[TriLUG] Linux on Alpha?

[Glen Ford]

Sinner from the Prairy wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> A friend just inherited a couple of old Alphas. I know that some of you run
> Linux on them.
> 
> Now, how hard is to install Linux on them?
> 
> Any recomended distro? Red Hat 6.2, maybe?
> 
> Any URL with a HOWTO? Any need for special floppies or whatever?
> 
> Salut,
> Sinner
> --
> http://www.ibiblio.org/sinner/     Linux User # 89976
> Running on Mandrake 8.1 - Kernel  2.4.8-26mdk     Linux Machine # 38068
> 
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Below are instructions I use with linux 6.2 for alpha

         Power on alpha server
 
2         At SRM prompt ">>"
 
   2.1               check network card speed
           show ew*_mode
    
   2.2               set network card to full duplex
           set ewa0_mode FastFD
           set all other ew[a-z]0_mode FastFD
    
   2.3               check boot device
           show bootdef_dev
 
   2.4               Check system devices with show dev
           record the cdrom ( dqa0 or dqb0)
           record the first scsi disk (e.g., dka0, dka100)
 
   2.5               If not already done; set boot device to first scsi
disk
           Example: set bootdef_dev DKA0
 
   2.6               set system boot flag
           set boot_osflags 0
 
3         Installing linux from cdrom
 
   3.1               Insert into cdrom bay, the cdrom labled LinuxAlpha
6.2
           At SRM prompt ">>", enter either:
                boot dqa0 -fi /kernels/generic.gz -fl root=/dev/hda
                            or
                boot dqb0 -fi /kernels/generic.gz -fl root=/dev/hdc
                        depending of the location of the cdrom from the
?show dev? command
-- 
Glen Ford
Sr. Security Engineer Administrator
Procinct  Ltd.
gford at procinct.com