue.
It actually has both AlphaBIOS (used for NT) and SRM
(used for VMS and Unix) in flash. You'll need to switch
to SRM. You can get into SRM the first time by pressing
and holding the reset button and after 5 seconds pressing
the halt button, then release them both. It will reboot into
SRM. From there, you can set an environment variable
to say you want to run Unix and SRM will be the monitor
you boot into from then on. The variable you want to set
is called os_type.
> about the SRM Console on www.alphalinux.org. It
> mentioned that I need to upgrad the SRM firmware
> before attempting to install. Is this true?
I did, but I'm not actually sure how necessary it is. It
probably depends on what version you have already.
> Are there
> different steps that I need to follow to install
> NetBSD and using the SRM Console?
I just followed the instructions that came with the
file I downloaded.
> 3. It has a floppy drive and a CD-ROM drive, so can I
> use the CD-ROM image to install NetBSD like I do when
> I install Ubuntu Linux on an i386?
As I recall, I ended up booting from floppy and installing
that way. That brings up another little issue I have. The
SCSI controller I have is known by AlphaBIOS but not SRM.
Consequently, I can't boot directly off the SCSI drives. For
now, I boot from floppy on those rare occasions I shut
it down and reboot it. I keep going back and forth about
getting another SCSI card and setting up a net boot scenario.
Since I almost never shut it down, it never seems pressing
enough to resolve.
> 4. Does anyone know if X11 works on this model alpha?
I haven't gotten it running, but I put much effort into it either.
I rarely use it at the console. I'm normally connected to it
over the network.
Good luck. I think you'll be happy with it.
BLS
David Hopper
> [...]
> 4. Does anyone know if X11 works on this model alpha?
I can tell you that I've never gotten XFree86 4.x working on my
AS1200, but I encourage you to try. It's either a general problem
with that model's architecture, or a problem with my specific box.
See my e-mail to port-alpha on 5/14 and give XFree 4.6.0 a shot.
If you have an 8-bit TGA (Powerstorm 3D30 or somesuch) card in it,
then XFree86 3.x as shipped with NetBSD-Alpha likely works fine--
this is how I last ran X11 years ago. Since then I've learned to be
happy with the console, especially now that SMP is nice and stable.
> Please give me any advice you have in getting this up
> and running. If it just is not worth the effort, let
> me know, and I won't waste my time. I am relatively
> new to Linux, but have enjoyed working with that OS,
> so I hope to expand my OS education/hobby with NetBSD
> using the alpha port.
*Very* worth the effort. These Alphas were ahead of their time,
clearly, and NetBSD represents the most complete OS solution for
these beasts. Want to plug in a USB card? Upgrade to ATA-133?
Machine-independent drivers are a great thing.
> Steve
> mowe...@yahoo.com
Dave