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8 <firstname>Wilko</firstname>
9 <surname>Bulte</surname>
10 <contrib>Maintained by </contrib>
15 <title>Supported processors and motherboards</title>
17 <para>Additions, corrections and constructive criticism are invited. In
18 particular, information on system quirks is more than welcome.</para>
21 <title>Overview</title>
23 <para>This document tries to provide a starting point for those
24 who want to run &os; on an Alpha-based machine. It is
25 aimed at providing background information on the various hardware
26 designs. It is not a replacement for the systems manuals.</para>
28 <para>The information is structured as follows:</para>
31 <para>general hardware requirements to run &os; on alpha;</para>
34 <para>system specific information for each of the
35 systems/boards supported by &os;;</para>
38 <para>information on expansion boards for &os;,
39 including things that differ from what is in the generic
40 supported hardware list.</para>
45 <para>You will see references to DEC, Digital Equipment Corporation and
46 Compaq used more or less interchangeably. Now that Compaq has acquired
47 Digital Equipment it would be more correct to refer to Compaq only.
48 To be completely politically correct given that Hewlett Packard
49 in turn has acquired Compaq I probably should be using HP everywhere.
50 Given the fact that you will see the mix of names everywhere, I don't
55 <para>SRM commands will be in <userinput>UPPER CASE</userinput>.
56 Lower case input is also acceptable to SRM. Upper case is used for
61 <para>Compaq has put information on the Web for Linux developers
62 that is also very useful for &os; users. Please check at
63 <ulink url="http://www.support.compaq.com/alpha-tools/">Linux Alpha
64 Power tools</ulink>.</para>
70 <title>In general, what do you need to run &os; on an Alpha?</title>
72 <para>Obviously you will need an Alpha machine that &os;
73 knows about. Alpha machines are NOT like PCs. There are
74 considerable differences between the various core logic chip sets and
75 mainboard designs. This means that a kernel needs to know the
76 intimate details of a particular machine before it can run on
77 it. Throwing some odd <filename>GENERIC</filename> kernel at
78 unknown hardware is almost guaranteed to fail miserably.</para>
80 <para>For a machine even to be considered for &os; use please
81 make sure it has the SRM console firmware installed. Or at least
82 make sure that SRM console firmware is available for the
83 particular machine type. If &os; does not currently support
84 your machine type, there is a good chance that this will change at
85 some point in time, assuming SRM is available. All bets are off when
86 SRM console firmware is not available.</para>
88 <para>Machines with the ARC or AlphaBIOS console firmware were
89 intended for WindowsNT. Some have SRM console firmware available
90 in the system ROMs which you only have to select (via an ARC or
91 AlphaBIOS menu). In other cases you will have to re-flash the ROMs
92 with SRM code. Check on
93 http://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware to see what is
94 available for your particular system. In any case: no SRM means
95 <emphasis>no</emphasis>
96 &os; (or NetBSD, OpenBSD, Tru64 Unix or OpenVMS for that
97 matter). With the demise of WindowsNT/alpha a lot of former NT
98 boxes are sold on the second hand market. They have little or no
99 trade-in value when they are NT-only from the console firmware
100 perspective. So, be suspicious if the price appears too good.</para>
102 <para>Known non-SRM machines are:</para>
105 <para>Digital XL series</para>
108 <para>Digital XLT series</para>
111 <para>Samsung PC164UX (<quote>Ruffian</quote>)</para>
114 <para>Samsung 164B</para>
118 <para>Machines that have SRM but are not supported by &os; are:</para>
121 <para>DECpc 150 (<quote>Jensen</quote>)</para>
124 <para>DEC 2000/300 (<quote>Jensen</quote>)</para>
127 <para>DEC 2000/500 (<quote>Culzean</quote>)</para>
130 <para>AXPvme series (<quote>Medulla</quote>)</para>
134 <para>To complicate things a bit further: Digital used to have so
135 called <quote>white-box</quote> Alpha machines destined as NT-only
136 and <quote>blue-box</quote> Alpha machines destined for OpenVMS
137 and Digital Unix. These names are based on the color of the
138 cabinets, <quote>FrostWhite</quote> and <quote>TopGunBlue</quote>
139 respectively. Although you could put the SRM console firmware on a
140 whitebox, OpenVMS and Digital Unix will refuse to boot on
141 them. &os; in post-4.0-RELEASE will run on both the white and the
142 blue-box variants. Before someone asks: the white ones had a
143 rather different (read: cheaper) Digital price tag.</para>
145 <para>As part of the SRM you will get the so called OSF/1 PAL code
146 (OSF/1 being the initial name of Digital's UNIX offering on
147 Alpha). The PAL code can be thought of as a software abstraction
148 layer between the hardware and the operating system. It uses
149 normal CPU instruction plus a handful of privileged instructions
150 specific for PAL use. PAL is not microcode. The ARC console
151 firmware contains a different PAL code, geared towards WinNT and
152 in no way suitable for use by &os; (or more generic: Unix or
153 OpenVMS). Before someone asks: Linux/alpha brings its own PAL
154 code, allowing it to boot on ARC and AlphaBIOS. There are various
155 reasons why this is not a very good idea in the eyes of the *BSD
156 folks. I don't want to go into details here. If you are interested
157 in the gory details search the &os; and NetBSD web sites.</para>
159 <para>There is another pitfall ahead: you will need a disk adapter
160 that the SRM console firmware recognizes in order to be able to boot from
161 a disk. What is acceptable to SRM as a boot adapter is
162 unfortunately highly system and SRM version dependent. For older PCI
163 based machines it means you will need either a NCR/Symbios
164 53C810 based adapter, or a Qlogic 1020/1040 based adapter. Some
165 machines come with a SCSI chip embedded on the mainboard. Newer
166 machine designs and SRM versions will be able to work with more modern
167 SCSI chips/adapters. Check out the machine specific info
168 below. Please note that the rest of this discussion only refers to
169 Symbios chips, this is meant to include the older chips that still
170 have NCR stamped on them. Symbios bought NCR sometime.</para>
172 <para>The problem might bite those who have machines that started
173 their lives as WindowsNT boxes. The ARC or AlphaBIOS knows about
174 <emphasis>other</emphasis> adapter types that it can boot from
175 than the SRM. For example you can boot from an Adaptec 2940UW with
176 ARC/AlphaBios but (generally) not with SRM. Some newer machine types have
177 introduced Adaptec boot support. Please consult the machine
178 specific section for details.</para>
180 <para>Most adapters that cannot be booted from work fine for
181 data-only disks. The differences between SRM and ARC could also
182 get you pre-packaged IDE CDROMs and hard drives in some (former
183 WindowsNT) systems. SRM versions exist (depends on the machine type)
184 that can boot from IDE disks and CDROMs. Check the machine
185 specific section for details.</para>
187 <para>&os; 4.0 and later can be booted from the
188 distribution CDROM. Earlier versions needed booting from a
189 2 disk floppy set.</para>
191 <para>In order to be bootable the root partition (partition a)
192 must be at offset 0 of the disk drive. This means you have to
193 use the installer's partitioning menu and start with assigning
194 partition a at offset 0 to the root partition. Subsequently layout
195 the rest of the partitions to your liking. If you do not adhere
196 to this rule the install will proceed just fine, but the system
197 will not be bootable from the freshly installed disk.</para>
199 <para>If you don't have/want a local disk drive you can boot via
200 the Ethernet. This assumes an Ethernet adapter/chip that is
201 recognized by the SRM console. Generally speaking this boils down to
202 either a 21040 or 21142 or 21143 based Ethernet interface. Older
203 machines or SRM versions may not recognize the 21142 / 21143 Fast
204 Ethernet chips, you are then limited to using 10Mbit Ethernet for net
205 booting those machines. Non-DEC cards based on said chips will
206 generally (but are not guaranteed to) work. Note that Intel took
207 over the 21x4x chips when it bought Digital Semiconductor. So you
208 might see an Intel logo on them these days. Recent machine designs
209 have SRM support for Intel 8255x Ethernet chips.</para>
211 <para>Alpha machines can be run with SRM on a graphics console or
212 on a serial console. ARC can also be run on a serial consoles if need
213 be. VT100 emulation with 8 bit controls should at least allow you
214 to switch from ARC/AlphaBIOS to SRM mode without having to install a
215 graphics card first.</para>
217 <para>If you want to run your Alpha machine without a monitor/graphics
218 card just don't connect a keyboard/mouse to the machine. Instead
219 hook up a serial terminal[emulator] to serial port #1. The SRM
220 will talk 9600N81 to you. This can also be really practical for
221 debugging purposes. Beware: some/most (?) SRMs will also present
222 you with a console prompt at serial port #2. The booting kernel,
223 however, will display the boot messages on serial port #1 and will
224 also put the console there. <emphasis>This can be extremely
225 confusing.</emphasis></para>
227 <para>Most PCI based Alphas can use ordinary PC-type VGA
228 cards. The SRM contains enough smarts to make that work. It does
229 not, however, mean that each and every PCI VGA card out on the
230 street will work in an Alpha machine. Things like S3 Trio64,
231 Mach64, and Matrox Millennium generally work. Old ET4000 based ISA
232 cards have also worked for me. But ask around first before buying.</para>
234 <para>Most PCI devices from the PC-world will also work in
235 &os; PCI-based machines. Check the
236 <filename>/sys/alpha/conf/GENERIC</filename> file for the latest word
237 on this. Check the appropriate machine type's
238 discussion in case you want to use PCI cards that have PCI bridge
239 chips on them. In some cases you might encounter problems with
240 PCI cards not handling PCI parity correctly. This can lead to
241 panics. PCI parity checking can be disabled using the following
244 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SET PCI_PARITY OFF</userinput></screen>
246 <para>This is not a &os; problem, all operating systems running on
247 Alpha hardware will need this workaround.</para>
249 <para>If your system (also) contains EISA expansion slots you will
250 need to run the EISA Configuration Utility (ECU) after you have
251 installed EISA cards or after you have upgraded your
252 console firmware.</para>
254 <para>For Alpha CPUs you will find multiple generations. The
255 original Alpha design is the 21064. It was produced in a chip
256 process called MOS4, chips made in this process are nicknamed
257 EV4. Newer CPUs are 21164, 21264 etc. You will see designations
258 like EV4S, EV45, EV5, EV56, EV6, EV67, EV68. The EVs with double digit
259 numbers are slightly improved versions. For example EV45 has an
260 improved FPU and 16 kByte on-chip separate I & D caches compared
261 to the EV4 on which it is based. Rule of thumb: the higher the
262 digit immediately following <quote>EV</quote> the more desirable
263 (read: faster / more modern).</para>
265 <para>For memory you want at least 32 Mbytes. I have had
266 &os; run on a 16 Mbyte system but you will not enjoy
267 that. Kernel build times halved when I went to 32 Mbytes. Note that
268 the SRM console steals 2Mbyte from the total system memory (and keeps
269 it). For more serious work 64 Mbytes or more are recommended.</para>
271 <para>While on the subject of memory: pay close attention to the
272 type of memory your machine uses. There are very different memory
273 configurations and requirements for the various machines.</para>
275 <para>Final word: I expect the above to sound a bit daunting to
276 the first-time Alpha user. Don't be daunted too much. And do feel
277 free to ask questions if something is not clear after reading this
283 <title>System-specific information</title>
285 <para>Below is an overview of the hardware that &os; runs on. This list
286 will definitely grow, a look in
287 <filename>/sys/alpha/conf/GENERIC</filename> can be enlightening.</para>
289 <para>Alpha machines are often best known by their project code name.
290 Where known these are listed below in parentheses.</para>
293 <title>AXPpci33 (<quote>NoName</quote>)</title>
295 <para>The NoName is a baby-AT mainboard based on the 21066 LCA
296 (Low Cost Alpha) processor. NoName was originally designed for
297 OEM-use. The LCA chip includes almost all of the logic to drive
298 a PCI bus and the memory subsystem. All of this makes for a
299 low-priced design.</para>
301 <para>Due to the limited memory interface the system is not
302 particularly fast in case of cache misses. As long as you stay
303 inside the on-chip cache the CPU is comparable to a 21064 (first
304 generation Alpha). These boards should be very cheap to obtain
305 these days. It is a full-fledged 64 bit CPU, just don't expect
306 miracles as far as speed goes.</para>
308 <para>Features:</para>
311 <para>21066 Alpha CPU at 166 MHz or 21066A CPU at 233MHz.
312 21068 CPUs are also possible, but are even slower.</para>
315 <para>on-board Bcache / L2 cache: 0, 256k or 1 Mbyte (uses
319 <para>PS/2 mouse & keyboard port OR 5pin DIN keyboard (2
320 mainboard models)</para>
326 <para>bus width: 64 bits</para>
329 <para>PS/2 style 72 pin 36 bit Fast Page Mode SIMMs</para>
332 <para>70ns or better</para>
335 <para>installed in pairs of 2</para>
338 <para>4 SIMM sockets</para>
341 <para>uses ECC</para>
346 <para>512kB Flash ROM for the console code.</para>
349 <para>2 16550A serial ports</para>
352 <para>1 parallel port</para>
355 <para>floppy interface</para>
358 <para>1 embedded IDE interface</para>
361 <para>expansion:</para>
364 <para>3 32 bit PCI slots (1 shared with ISA)</para>
367 <para>5 ISA slots (1 shared with PCI)</para>
372 <para>embedded Fast SCSI using a Symbios 53C810 chip</para>
376 <para>NoNames can either have SRM <emphasis>or</emphasis> ARC console
377 firmware in their Flash ROM. The Flash ROM is not big enough to
378 hold both ARC and SRM at the same time and allow software
379 selection of alternate console code. But you only need SRM
382 <para>Cache for the NoNames are 15 or 20 ns DIL chips. For a 256
383 kByte cache you want to check your junked 486 mainboard. Chips
384 for a 1 Mbyte cache are a rarer breed unfortunately. Getting at
385 least a 256kByte cache is recommended performance
386 wise. Cache-less they are really slow.</para>
388 <para>The NoName mainboard has a PC/AT-standard power
389 connector. It also has a power connector for 3.3 Volts. No need
390 to rush out to get a new power supply. The 3.3 Volts is only
391 needed in case you run 3.3 Volts PCI expansion boards. These are
394 <para>The IDE interface is supported by &os; and requires a
395 line in the kernel configuration file as follows:</para>
397 <programlisting>device ata0 at isa? port IO_WD1 irq 14</programlisting>
399 <para>The SRM console unfortunately <emphasis> cannot boot</emphasis>
400 from IDE disks. This means you will have to use a SCSI disk as
401 the boot device.</para>
403 <para>The NoName is somewhat stubborn when it comes to serial
404 consoles. It needs</para>
405 <screen>>>> <userinput>SET CONSOLE SERIAL</userinput></screen>
406 <para>before it goes for a serial console. Pulling the keyboard from
407 the machine is not sufficient, like it is on most other Alpha models.
408 Going back to a graphical console needs</para>
409 <screen>>>> <userinput>SET CONSOLE GRAPHICS</userinput></screen>
410 <para>at the serial console.</para>
412 <para>There have been reports that you sometimes need to press
413 <keycap>Control</keycap>-<keycap>Alt</keycap>-<keycap>Del</keycap>
414 to capture the SRM's attention. I have
415 never seen this myself, but it is worth trying if you are greeted
416 by a blank screen after powerup.</para>
418 <para>Make sure you use true 36 bit SIMMs, and only FPM (Fast
419 Page Mode) DRAM. EDO DRAM or SIMMs with fake parity <emphasis>will not
420 work</emphasis>. The board uses the 4 extra bits for ECC. 33
421 bit FPM SIMMs will for the same reason not work.</para>
423 <para>Given the choice, get the PS/2-variant mainboard. Apart
424 from giving you a mouse port as bonus it is directly supported
425 by Tru64 Unix in case you ever want or need to run it. The
426 <quote>DIN-plug</quote>-variant should work OK for &os;.</para>
429 url="ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/axppci/design_guide.ps">
430 OEM manual</ulink> is recommended reading.</para>
432 <para>The kernel configuration file for a NoName kernel must
435 <programlisting>options DEC_AXPPCI_33
436 cpu EV4</programlisting>
441 <title>Universal Desktop Box (UDB or <quote>Multia</quote>)</title>
443 <note><para>Multia can be either Intel or Alpha CPU based. We
444 assume Alpha based ones here for obvious reasons.</para></note>
446 <para>Multia is a small desktop box intended as a sort of
447 personal workstation. They come in a considerable number of
448 variations, check closely what you get.</para>
450 <para>Features:</para>
453 <para>21066 Alpha CPU at 166 MHz or 21066A CPU at 233MHz</para>
456 <para>on-board Bcache / L2 cache: COAST-like 256 kByte
457 cache module; 233MHz models have 512kByte of cache;
458 166MHz models have soldered-on 256kB caches</para>
461 <para>PS/2 mouse & keyboard port</para>
467 <para>bus width: 64 bits</para>
470 <para>PS/2 style 72 pin 36 bit Fast Page Mode SIMMs</para>
473 <para>70ns or better</para>
476 <para>SIMMs are installed in pairs of 2</para>
479 <para>4 SIMM sockets</para>
482 <para>uses ECC</para>
487 <para>2 16550A serial ports</para>
490 <para>1 parallel port</para>
493 <para>floppy interface</para>
496 <para>Intel 82378ZB PCI to ISA bridge</para>
499 <para>1 embedded 21040 based 10Mbit Ethernet, AUI and
500 10base2 connector</para>
503 <para>expansion:</para>
506 <para>1 32 bit PCI slot</para>
509 <para>2 PCMCIA slots</para>
514 <para>on-board Crystal CS4231 or AD1848 sound chip</para>
517 <para>embedded Fast SCSI, using a Symbios 53C810[A] chip on the
518 PCI riser card</para>
522 <para>Multia has enough Flash ROM to store both SRM and ARC code
523 at the same time and allow software selection of one of them.</para>
525 <para>The embeded TGA video adapter is <emphasis>not</emphasis> currently
526 usable as a &os; console. You will need to use a serial console.</para>
528 <para>Multia has only one 32 bit PCI slot for expansion, and it
529 is only suitable for a small form factor PCI card. By
530 sacrificing the PCI slot space you can mount a 3.5" hard disk
531 drive. Mounting stuff may have come with your Multia. Adding a
532 3.5" disk is <emphasis>not</emphasis> a recommended upgrade
533 due to the limited power rating of the power supply
534 and the extremely marginal cooling of
535 the system box.</para>
537 <para>Multia also has 2 PCMCIA expansion slots. These are
538 currently not supported by &os;.</para>
540 <para>The CPU might or might not be socketed, check this before
541 considering CPU upgrade hacks. The low-end Multias have a
542 soldered-in CPU.</para>
544 <para>Multia has 2 serial ports but routes both of them to the
545 outside world on a single 25 pin sub-D connector. The Multia FAQ
546 explains how to build your own Y-cable to allow both ports to be
549 <para>Although the Multia SRM supports booting from floppy this
550 can be problematic. Typically the errors look like:</para>
552 <screen>*** Soft Error - Error #10 - FDC: Data overrun or underrun</screen>
554 <para>This is not a &os; problem, it is a SRM problem. The best available
555 workaround to install &os; is to boot from a SCSI CDROM.</para>
557 <para>There have been reports that you sometimes need to press
558 <keycap>Control</keycap>-<keycap>Alt</keycap>-<keycap>Del</keycap>
559 to capture the SRM's attention. I have
560 never seen this myself, but it is worth trying when you are greeted
561 by a blank screen after powerup.</para>
563 <para>Sound works fine using &man.pcm.4; driver and a line in the
564 kernel configuration file as follows for the Crystal CS4231
567 <programlisting>device pcm0 at isa? port 0x530 irq 9 drq 3 flags 0x15</programlisting>
569 <para>I have not yet been successful in getting my Multia with
570 the AD1848 to play any sound.</para>
572 <para>While verifying playback I was reminded of the lack of CPU
573 power of the 166MHz CPU. MP3 only plays acceptable using 22kHz
574 down-sampling.</para>
576 <para>Multias are somewhat notorious for dying of heat
577 strokes. The very compact box does not really allow access to cooling air.
578 Please use the Multia on its vertical stand,
579 don't put it horizontally (<quote>pizza style</quote>). Replacing the
580 fan with something which pushes around more air is really
581 recommended. You can also cut one of the wires to the fan speed
582 sensor. Once cut, the fan runs at a (loud) full speed.
583 Beware of PCI cards with high power consumption.
584 If your system has died you might want to check the
585 Multia-Heat-Death pages at the
586 <ulink url="http://www.netbsd.org/">NetBSD Web site</ulink>
587 for help in reviving it.</para>
589 <para>The Intel 82378ZB PCI to ISA bridge enables the use of an
590 IDE disk. This requires a line in the kernel configuration file
593 <programlisting>device ata0 at isa? port IO_WD1 irq 14</programlisting>
595 <para>The IDE connector pin spacing is thought for 2.5" laptop
596 disks. A 3.5" IDE disk would not fit in the case anyway. At
597 least not without sacrificing your only PCI slot. The SRM
598 console unfortunately does not know how to boot from IDE
599 disks. You will need to use a SCSI disk as the boot disk.</para>
601 <para>In case you want to change the internal hard drive: the
602 internal flat cable running from the PCI riser board to the
603 <emphasis>2.5"</emphasis>
604 hard drive has a finer pitch than the standard SCSI flat
605 cables. Otherwise it would not fit on the 2.5" drives. There are
606 also riser cards that have a standard-pitch SCSI cable attached
607 to it, which will fit an ordinary SCSI disk.</para>
609 <para>Again, I recommend against trying to cram a replacement
610 hard disk inside. Use the external SCSI connector and put your
611 disk in an external enclosure. Multias run hot enough as-is. In
612 most cases you will have the external high density 50-pin SCSI
613 connector but some Multia models came without disk and may lack
614 the connector. Something to check before buying one.</para>
616 <para>The kernel configuration file for a Multia kernel must
619 <programlisting>options DEC_AXPPCI_33
620 cpu EV4</programlisting>
622 <para>Recommended reading on Multia can be found at
623 <ulink url="http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/alpha/multiafaq.html">
624 http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/alpha/multiafaq.html</ulink>
625 or <ulink url="http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/computers/udb.html">
626 http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/computers/udb.html</ulink>.</para>
631 <title>Personal Workstation (<quote>Miata</quote>)</title>
633 <para>The Miata is a small tower machine intended to be put
634 under a desk. There are multiple Miata variants. The original
635 Miata is the MX5 model. Because it suffers from a number of
636 hardware design flaws a redesign was done, yielding the
637 MiataGL. Unfortunately the variants are not easily distinguishable
638 at first sight from the outside of the case.
639 An easy check is to see if the back of the machine sports two
640 USB connectors. If yes, it is a MiataGL. MX5 models tend to be
641 more common in the used system market place.</para>
643 <para>System designations look like <quote>Personal Workstation
644 433a</quote>. Personal Workstation, being a bit of a mouthful,
645 is often abbreviated to PWS. This means it has a 433 MHz CPU,
646 and started life as a WinNT workstation (the trailing
647 <quote>a</quote>). Systems designated from day 1 to run Tru64
648 Unix or OpenVMS will sport <quote>433au</quote>. WinNT-Miatas
649 are likely to come pre-configured with an IDE CDROM drive. So,
650 in general systems are named like PWS[433,500,600]a[u].</para>
652 <para>There was also a Miata model with a special CPU cooling
653 system by Kryotech. The Kryotech has a special cooling system
654 and is housed in a different enclosure.</para>
656 <para>Features:</para>
659 <para>21164A EV56 Alpha CPU at 433, 500 or 600MHz</para>
662 <para>21174 core logic (<quote>Pyxis</quote>) chip</para>
665 <para>on-board Bcache / L3 cache: 0, 2 or 4 Mbytes (uses a
668 <listitem><para>memory:</para>
671 <para>bus width: 128 bits wide, ECC protected</para>
674 <para>unbuffered 72 bit wide SDRAMs DIMMs,
675 installed in pairs of 2</para>
678 <para>6 DIMM sockets</para>
681 <para>maximum memory 1.5 GBytes</para>
686 <para>on-board Fast Ethernet:</para>
689 <para>MX5 uses a 21142 or 21143 Ethernet chip,
690 dependent on the version of the PCI riser card</para>
693 <para>MiataGL has a 21143 chip</para>
696 <para>the bulkhead can be 10/100 Mbit UTP, or
697 10 Mbit UTP/BNC</para>
702 <para>2 on-board [E]IDE disk interfaces, based on
703 the CMD646 (MX5) or the Cypress 82C693 (MiataGL)</para>
706 <para>1 Ultra-Wide SCSI Qlogic 1040 [MiataGL only]</para>
709 <para>2 64-bit PCI slots</para>
712 <para>3 32-bit PCI slots (behind a DEC PCI-PCI bridge chip)</para>
715 <para>3 ISA slots (physically shared with the 32 bit PCI slots,
716 via an Intel 82378IB PCI to ISA bridge chip)</para>
719 <para>2 16550A serial port</para>
722 <para>1 parallel port</para>
725 <para>PS/2 keyboard & mouse port</para>
728 <para>USB interface [MiataGL only]</para>
731 <para>embedded sound based on an ESS1888 chip</para>
735 <para>The Miata logic is divided into two printed circuit
736 boards. The lower board in the bottom of the machine has the
737 PCI and ISA slots and things like the sound chip etc. The top
738 board has the CPU, the Pyxis chip, memory etc. Note that MX5
739 and the MiataGL use a different PCI riser board. This means
740 that you cannot just upgrade to a MiataGL CPU board (with the
741 newer Pyxis chip) but that you will also need a different
742 riser board. Apparently an MX5 riser with a MiataGL CPU board
743 will work but it is definitely not a supported or tested
744 configuration. Everything else (cabinet, wiring, etc.) is
745 identical for MX5 and MiataGL.</para>
747 <para>MX5 has problems with DMA via the 2 64-bit PCI slots
748 when this DMA crosses a page boundary. The 32 bit slots don't
749 have this problem because the PCI-PCI bridge chip does not
750 allow the offending transfers. The SRM code knows about the
751 problem and refuses to start the system if there is a PCI card
752 in one of the 64bit slots that it does not know about. Cards
753 that are <quote>known good</quote> to the SRM are allowed to
754 be used in the 64bit slots.</para>
756 <para>If you want to fool the SRM you can type <userinput>set
757 pci_device_override</userinput> at the SRM prompt. Just don't
758 complain if your data mysteriously gets mangled.</para>
760 <para>The complete command is:</para>
762 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SET PCI_DEVICE_OVERRIDE <replaceable><vendor_id></replaceable><replaceable><device_id></replaceable></userinput></screen>
764 <para>For example:</para>
766 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SET PCI_DEVICE_OVERRIDE 88c15333</userinput></screen>
768 <para>The most radical approach is to use:</para>
770 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SET PCI_DEVICE_OVERRIDE -1</userinput></screen>
772 <para>This disables PCI ID checking altogether, so that you
773 can install any PCI card without its ID getting
774 checked. For this to work you need a reasonable current SRM version.</para>
775 <important><para>Do this on your own risk..</para></important>
777 <para>The &os; kernel reports it when it sees a buggy Pyxis chip:</para>
779 <screen>Sep 16 18:39:43 miata /kernel: cia0: Pyxis, pass 1
780 Sep 16 18:39:43 miata /kernel: cia0: extended capabilities: 1<BWEN>
781 Sep 16 18:39:43 miata /kernel: cia0: WARNING: Pyxis pass 1 DMA bug; no bets...</screen>
783 <para>A MiataGL probes as:</para>
785 <screen>Jan 3 12:22:32 miata /kernel: cia0: Pyxis, pass 1
786 Jan 3 12:22:32 miata /kernel: cia0: extended capabilities: 1<BWEN>
787 Jan 3 12:22:32 miata /kernel: pcib0: <2117x PCI host bus adapter> on cia0</screen>
789 <para>MiataGL does not have the DMA problems of the MX5. PCI
790 cards that make the MX5 SRM choke when installed in the 64bit
791 slots are accepted without problems by the MiataGL SRM.</para>
793 <para>The latest mainboard revisions of MX5 contain a hardware
794 workaround for the bug. The SRM does not know about the ECO
795 and will complain about unknown cards as before. So does the
796 &os; kernel by the way.</para>
798 <para>The Miata SRM can boot from IDE CDROM drives. IDE hard disk
799 boot is known to work for both MiataGL and MX5 disks, so you
800 can root &os; from an IDE disk. Speeds on MX5 are around 14
801 Mbytes/sec assuming a suitable drive. Miata's CMD646 chip will
802 support up to WDMA2 mode as the chip is too buggy for use
805 <para>Miata MX5s generally use Qlogic 1040 based SCSI adapters.
806 These are bootable by the SRM console. Note that Adaptec cards
807 are <emphasis>not</emphasis> bootable by the Miata SRM console.</para>
809 <para>The MiataGL has a faster PCI-PCI bridge chip on the PCI
810 riser card than some of the MX5 riser card versions. Some of
811 the MX5 risers have the <emphasis>same</emphasis> chip as the
812 MiataGL. All in all there is a lot of variation.</para>
814 <para>Not all VGA cards will work behind the PCI-PCI
815 bridge. This manifests itself as no video at all. Workaround
816 is to put the VGA card <quote>before</quote> the bridge, in
817 one of the 64 bit PCI slots. Graphics performance using a
818 64 bit slot is generally substantially better.</para>
820 <para>Both MX5 and MiataGL have an on-board sound chip, an
821 ESS1888. It emulates a SoundBlaster and can be enabled by
823 <programlisting>device pcm0
824 device sbc0</programlisting>
825 <para>in your kernel configuration file:</para>
827 <para>in case your Miata has the optional cache board
828 installed make sure it is firmly seated. A slightly loose
829 cache has been observed to cause weird crashes (not surprising
830 obviously, but maybe not so obvious when troubleshooting). The
831 cache module is identical between MX5 and MiataGL.</para>
833 <para>Installing a 2Mb cache module achieves, apart from a
834 10-15% speed increase (based on buildworld elapsed time), a
835 <emphasis>decrease</emphasis> for PCI DMA read bandwidth from
836 64bit PCI cards. A benchmark on a 64-bit Myrinet card resulted
837 in a decrease from 149 Mbytes/sec to 115 Mbytes/sec. Something
838 to keep in mind when doing really high speed things with 64
839 bit PCI adapters.</para>
841 <para>Although the hardware allows you to install up to 1.5Gbyte
842 of memory, &os; is limited to 1Gbyte because the DMA code does not
843 correctly handle memory above 1Gbyte.</para>
845 <para>Moving to a faster CPU is quite simple, swap out the
846 CPU chip and set the clock multiplier dipswitch to the speed of
849 <para>If you experience SRM errors like</para>
851 <screen>ERROR: scancode 0xa3 not supported on PCXAL</screen>
853 <para>after halting &os; you should update your SRM firmware to V7.2-1 or
854 later. This SRM version is first available on the Firmware
855 Update CD V5.7, or on <ulink
856 url="http://www.compaq.com/">http://www.compaq.com/</ulink> This SRM
857 problem is fixed on both Miata MX5 and Miata GL.</para>
859 <para>USB is supported by &os; 4.1 and later.</para>
861 <para>Disconnect the power cord before dismantling the
862 machine, the soft-power switch keeps part of the logic powered
863 <emphasis>even</emphasis> when the machine is switched off.</para>
865 <para>The kernel configuration file for a Miata kernel must
868 <programlisting>options DEC_ST550
869 cpu EV5</programlisting>
873 <title>DEC3000 family (the <quote>Bird</quote> machines)</title>
875 <para>The DEC3000 series were among the first Alpha machines
876 ever produced. They are based on an I/O bus called the
877 TurboChannel (TC) bus. These machines are built like tanks
878 (watch your back).</para>
880 <para>DEC3000 can be subdivided in DEC3000/500-class and
881 DEC3000/300-class. The DEC3000/500-class is the early high-end
882 workstation/server Alpha family. Servers use serial consoles,
883 workstations have graphics tubes. DEC3000/300-class is the
884 lower-cost workstation class.</para>
886 <para>DEC3000/500-class are quite fast (considering their age)
887 thanks to the good memory design. DEC3000/300 is crippled
888 compared to DEC3000/500 because of its much narrower memory
891 <para>They are called <quote>Birds</quote> because their
892 internal DEC code names were bird names:</para>
895 <tgroup cols=3 align=left>
896 <colspec colwidth="*">
897 <colspec colwidth="*">
898 <colspec colwidth="2*">
901 <entry>DEC3000/400</entry>
902 <entry>Sandpiper</entry>
903 <entry>133MHz CPU, desktop</entry>
906 <entry>DEC3000/500</entry>
907 <entry>Flamingo</entry>
908 <entry>150MHz CPU, floor standing</entry>
911 <entry>DEC3000/500X</entry>
912 <entry>Hot Pink</entry>
913 <entry>200MHz CPU, floor standing</entry>
916 <entry>DEC3000/600</entry>
917 <entry>Sandpiper+</entry>
918 <entry>175MHz CPU, desktop</entry>
921 <entry>DEC3000/700</entry>
922 <entry>Sandpiper45</entry>
923 <entry>225MHz CPU, floor standing</entry>
926 <entry>DEC3000/800</entry>
927 <entry>Flamingo Ultra</entry>
928 <entry>200MHz CPU, floor standing</entry>
931 <entry>DEC3000/900</entry>
932 <entry>Flamingo45</entry>
933 <entry>275MHz CPU, floor standing</entry>
936 <entry>DEC3000/300</entry>
937 <entry>Pelican</entry>
938 <entry>150MHz CPU, desktop, 2 TC slots</entry>
941 <entry>DEC3000/300X</entry>
942 <entry>Pelican+</entry>
943 <entry>175MHz CPU, desktop, 2 TC slots</entry>
946 <entry>DEC3000/300LX</entry>
947 <entry>Pelican+</entry>
948 <entry>125MHz CPU, desktop, 2 TC slots</entry>
951 <entry>DEC3000/300L</entry>
953 <entry>100MHz CPU, desktop, no TC slots</entry>
959 <para>Features:</para>
962 <para>21064 CPU (100 to 200 MHz) or 21064A CPU (225 to 275
966 <para>memory DEC3000/500 class:</para>
969 <para>bus width: 256 bit, with ECC</para>
972 <para>proprietary 100pin SIMMs</para>
975 <para>installed in sets of 8</para>
980 <para>memory DEC3000/300 class:</para><itemizedlist>
982 <para>bus width: 64 bit, with ECC</para>
985 <para>PS/2 style 72pin 36 bit FPM SIMMs 70ns or better</para>
988 <para>used in pairs of 2</para>
993 <para>Bcache / L2 cache: varying sizes, 512 kB to 2 Mbyte</para>
996 <para>built-in 10Mbit Ethernet based on a Lance 7990 chip,
1000 <para>one or two SCSI buses based on a NCR53C94 or a
1001 NCR53CF94-2 chip</para>
1004 <para>2 serial ports based on Zilog 8530 (one usable as a
1005 serial console)</para>
1008 <para>embedded ISDN interface</para>
1011 <para>on-board 8 bit sound</para>
1014 <para>8 bit graphics on-board or via a TC card (depending
1019 <para>Currently DEC3000 machines can only be used diskless on
1020 &os;. The reason for this is that the SCSI drivers needed
1021 for the TC SCSI adapters were not brought into CAM that the
1022 recent &os; versions use. TC option cards for single (PMAZ-A) or
1023 dual fast SCSI (PMAZC-AA) are also available. These cards currently
1024 have no drivers on &os; either.</para>
1026 <para>DEC3000/300 has 5 MBytes/sec SCSI on-board. This bus is
1027 used for both internal and external devices. DEC3000/500 has 2
1028 SCSI buses. One is for internal devices only, the other one is
1029 for external devices only.</para>
1031 <para>Floppy devices found in the DEC3000s are attached to the
1032 SCSI bus (via a bridge card). This makes it possible to boot from them
1033 using the same device names as ordinary SCSI hard-disks, for example:</para>
1034 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>BOOT DKA300</userinput></screen>
1036 <para>The 3000/300 series has a half-speed TurboChannel compared
1037 to the other 3000 machines. Some TC expansion cards have
1038 troubles with the half-speed bus. Caveat emptor.</para>
1040 <para>The embedded ISDN interface is not supported on &os;.</para>
1042 <para>DEC3000/300-class uses standard 36 bit, 72 pin Fast Page
1043 Mode SIMMs. EDO SIMMs, 32 or 33 bit SIMMs all will not work in
1044 Pelicans. For 32Mbyte SIMMs to work on the DEC3000/300-class
1045 the presence detect bits/pins of the SIMM must correspond to
1046 what the machine expects. If they don't, the SIMM is
1047 <quote>seen</quote> as a 8 Mbyte SIMM. 8 Mbyte and 32 Mbyte
1048 SIMMs can be mixed, as long as the pairs themselves are
1051 <para>When you find yourself in need of fixing 32Mbyte SIMMs
1052 that lack correct presence bits the following info might be of
1055 <para>There are four presence detection bits on PS/2 SIMMs. Two
1056 of the bits indicate the access time. The other two indicate
1057 the memory size.</para>
1059 <para>At one end of the SIMM there are two rows of four solder
1060 pads. One row is connected to Vss (GND) and the other is
1061 connected to pins 67 (PRD1), 68 (PRD2), 69 (PRD3), 70
1064 <para>If you bridge a pair of pads with a small resistor or a
1065 drop of solder you ground that particular bit.</para>
1068 <tgroup cols=3 align=left>
1069 <colspec colwidth="*">
1070 <colspec colwidth="*">
1071 <colspec colwidth="2*">
1076 <entry>Memory Size</entry>
1083 <entry>4 or 64 Mbyte</entry>
1088 <entry>2 or 32 Mbyte</entry>
1093 <entry>1 or 16 Mbyte</entry>
1098 <entry>8 Mbyte</entry>
1105 <tgroup cols=3 align=left>
1106 <colspec colwidth="*">
1107 <colspec colwidth="*">
1108 <colspec colwidth="2*">
1113 <entry>Access Time</entry>
1120 <entry>50 or 100 nsec</entry>
1125 <entry>80 nsec</entry>
1130 <entry>70 nsec</entry>
1135 <entry>60 nsec</entry>
1141 <para>DEC3000/500-class can use 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 Mbyte 100pin
1142 SIMMs. Note that the maximum memory size varies from system to
1143 system, desktop machines have sacrificed box size for less
1144 memory SIMM sockets. Given enough sockets and enough SIMMs you
1145 can get to 512 Mbytes maximum. This is one of the main
1146 differences between floor standing and desktop machines, the
1147 latter have far less SIMM sockets.</para>
1149 <para>The sound hardware is not supported on any of the Birds.</para>
1151 <para>There is no X-Windows version available for the TC
1152 machines. DEC3000/300 needs a serial console. DEC3000/500-class
1153 might work with a graphical console. I ran mine with a serial
1154 console so I cannot verify this.</para>
1156 <para>Birds can be obtained from surplus sales etc. As they are
1157 not PCI based they are no longer actively maintained. TC
1158 expansion boards can be difficult to obtain these days and
1159 support for them is not too good unless you write/debug the code
1160 yourself. Programming information for TC boards is hard to
1161 find. Birds are recommended only if a. you can get them cheap
1162 and b. if you prepared to work on the code to support them
1165 <para>For the DEC3000/[4-9]00 series machines the kernel config
1166 file must contain:</para>
1167 <programlisting>options DEC_3000_500
1168 cpu EV4</programlisting>
1170 <para>For the DEC3000/300 (<quote>Pelican</quote>) machines the
1171 kernel config file must contain:</para>
1172 <programlisting>options DEC_3000_300
1173 cpu EV4</programlisting>
1177 <title>Evaluation Board 64 family</title>
1179 <para>In its attempts to popularize the Alpha CPU DEC produced a number
1180 of so called Evaluation Boards. Members of this family are EB64, EB64+,
1181 AlphaPC64 (codename <quote>Cabriolet</quote>).
1182 A non-DEC member of this family is the Aspen Alpine.
1183 The EB64 family of evaluation boards has the following
1188 <para>21064 or 21064A CPU, 150 to 275 MHz</para>
1191 <para>memory:</para>
1194 <para>memory buswidth: 128 bit</para>
1197 <para>PS/2 style 72 pin 33 bit Fast Page Mode SIMMs</para>
1200 <para>70ns or better</para>
1203 <para>installed in sets of 4</para>
1206 <para>8 SIMM sockets</para>
1209 <para>uses parity memory</para>
1214 <para>Bcache / L2 cache: 0, 512 kByte, 1 Mbyte or 2 Mbytes</para>
1217 <para>21072 (<quote>APECS</quote>) chip set</para>
1220 <para>Intel 82378ZB PCI to ISA bridge chip (<quote>Saturn</quote>)
1224 <para>dual 16550A serial ports</para>
1227 <para>parallel printer port</para>
1230 <para>Symbios 53C810 Fast-SCSI (not on AlphaPC64)</para>
1233 <para>IDE interface (only on AlphaPC64)</para>
1236 <para>embedded 10 Mbit Ethernet (not on AlphaPC64)</para>
1239 <para>2 PCI slots (4 slots on AlphaPC64)</para>
1242 <para>3 ISA slots</para>
1246 <para>Aspen Alpine is slightly different, but is close enough to the
1247 EB64+ to run an EB64+ SRM EPROM (mine did..). The Aspen Alpine does
1248 not have an embedded Ethernet, has 3 instead of 2 PCI slots. It comes
1249 with 2 Mbytes of cache already soldered onto the mainboard. It has
1250 jumpers to select the use of 60, 70 or 80ns SIMM speeds.</para>
1252 <para>36 bits SIMMs work fine, 3 bits simply remain unused. Note
1253 the systems use Fast Page Mode memory, not EDO memory.</para>
1255 <para>The EB64+ SRM console code is housed in an UV-erasable EPROM. No
1256 easy flash SRM upgrades for the EB64+ The latest SRM version available
1257 for EB64+ is quite ancient anyway.</para>
1259 <para>The EB64+ SRM can boot both 53C810 and Qlogic1040 SCSI adapters.
1260 Pitfall for the Qlogic is that the firmware that is down-loaded by
1261 the SRM onto the Qlogic chip is very old. There are no updates for the
1262 EB64+ SRM available. So you are stuck with old Qlogic bits too.
1263 I have had quite some problems when I wanted to use Ultra-SCSI drives
1264 on the Alpine with Qlogic. The &os; kernel can be compiled to include
1265 a much newer Qlogic firmware revision. This is not the default because
1266 it adds hundreds of kBytes worth of bloat to the kernel. In &os; 4.1
1267 and later the isp firmware is contained in a kernel loadable module.
1268 All of this might mean that you need to use a non-Qlogic adapter to
1271 <para>AlphaPC64 boards generally come with ARC console firmware.
1272 SRM console code can be loaded from floppy into the Flash ROM.</para>
1274 <para>The IDE interface of the AlphaPC64 is not bootable from the
1275 SRM console. Enabling it requires the following line in the kernel
1276 configuration file:</para>
1278 <programlisting>device ata0 at isa? port IO_WD1 irq 14</programlisting>
1280 <para>Note that the boards require a power supply that supplies
1281 3.3 Volts for the CPU.</para>
1283 <para>For the EB64 family machines the kernel config file must contain:</para>
1284 <programlisting>options DEC_EB64PLUS
1285 cpu EV4</programlisting>
1290 <title>Evaluation Board 164 (<quote>EB164, PC164, PC164LX,
1291 PC164SX</quote>) family</title>
1293 <para>EB164 is a newer design evaluation board, based on the 21164A
1294 CPU. This design has been used to <quote>spin off</quote> multiple variations,
1295 some of which are used by OEM manufacturers/assembly shops. Samsung
1296 did its own PC164LX which has only 32 bit PCI, whereas the Digital
1297 variant has 64 bit PCI.</para>
1301 <para>21164A, multiple speed variants [EB164, PC164, PC164LX]</para>
1304 <para>21164PC [only on PC164SX]</para>
1307 <para>21171 (Alcor) chip set [EB164]</para>
1308 <para>21172 (Alcor2) chip set [PC164]</para>
1309 <para>21174 (Pyxis) chip [164LX, 164SX]</para>
1312 <para>Bcache / L3 cache: EB164 uses special cache-SIMMs</para>
1315 <para>memory bus: 128 bit / 256 bit</para>
1318 <para>memory:</para><itemizedlist>
1320 <para>PS/2 style SIMMs in sets of 4 or 8</para>
1323 <para>36 bit, Fast Page Mode, uses ECC, [EB164 / PC164]</para>
1326 <para>SDRAM DIMMs in sets of 2, uses ECC [PC164SX / PC164LX]
1328 </listitem></itemizedlist>
1331 <para>2 16550A serial ports</para>
1334 <para>PS/2 style keyboard & mouse</para>
1337 <para>floppy controller</para>
1340 <para>parallel port</para>
1343 <para>32 bits PCI</para>
1346 <para>64 bits PCI [some models]</para>
1349 <para>ISA slots via an Intel 82378ZB PCI to ISA bridge chip</para>
1353 <para>Using 8 SIMMs for a 256bit wide memory can yield interesting
1354 speedups over a 4 SIMM/128bit wide memory. Obviously all 8 SIMMs must
1355 be of the same type to make this work. The system must be explicitly
1356 setup to use the 8 SIMM memory arrangement. You must have 8 SIMMs,
1357 4 SIMMs distributed over 2 banks will not work. For the AlphaPC164
1358 you can have a maximum of 1Gbyte of RAM, using 8 128Mbyte
1359 SIMMs. The manual indicates the maximum is 512 Mbyte.</para>
1361 <para>The SRM can boot from Qlogic 10xx boards or the Symbios 53C810[A].
1362 Newer Symbios 810 revisions like the Symbios 810AE are not recognized by
1363 the SRM on PC164. PC164 SRM does not appear to recognize a Symbios 53C895
1364 based host adapter (tested with a Tekram DC-390U2W). On the other hand
1365 some no-name Symbios 53C985 board has been reported to work.
1366 Cards like the Tekram DC-390F (Symbios875 based) have been confirmed to
1367 work fine on the PC164. Unfortunately this seems to be dependent on the
1368 actual version of the chip/board.</para>
1370 <para>Symbios 53C825[a] will also work as boot adapter. Diamond
1371 FirePort, although based on Symbios chips, is not bootable by the
1372 PC164SX SRM. PC164SX is reported to boot fine with Symbios825,
1373 Symbios875, Symbios895 and Symbios876 based cards. In addition, Adaptec
1374 2940U and 2940UW are reported to work for booting (verified on
1375 SRM V5.7-1). Adaptec 2930U2 and 2940U2[W] do not work.</para>
1377 <para>164LX and 164SX with SRM firmware version 5.8 or later can boot
1378 from Adaptec 2940-series adapters.</para>
1380 <para>In summary: this family of machines is <quote>blessed</quote> with a
1381 challenging compatibility as far as SCSI adapters go.</para>
1383 <para>On 164SX you can have a maximum of 1 Gbyte of RAM. 4 regular
1384 256MB PC133 ECC DIMMs are reported to work just fine. Whether 512MB
1385 DIMMs will also work is currently unknown.</para>
1387 <para>PCI bridge chips are sometimes not appreciated by the 164SX,
1388 they cause SRM errors and kernel panics in those cases. This seems
1389 to depend on the fact if the card is recognised, and therefore
1390 correctly initialised, by the SRM console. The 164SX' onboard
1391 IDE interface is quite slow, a Promise card gives a 3-4 times
1392 speed improvement.</para>
1394 <para>On PC164 the SRM sometimes seems to loose its variable settings.
1395 <quote>For PC164, current superstition says that, to avoid losing settings,
1396 you want to first downgrade to SRM 4.x and then upgrade to 5.x.</quote>
1397 One sample error that was observed was:</para>
1398 <screen>ERROR: ISA table corrupt!</screen>
1400 <para>A sequence of a downgrade to SRM4.9, an</para>
1402 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>ISACFG -INIT</userinput></screen>
1404 <para>followed by</para>
1406 <screen><prompt>>>> </prompt><userinput>INIT</userinput></screen>
1408 <para>made the problem go away. Some PC164 owners report they have never seen
1409 the problem. </para>
1411 <para>On PC164SX the AlphaBIOS allows you a selection to select SRM to
1412 be used as console on the next power up. This selection does
1413 not appear to have any effect. In other words, you will get the
1414 AlphaBIOS regardless of what you select. The fix is to reflash the
1415 console ROM with the SRM code for PC164SX. This will overwrite the
1416 AlphaBIOS and will get you the SRM console you desire. The SRM code
1417 can be found on the Compaq Web site.</para>
1419 <para>164LX can either have the SRM console code or the AlphaBIOS
1420 code in its flash ROM because the flash ROM is too small to hold
1421 both at the same time.</para>
1423 <para>PC164 can boot from IDE disks assuming your SRM version is
1424 recent enough.</para>
1426 <para>EB164 needs a power supply that supplies 3.3 Volts. PC164 does
1427 not implement the PS_ON signal that ATX power supplies need to switch on.
1428 A simple switch pulling this signal to ground allows you to run a
1429 standard ATX power supply.</para>
1431 <para>For the EB164 class machines the kernel config file must
1433 <programlisting>options DEC_EB164
1434 cpu EV5</programlisting>
1438 <title>AlphaStation 200 (<quote>Mustang</quote>) and 400
1439 (<quote>Avanti</quote>) series</title>
1441 <para>The Digital AlphaStation 200 and 400 series systems are early
1442 low end PCI based workstations. The 200 and 250 series are
1443 desktop boxes, the 400 series is a desk-side mini-tower.</para>
1445 <para>Features:</para>
1448 <para>21064 or 21064A CPU at speeds of 166 up to 333 MHz</para>
1451 <para>DECchip 21071-AA core logic chip set</para>
1454 <para>Bcache / L2 cache: 512 Kbytes (200 and 400 series)
1455 or 2048KBytes (250 series)</para>
1458 <para>memory:</para>
1461 <para>64 bit bus width</para>
1464 <para>8 to 384 MBytes of RAM</para>
1467 <para>70 ns or better Fast Page DRAM</para>
1470 <para>in three pairs (200 and 400 series)</para>
1473 <para>in two quads, so banks of four. (250 series)</para>
1476 <para>the memory subsystem uses parity</para>
1481 <para>PS/2 keyboard and mouse port</para>
1484 <para>two 16550 serial ports</para>
1487 <para>parallel port</para>
1490 <para>floppy disk interface</para>
1493 <para>32 bit PCI expansion slots (3 for the AS400-series,
1494 2 for the AS200 & 250-series)</para>
1497 <para>ISA expansion slots (4 for the AS400-series,
1498 2 for the AS200 & 250-series)
1499 (some ISA/PCI slots are physically shared)</para>
1502 <para>embedded 21040-based Ethernet (200 & 250 series)</para>
1505 <para>embedded Symbios 53c810 Fast SCSI-2 chip</para>
1508 <para>Intel 82378IB (<quote>Saturn</quote>) PCI-ISA bridge chip</para>
1511 <para>graphics is embedded TGA or PCI VGA (model dependent)</para>
1514 <para>16 bit sound (on 200 & 250 series)</para>
1518 <para>The systems use parity memory SIMMs, but these do not need 36 bit
1519 wide SIMMs. 33 bit wide SIMMs are sufficient, 36 bit SIMMs are
1520 acceptable too. EDO or 32 bit SIMMs will not work. 4, 8, 16, 32 and
1521 64 Mbyte SIMMs are supported.</para>
1523 <para>The AS200 & AS250 sound hardware is reported to work OK assuming
1524 you have the following line in your kernel config file:</para>
1525 <programlisting>device pcm0 at isa? port 0x530 irq 10 drq 0 flags 0x10011</programlisting>
1527 <para>AlphaStation 200 & 250 series have an automatic SCSI terminator.
1528 This means that as soon as you plug a cable onto the external SCSI
1529 connector the internal terminator of the system is disabled. It also
1530 means that you should not leave unterminated cables plugged into
1533 <para>AlphaStation 400 series have an SRM variable that controls
1534 termination. In case you have external SCSI devices connected you
1535 must set this SRM variable using</para>
1536 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SET CONTROL_SCSI_TERM EXTERNAL</userinput>.</screen>
1538 <para>If only internal SCSI devices are present use:</para>
1539 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SET CONTROL_SCSI_TERM INTERNAL</userinput></screen>
1541 <para>For the AlphaStation-[24][05]00 machines the kernel config file
1542 must contain:</para>
1543 <programlisting>options DEC_2100_A50
1544 cpu EV4</programlisting>
1548 <title>AlphaStation 500 and 600 (<quote>Alcor</quote> &
1549 <quote>Maverick</quote> for EV5, <quote>Bret</quote> for EV56)</title>
1551 <para>AS500 and 600 were the high-end EV5 / PCI based workstations.
1552 EV6 based machines have in the meantime taken their place as front
1553 runners. AS500 is a desktop in a dark blue case (TopGun blue),
1554 AS600 is a sturdy desk-side box. AS600 has a nice LCD panel to observe
1555 the early stages of SRM startup.</para>
1557 <para>Features:</para>
1560 <para>21164 EV5 CPU at 266, 300, 333, 366, 400, 433, 466, or
1561 500 MHz (AS500) or at 266, 300 or 333 MHz (AS600)</para>
1564 <para>21171 (Alcor) or 21172 (Alcor2) core logic chip set</para>
1566 <listitem><para>Cache:</para>
1569 <para>2 or 4 Mb L3 / Bcache (AS600 at 266 MHz)</para>
1572 <para>4 Mb L3 / Bcache (AS600 at 300 MHz)</para>
1575 <para>2 or 8 Mb L3 / Bcache (8 Mb on 500 MHz version only)</para>
1578 <para>2 to 16 Mb L3 / Bcache (AS600; 3 cache-SIMM slots)</para>
1583 <para>memory buswidth: 256 bits</para>
1585 <listitem><para>AS500 memory:</para>
1588 <para>industry standard 72 bit wide buffered Fast Page Mode
1592 <para>8 DIMM slots</para>
1595 <para>installed in sets of 4</para>
1598 <para>maximum memory is 1 GB (512 Mb max on 333 MHz CPUs)</para>
1601 <para>uses ECC </para>
1605 <listitem><para>AS600 memory:</para>
1608 <para>industry standard 36 bit Fast Page Mode SIMMs</para>
1611 <para>32 SIMM slots</para>
1614 <para>installed in sets of 8</para>
1617 <para>maximum memory is 1 GB</para>
1620 <para>uses ECC</para>
1625 <para>Qlogic 1020 based wide SCSI bus (1 bus/chip for AS500,
1626 2 buses/chip for AS600)</para>
1629 <para>21040 based 10 Mbit Ethernet adapter, both Thinwire
1630 and UTP connectors</para>
1633 <para>expansion:</para>
1639 <para>3 32-bit PCI slots</para>
1642 <para>1 64-bit PCI slot</para>
1650 <para>2 32-bit PCI slot</para>
1653 <para>3 64-bit PCI slots</para>
1656 <para>1 PCI/EISA physically shared slot</para>
1659 <para>3 EISA slots</para>
1662 <para>1 PCI and 1 EISA slot are occupied by default</para>
1669 <para>21050 PCI-to-PCI bridge chip</para>
1672 <para>Intel 82375EB PCI-EISA bridge (AS600 only)</para>
1675 <para>2 16550A serial ports</para>
1678 <para>1 parallel port</para>
1681 <para>16 bit audio Windows Sound System, in a dedicated slot (AS500)
1682 in EISA slot (AS600, this is an ISA card)</para>
1685 <para>PS/2 keyboard and mouse port</para>
1689 <para>Early machines had Fast SCSI interfaces, later ones are Ultra
1690 SCSI capable. AS500 shares its single SCSI bus with internal and external
1691 devices. For a Fast SCSI bus you are limited to 1.8 meters bus
1692 length external to the box. The AS500 Qlogic ISP1020A chip can be set
1693 to run in Ultra mode by setting a SRM variable. &os; however follows
1694 the Qlogic chip errata and limits the bus speed to Fast.</para>
1696 <para>Beware of ancient SRM versions on AS500. When you see weird
1697 SCSI speeds being reported by &os; like</para>
1699 <programlisting>cd0 at isp0 bus 0 target 4 lun 0
1700 cd0: <DEC RRD45 DEC 0436> Removable CD-ROM SCSI-2 device
1701 cd0: 250.000MB/s transfers (250.000MHz, offset 12)</programlisting>
1703 <para> it is time to do a SRM console firmware upgrade.</para>
1705 <para>AS600 has one Qlogic SCSI chip dedicated to the internal devices
1706 whereas the other Qlogic SCSI chip is dedicated to external SCSI devices.
1709 <para>In AS500 DIMMs are installed in sets of 4, in <quote>physically
1710 interleaved</quote> layout. So, a bank of 4 DIMMs is <emphasis>not</emphasis>
1711 4 physically adjacent DIMMs. Note that the DIMMs are <emphasis>not</emphasis>
1714 <para>In AS600 the memory SIMMs are placed onto two memory daughter
1715 cards. SIMMs are installed in sets of 8. Both memory daughter cards must
1716 be populated identically.</para>
1718 <para>Note that both AS500 and AS600 are EISA machines. This means
1719 you have to run the EISA Configuration Utility (ECU) from floppy
1720 after adding EISA cards or to change things like the configuration
1721 settings of the onboard I/O. For AS500 which does not have a physical
1722 EISA slot the ECU is used to configure the onboard sound interface
1725 <para>AS500 onboard sound can be used by adding a line like</para>
1727 <programlisting>device pcm0 at isa? port? irq 10 drq 0 flags 0x10011</programlisting>
1729 <para>to the kernel configuration file.</para>
1731 <para>Using the ECU I configured my AS500 to use IRQ 10, port 0x530,
1732 and drq 0. Note the uncommon flags in the kernel configuration.</para>
1734 <para>AS600 has a peculiarity for its PCI slots. AS600 (or rather the
1735 PCI expansion card containing the SCSI adapters) does not allow I/O port
1736 mapping, therefore all devices behind it must use memory mapping. If you
1737 have problems getting the Qlogic SCSI adapters to work, add the following
1738 option to <filename>/boot/loader.rc</filename>:</para>
1740 <programlisting>set isp_mem_map=0xff</programlisting>
1742 <para>This may need to be typed at the boot loader prompt before booting the
1743 installation kernel.</para>
1745 <para>For the AlphaStation-[56]00 machines the kernel config file
1746 must contain:</para>
1747 <programlisting>options DEC_KN20AA
1748 cpu EV5</programlisting>
1753 <title>AlphaServer 1000 (<quote>Mikasa</quote>),
1754 1000A (<quote>Noritake</quote>) and 800(<quote>Corelle</quote>)</title>
1756 <para>The AlphaServer 1000 and 800 range of machines are intended as
1757 departmental servers. They come in quite some variations in packaging
1758 and mainboard/cpu. Generally speaking there are 21064 (EV4) CPU based
1759 machines and 21164 (EV5) based ones. The CPU is on a daughter card, and
1760 the type of CPU (EV4 or EV5) must match the mainboard in use.</para>
1762 <para>AlphaServer 800 has a much smaller mini tower case, it lacks the
1763 StorageWorks SCSI hot-plug chassis. The main difference between AS1000
1764 and AS1000A is that AS1000A has 7 PCI slots whereas AS1000 only has 3
1765 PCI slots and has EISA slots instead.</para>
1767 <para>AS800 with an EV5/400 MHz CPU was later re-branded to become a
1768 <quote>DIGITAL Server 3300[R]</quote>, AS800 with an EV5/500 MHz
1769 CPU was later re-branded to become a
1770 <quote>DIGITAL Server 3305[R]</quote>.</para>
1772 <para>Features:</para>
1775 <para>21064 EV4[5] CPU at 200, 233 or 266 MHz
1776 21164 EV5[6] CPU at 300, 333 or 400 MHz (or 500 MHz for
1780 <para>memory:</para><itemizedlist>
1782 <para>buswidth: 128 bit with ECC</para>
1784 <listitem><para>AS1000[A]:</para>
1787 <para>72pin 36 bit Fast Page Mode SIMMs, 70ns or better</para>
1790 <para>16 (EV5 machines) or 20 (EV4 machines) SIMM slots</para>
1793 <para>max memory is 1 GB</para>
1796 <para>uses ECC</para>
1801 <para>AS800: Uses 60ns 3.3 Volts EDO DIMMs</para>
1806 <para>embedded VGA (on some mainboard models)</para>
1809 <para>3 PCI, 2 EISA, 1 64-bit PCI/EISA combo (AS800)</para>
1812 <para>7 PCI, 2 EISA (AS1000A)</para>
1815 <para>2 PCI, 1 EISA/PCI, 7 EISA (AS1000)</para>
1818 <para>embedded SCSI based on Symbios 810 [AS1000] or
1819 Qlogic 1020 [AS1000A]</para>
1823 <para>AS1000 based machines come in multiple enclosure types. Floor
1824 standing, rack-mount, with or without StorageWorks SCSI chassis etc.
1825 The electronics are the same.</para>
1827 <para>AS1000-systems: All EV4 based machines use standard PS/2 style
1828 36 bit 72pin SIMMs in sets of 5. The fifth SIMM is used for ECC.
1829 All EV5 based machines use standard PS/2 style 36 bit 72pin SIMMs in sets
1830 of 4. The ECC is done based on the 4 extra bits per SIMM
1831 (4 bits out of 36). The EV5 mainboards have 16 SIMM slots,
1832 the EV4 mainboards have 20 slots.</para>
1834 <para> AS800 machines use DIMMs in sets of 4. DIMM installation must
1835 start in slots marked bank 0. A bank is four physically adjacent slots.
1836 The biggest size DIMMs must be installed in bank 0 in case 2 banks
1837 of different DIMM sizes are used. Max memory size is 2GB. Note
1838 that these are EDO DIMMs.</para>
1840 <para>The AS1000/800 are somewhat stubborn when it comes to serial
1841 consoles. They need</para>
1842 <screen>>>> <userinput>SET CONSOLE SERIAL</userinput></screen>
1843 <para>before they go for
1844 a serial console. Pulling the keyboard from the machine is not sufficient,
1845 like it is on most other Alpha models. Going back to a graphical console
1847 <screen>>>> <userinput>SET CONSOLE GRAPHICS</userinput></screen>
1848 <para>at the serial console.</para>
1850 <para>For AS800 you want to check if your Ultra-Wide SCSI is indeed
1851 in Ultra mode. This can be done using the
1852 <filename>EEROMCFG.EXE</filename> utility that is
1853 on the Console Firmware Upgrade CDROM.</para>
1855 <para>For the AlphaServer1000/1000A/800 machines the kernel config
1856 file must contain:</para>
1858 <programlisting>options DEC_1000A
1859 cpu EV4 # depends on the CPU model installed
1860 cpu EV5 # depends on the CPU model installed</programlisting>
1865 <title>DS10/VS10/XP900 (<quote>Webbrick</quote>) / XP1000
1866 (<quote>Monet</quote>) / DS10L (<quote>Slate</quote>)</title>
1868 <para>Webbrick and Monet are high performance workstations/servers
1869 based on the EV6 CPU and the Tsunami chipset. Tsunami is also used in
1870 much higher-end systems and as such has plenty of performance to offer.
1871 DS10, VS10 and XP900 are different names for essentially the same system.
1872 The differences are the software and options that are supported. DS10L
1873 is a DS10 based machine in a 1U high rackmount enclosure. DS10L is
1874 intended for ISPs and for HPTC clusters (e.g. Beowulf)</para>
1877 <title><quote>Webbrick / Slate</quote></title>
1881 <para>21264 EV6 CPU at 466 MHz</para>
1884 <para>L2 / Bcache: 2MB, ECC protected</para>
1887 <para>memory bus: 128 bit via crossbar, 1.3GB/sec memory
1891 <para>memory:</para>
1894 <para>industry standard 200 pin 83 MHz buffered
1895 ECC SDRAM DIMMs</para>
1898 <para>4 DIMM slots for DS10; 2GB max memory</para>
1901 <para>2 DIMM slots for DS10L; 1GB max memory</para>
1904 <para>DIMMs are installed in pairs of 2</para>
1909 <para>21271 Core Logic chipset (<quote>Tsunami</quote>)</para>
1912 <para>2 on-board 21143 Fast Ethernet controllers</para>
1915 <para>AcerLabs M5237 (Aladdin-V) USB controller (disabled)</para>
1918 <para>AcerLabs M1533 PCI-ISA bridge</para>
1921 <para>AcerLabs Aladdin ATA-33 controller </para>
1924 <para>embedded dual EIDE </para>
1927 <para>expansion: 3 64-bit PCI slots and 1 32-bit PCI slot.
1928 DS10L has a single 64bit PCI slot</para>
1931 <para>2 16550A serial ports</para>
1934 <para>1 parallel port</para>
1940 <para>PS/2 keyboard & mouse port</para>
1944 <para>The system has a smart power controller. This means that parts
1945 of the system remain powered when it is switched off (like an ATX-style
1946 PC power supply). Before servicing the machine remove the
1949 <para>The smart power controller is called the RMC. When enabled,
1950 typing <keycap>Escape</keycap><keycap>Escape</keycap>RMC on serial port 1
1951 will bring you to the RMC prompt. RMC allows you to powerup or powerdown,
1952 reset the machine, monitor and set temperature trip levels etc. RMC
1953 has its own builtin help.</para>
1955 <para>Webbrick is shipped in a desktop-style case similar to the older
1956 21164 <quote>Maverick</quote> workstations but this case
1957 offers much better access
1958 to the components. If you intend to build a farm you can rackmount them
1959 in a 19-inch rack; they are 3U high. Slate is 1U high but has only
1960 one PCI slot.</para>
1962 <para>DS10 has 4 DIMM slots. DIMMs are installed as pairs. Please note
1963 that DIMM pairs are not installed in adjacent DIMM sockets but rather
1964 physically interleaved. DIMM sizes of 32, 64, 128, 256 and 512 Mbytes
1965 are supported.</para>
1967 <para>When 2 pairs of identical-sized DIMMs are installed DS10 will
1968 use memory interleaving for increased performance. DS10L, which has
1969 only 2 DIMM slots cannot do interleaving.</para>
1971 <para>Starting with SRM firmware version 5.9 you can boot from
1972 Adaptec 2940-series adapters in addition to the usual set of Qlogic
1973 and Symbios/NCR adapters.</para>
1975 <para>The base model comes with a FUJITSU 9.5GB ATA disk as its boot
1976 device. &os; works just fine using EIDE disks on Webbrick. DS10 has
1977 2 IDE interfaces on the mainboard. Machines destined for Tru64 Unix or
1978 VMS are standard equipped with Qlogic-driven Ultra-SCSI disks</para>
1980 <para>On the PCI bus 32 and 64 bit cards are supported, in 3.3V and
1983 <para>The USB ports are not supported and are disabled by the
1984 SRM console in all recent SRM versions.</para>
1986 <para>The kernel config file must contain:</para>
1987 <programlisting>options DEC_ST6600
1988 cpu EV5</programlisting>
1990 <note><para>Contrary to expectation there is no <literal>cpu EV6</literal>
1991 defined for inclusion in the kernel config file.
1992 The <literal>cpu EV5</literal> is mandatory to keep &man.config.8;
1993 happy.</para></note>
1997 <title><quote>Monet</quote></title>
2001 <para>21264 EV6 at 500 MHz
2002 21264 EV67 at 500 or 667 MHz (XP1000G, codenamed Brisbane)
2003 CPU is mounted on a daughter-card which is field-upgradable</para>
2006 <para>L2 / Bcache: 4MB, ECC protected</para>
2009 <para>memory bus: 256 bit</para>
2012 <para>memory: 128 or 256 Mbytes 100 MHz (PC100) 168 pin
2013 JEDEC standard, registered ECC SDRAM DIMMs</para>
2016 <para>21271 core logic chip set (<quote>Tsunami</quote>)</para>
2019 <para>1 on-board 21143 Ethernet controller</para>
2022 <para>Cypress 82C693 USB controller</para>
2025 <para>Cypress 82C693 PCI-ISA bridge</para>
2028 <para>Cypress 82C693 controller</para>
2031 <para>expansion: 2 independent PCI buses, driven by high-speed I/O
2032 channels called <quote>hoses</quote>:</para>
2035 <para>hose 0: (the upper 3 slots)
2041 <para>hose 1: (the bottom 2 slots)
2042 2 32-bit PCI slots (behind a 21154 PCI-PCI bridge)
2046 <para>2 of the 64-bit PCI slots are for
2047 full-length cards</para>
2050 <para>all of the 32-bit PCI slots are for short cards</para>
2053 <para>1 of the 32-bit PCI slots is physically shared
2054 with an ISA slot</para>
2057 <para>all PCI slots run at 33MHz</para>
2062 <para>1 Ultra-Wide SCSI port based on a Qlogic 1040 chip</para>
2065 <para>2 16550A serial port</para>
2068 <para>1 parallel port</para>
2071 <para>PS/2 keyboard & mouse port</para>
2074 <para>embedded 16-bit ESS ES1888 sound chip</para>
2077 <para>2 USB ports</para>
2080 <para>graphics options: ELSA Gloria Synergy or
2081 DEC/Compaq PowerStorm 3D accelerator cards</para>
2085 <para>Monet is housed in a mini-tower like enclosure quite similar
2086 to the Miata box.</para>
2088 <para>The on-board Qlogic UW-SCSI chip supports up to 4 internal
2089 devices. There is no external connector for the on-board SCSI.</para>
2091 <para>For 500 MHz CPUs 83 MHz DIMMs will do. Compaq specifies PC100
2092 DIMMs for all CPU speeds. DIMMs are installed in sets of 4, starting
2093 with the DIMM slots marked <quote>0</quote> Memory capacity is max 4 GB.
2094 DIMMs are installed <quote>physically interleaved</quote>, note the
2096 slots. Memory bandwidth of Monet is twice that of Webbrick. The DIMMs
2097 live on the CPU daughter-card. Note that the system uses ECC RAM so you
2098 need DIMMs with 72 bits (not the generic PC-class 64 bit DIMMs)</para>
2100 <para>The EIDE interface is usable / SRM bootable so &os; can be rooted
2101 on an EIDE disk. Although the Cypress chip has potential for 2
2102 EIDE channels Monet uses only one of them.</para>
2104 <para>The USB interface is supported by &os;.If you experience
2105 problems trying to use the USB interface please check if
2106 the SRM variable <varname>usb_enable</varname> is set to
2107 <literal>on</literal>. You can change this by
2109 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SET USB_ENABLE ON</userinput></screen>
2111 <important><para>Don"t try to use Symbios-chip based SCSI
2112 adapters in the PCI slots connected to hose 1. There is a
2113 not-yet-found &os; bug that prevents this from working
2114 correctly.</para></important>
2116 <important><para>Not all VGA cards will work behind the PCI-PCI
2117 bridge (so in slots 4 and 5). Only cards that implement
2118 VGA-legacy addressing
2119 correctly will work. Workaround is to put the VGA card
2120 <quote>before</quote> the bridge.</para></important>
2122 <para>The sound chip is not currently supported with &os;. </para>
2124 <para>The kernel config file must contain:</para>
2125 <programlisting>options DEC_ST6600
2126 cpu EV5</programlisting>
2128 <note><para>Contrary to expectation there is no
2129 <literal>cpu EV6</literal> defined for inclusion in the kernel
2130 config file. The <literal>cpu EV5</literal> is mandatory to
2131 keep &man.config.8; happy.</para></note>
2137 <title>DS20/DS20E (<quote>Goldrush</quote>)</title>
2139 <para>Features:</para>
2142 <para>21264 EV6 CPU at 500 or 670 MHz</para>
2145 <para>dual CPU capable machine</para>
2148 <para>L2 / Bcache: 4 Mbytes per CPU</para>
2151 <para>memory bus: dual 256 bit wide with crossbar switch</para>
2154 <para>memory:</para>
2157 <para>SDRAM DIMMs</para>
2160 <para>installed in sets of 4</para>
2163 <para>16 DIMM slots, max. 4GB</para>
2166 <para>uses ECC</para>
2171 <para>21271 core logic chip set (<quote>Tsunami</quote>)</para>
2174 <para>embedded Adaptec ? Wide Ultra SCSI</para>
2177 <para>expansion:</para>
2180 <para>2 independent PCI buses, driven
2181 by high-speed I/O channels called <quote>hoses</quote></para>
2184 <para>6 64-bit PCI slots, 3 per hose</para>
2187 <para>1 ISA slot</para>
2193 <para>DS20 needs</para>
2194 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SET CONSOLE SERIAL</userinput></screen>
2195 <para>before it goes for a serial console. Pulling the keyboard from
2196 the machine is not sufficient. Going back to a graphical console
2198 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SET CONSOLE GRAPHICS</userinput></screen>
2199 <para>at the serial console.
2200 Confusing is the fact that you will get SRM console
2201 output on the graphics console with the console set to serial,
2202 but when &os; boots it honors the <literal>CONSOLE</literal>
2203 variable setting and all the boot messages as well as the login
2204 prompt will go to the serial port.</para>
2206 <para>The DS20 is housed in a fat cube-like enclosure. The
2207 enclosure also contains a StorageWorks SCSI hot-swap shelf for a
2208 maximum of seven 3.5" SCSI devices. The DS20E is in a sleeker
2209 case, and lacks the StorageWorks shelf.</para>
2211 <para>The system has a smart power controller. This means that parts
2212 of the system remain powered when it is switched off (like an ATX-style
2213 PC power supply). Before servicing the machine remove the
2214 power cord(s).</para>
2216 <para>The smart power controller is called the RMC. When enabled,
2217 typing <keycap>Escape</keycap><keycap>Escape</keycap>RMC on serial port 1
2218 will bring you to the RMC prompt. RMC allows you to powerup or powerdown,
2219 reset the machine, monitor and set temperature trip levels etc. RMC
2220 has its own builtin help.</para>
2222 <para>The embedded Adaptec SCSI chip on the DS20 is disabled and
2223 is therefore not usable under &os;.</para>
2225 <para>Starting with SRM firmware version 5.9 you can boot from
2226 Adaptec 2940-series adapters in addition to the usual set of
2227 Qlogic and Symbios/NCR adapters. This unfortunately does not
2228 include the embedded Adaptec SCSI chips.</para>
2230 <para>If you are using banks of DIMMs of different sizes the
2231 biggest DIMMs should be installed in the DIMM slots marked
2232 <literal>0</literal> on the mainboard. The DIMM slots should be
2233 filled <quote>in order</quote> so after bank 0 install in bank 1
2236 <para>Don't try to use Symbios-chip based SCSI adapters in the
2237 PCI slots connected to hose 1. There is a not-yet-found &os; bug
2238 that prevents this from working correctly. DS20 ships by default
2239 with a Symbios on hose 1 so you have to move this card before
2240 you can install/boot &os; on it.</para>
2242 <para>The kernel config file must contain:</para>
2243 <programlisting>options DEC_ST6600
2244 cpu EV5</programlisting>
2246 <note><para>Contrary to expectation there is no <literal>cpu EV6</literal>
2247 defined for inclusion in the kernel config file.
2248 The <literal>cpu EV5</literal> is mandatory to keep &man.config.8;
2249 happy.</para></note>
2253 <title>AlphaPC 264DP / UP2000</title>
2255 <para>UP2000 is built by Alpha Processor Inc.</para>
2257 <para>Features:</para>
2260 <para>21264 EV6 CPU at 670 MHz</para>
2263 <para>dual CPU capable</para>
2266 <para>L2 / Bcache: 4 Mbytes per CPU</para>
2269 <para>memory bus: 256 bit</para>
2272 <para>memory: SDRAM DIMMs installed in sets of 4, uses
2273 ECC, 16 DIMM slots, max. 4GB</para>
2276 <para>21272 core logic chip set (<quote>Tsunami</quote>)</para>
2279 <para>embedded Adaptec AIC7890/91 Wide Ultra SCSI</para>
2282 <para>2 embedded IDE based on Cypress 82C693 chips</para>
2285 <para>embedded USB via Cypress 82C693</para>
2288 <para>expansion:</para>
2291 <para>2 independent PCI buses, driven
2292 by high-speed I/O channels called <quote>hoses</quote></para>
2295 <para>6 64-bit PCI slots, 3 per hose</para>
2298 <para>1 ISA slot</para>
2304 <para>Currently a maximum of 2GB memory is supported by &os;.</para>
2306 <para>The on-board Adaptec is not bootable but works with &os;
2307 4.0 and later as a datadisk-only SCSI bus.</para>
2309 <para>Busmaster DMA is supported on the first IDE interface
2312 <para>The kernel config file must contain:</para>
2313 <programlisting>options DEC_ST6600
2314 cpu EV5</programlisting>
2316 <note><para>Contrary to expectation there is no <literal>cpu
2317 EV6</literal> defined for inclusion in the kernel config
2318 file. The <literal>cpu EV5</literal> is mandatory to keep
2319 &man.config.8; happy.</para></note>
2323 <title>AlphaServer 2000 (<quote>DemiSable</quote>), 2100
2324 (<quote>Sable</quote>), 2100A (<quote>Lynx</quote>)</title>
2326 <para>The AlphaServer 2[01]00 machines are intended as departmental
2327 servers. This is medium iron. They are multi-CPU machines, up to 2
2328 CPUs (AS2000) or 4 CPUs (2100[A]) can be installed. Both floor-standing
2329 and 19" rackmount boxes exist. Rackmount variations have
2330 different numbers of I/O expansion slots, different max number
2331 of CPUs and different maximum memory size. Some of the boxes come
2332 with an integral StorageWorks shelf to house hot-swap SCSI disks.
2333 There was an upgrade program available to convert your Sable
2334 machine into a Lynx by swapping the I/O backplane (the C-bus
2335 backplane remains). CPU upgrades were available as well.</para>
2339 <para>21064 EV4[5] CPU[s] at 200, 233, 275 MHz or
2340 21164 EV5[6] CPU[s]s at 250, 300, 375, 400 MHz</para>
2343 <para>cache: varies in size with the CPU model; 1, 4 or
2344 8Mbyte per CPU</para>
2347 <para>embedded floppy controller driving a 2.88 Mbytes drive</para>
2350 <para>embedded 10Mbit 21040 Ethernet [AS2100 only]</para>
2353 <para>2 serial ports</para>
2356 <para>1 parallel port</para>
2359 <para>PS/2 style keyboard & mouse port</para>
2363 <para>The CPUs spec-ed as 200 MHz are in reality running at
2364 190 MHz. Maximum number of CPUs is 4. All CPUs must be of the
2365 same type/speed.</para>
2367 <para>If any of the processors are ever marked as failed, they will
2368 remain marked as failed even after they have been replaced (or reseated)
2369 until you issue the command</para>
2371 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>CLEAR_ERROR ALL</userinput></screen>
2373 <para>on the SRM console and power-cycle the machine. This may be true
2374 for other modules (IO and memory) as well, but it has not been verified.
2377 <para>The machines use dedicated memory boards. These boards live on
2378 a 128 bit C-bus shared with the CPU boards. DemiSable supports up
2379 to 1GB, Sable up to 2GB. One of the memory bus slots can either
2380 hold a CPU or a memory card. A 4 CPU machine can have a maximum of
2381 2 memory boards.</para>
2383 <para>Some memory board models house SIMMs. These are called SIMM
2384 carriers. There are also memory modules that have soldered-on memory
2385 chips instead of SIMMs. These are called <quote>flat memory
2386 modules</quote>.</para>
2388 <para>SIMM boards are used in sets of eight 72-pin 36 bit FPM
2389 memory of 70ns or faster. SIMM types supported are 1M x36 bit
2390 (4 Mbyte), 2M x36bit (8 Mbyte) and 4M x36 bit (16 Mbyte).
2391 Each memory board can house
2392 4 banks of SIMMs. SIMM sizes can not be mixed on a single memory
2393 board. The first memory module must be filled with SIMMs before
2394 starting to fill the next memory module. Note that the spacing
2395 between the slots is not that big, so make sure your SIMMs fit
2396 physically (before buying them..)</para>
2398 <para>Both Lynx and Sable are somewhat stubborn when it comes to serial
2399 consoles. They need</para>
2400 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput> SET CONSOLE SERIAL</userinput></screen>
2401 <para>before they go for a serial console.
2402 Pulling the keyboard from the machine is not sufficient, like it is
2403 on many other Alpha models. Going back to a graphical console needs</para>
2404 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SET CONSOLE GRAPHICS</userinput></screen>
2405 <para>at the serial console. On Lynx keep the VGA card in
2406 one of the primary PCI slots. EISA VGA cards are not slot sensitive.
2409 <para>The machines are equipped with a small OCP
2410 (Operator Control Panel) LCD screen. On this screen the self-test
2411 messages are displayed during system initialization. You can put
2412 your own little text there by using the SRM:</para>
2413 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SET OCP_TEXT "FreeBSD"
2414 </userinput></screen>
2416 <para>The SRM</para>
2417 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SHOW FRU</userinput></screen>
2418 <para>command produces an overview of your configuration
2419 with module serial numbers, hardware revisions and error log counts.
2422 <para>Both Sable, DemiSable and Lynx have Symbios 810 based
2423 Fast SCSI on-board. Check if it is set to Fast SCSI speed
2425 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SHOW PKA0_FAST</userinput></screen>
2426 <para>When set to 1 it is negotiating for Fast speeds.</para>
2427 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>SET PKA0_FAST 1</userinput></screen>
2428 <para>enables Fast SCSI speeds.</para>
2430 <para>AS2100[A] come equipped with a StorageWorks 7 slot SCSI
2431 cage. A second cage can be added inside the cabinet. AS2000
2432 has a single 7 slot SCSI cage, which cannot be expanded with
2433 an additional one. Note that the slot locations in these cages
2434 map differently to SCSI IDs compared to the standard StorageWorks
2435 shelves. Slot IDs from top to bottom are 0, 4, 1, 5, 2, 6, 3
2436 when using a single bus configuration.</para>
2438 <para>The cage can also be set to provide two independent SCSI
2439 buses. This is used for embedded RAID controllers like the
2440 KZPSC (Mylex DAC960). Slot ID assignments for split bus are,
2441 from top to bottom: 0A, 0B, 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B.
2442 Where A and B signify a SCSI bus. In a single bus configuration the
2443 terminator module on the back of the SCSI cage is on the TOP. The jumper
2444 module is on the BOTTOM. For split bus operation these two modules are
2445 reversed. The terminator can be distinguished from the jumper
2446 by noting the chips on the terminator. The jumper does not have
2447 any active components on it.</para>
2449 <para>DemiSable has 7 EISA slots and 3 PCI slots. Sable has
2450 8 EISA and 3 PCI slots. Lynx, being newer, has 8 PCI
2451 and 3 EISA slots. The Lynx PCI slots are grouped in
2452 sets of 4. The 4 PCI slots closest to the CPU/memory
2453 slots are the primary slots, so logically before the PCI bridge chip.
2454 Note that contrary to expectation the primary PCI slots are the highest
2455 numbered ones (PCI4 - PCI7).</para>
2457 <para>Make sure you run the EISA Configuration Utility (from floppy)
2458 when adding/change expansion cards in EISA slots or after
2459 upgrading your console firmware. This is done by inserting the
2460 ECU floppy and typing</para>
2461 <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>RUNECU</userinput></screen>
2463 <note><para>EISA slots are currently unsupported, but the Compaq Qvision
2464 EISA VGA adapter is treated as an ISA device. It therefore
2465 works OK as a console.</para></note>
2467 <para>A special Extended I/O module for use on the C-bus was
2468 planned-for. If they ever saw daylight is unknown. In any case
2469 &os; has never been verified with an ExtIO module.</para>
2471 <para>The machines can be equipped with redundant power supplies. Note
2472 that the enclosure is equipped with interlock switches that switch
2473 off power when the enclosure is opened. The system's cooling
2474 fans are speed controlled. When the machine has more than 2
2475 CPUs and more than 1 memory board dual power supplies
2476 are mandatory.</para>
2478 <para>The kernel config file must contain:</para>
2480 <programlisting>options DEC_2100_A500
2481 cpu EV4 #dependent on CPU model installed
2482 cpu EV5 #dependent on CPU model installed</programlisting>
2487 <title>AlphaServer 4x00 (<quote>Rawhide</quote>)</title>
2489 <para>The AlphaServer 4x00 machines are intended as small enterprise
2490 servers. Expect a 30" high pedestal cabinet or alternatively
2491 the same system box in a 19" rack. Rawhides are multi-CPU machines,
2492 up to 4 CPUs can be in a single machine. Basic disk storage is housed in
2493 one or two StorageWorks shelves at the bottom of the pedestal. The
2494 Rawhides intended for the NT market are designated DIGITAL
2495 Server 7300 (5/400 CPU), DIGITAL Server 7305 (5/533 CPU). A
2496 trailing R on the part-number means a rackmount variant.</para>
2498 <para>Features:</para>
2501 <para>21164 EV5 CPUs at 266, 300, 333 MHz or 21164A EV56
2502 CPUs at 400, 466, 533, 600 Mhz</para>
2505 <para>cache: 4 Mbytes per CPU. EV5 300 MHz was also
2506 available cache-less. 8 Mbytes for EV56 600Mhz</para>
2509 <para>memory bus: 128 bit with ECC</para>
2512 <para>embedded floppy controller</para>
2515 <para>2 serial ports</para>
2518 <para>1 parallel port</para>
2521 <para>PS/2 style keyboard & mouse port</para>
2525 <para>Rawhide can be equipped with a variety of CPU modules. CPU
2526 modules exist in versions with and without external cache. In all
2527 cases the CPU modules installed always must be of the same speed. A mix
2528 of NT-only and full-blown Tru64/VMS CPUs works fine. It will however
2529 result in the system reporting itself to the operating system
2530 as a Digital Server 730x (so the NT-only variant). &os; does not care,
2531 but such a system will not allow Tru64 or VMS to run.</para>
2533 <para>Rawhide uses a maximum of 8 RAM modules. These modules are used
2534 in pairs and supply 72 bits to the bus (this includes ECC bits).
2535 Memory can be EDO RAM or synchronous DRAM. A fully populated AS4100
2536 has 4 pairs of memory modules. The AS4000 model is limited to 2 pairs
2537 of memory modules. Given the choice use SDRAM for
2538 best performance. The highest capacity memory boards must be in the
2539 memory slots marked MEM0L and MEM0H. A mix of memory board
2540 sizes is allowed. A mix of EDO and SDRAM works as well (assuming you don't
2541 try to mix EDO and SDRAM in a single module pair). A mix of EDO and SDRAM
2542 results in the <emphasis>entire</emphasis> memory subsystem running at
2543 the slower EDO timing.</para>
2545 <para>Rawhide has an embedded Symbios 810 chip that gives you a
2546 narrow fast-SCSI bus. Generally only the SCSI CDROM is driven by
2547 this interface.</para>
2549 <para>Rawhides are available with a 8 64-bit PCI / 3 EISA
2550 slot expansion backplanes (called <quote>Saddle</quote> modules). There
2551 are 2 separate PCI buses, PCI0 and PCI1. PCI0 has 1 dedicated
2552 PCI slot and (shared) 3 PCI/EISA slots. PCI0 also has a
2553 PCI/EISA bridge that drives things like the serial and
2554 parallel ports, keyboard/mouse etc. PCI1 has 4 PCI slots
2555 and an Symbios 810 SCSI chip. VGA console cards must be installed
2556 in a slot connected to PCI0.</para>
2558 <para>The current &os; implementation has problems in handling
2559 PCI bridges. There is currently a limited fix in place which allows
2560 for single level, single device PCI bridges. The fix allows the use of
2561 the Digital supplied Qlogic SCSI card which sits behind
2562 a 21054 PCI bridge chip.</para>
2564 <note><para>EISA slots are currently unsupported, but the Compaq Qvision
2565 EISA VGA adapter is treated as an ISA device. It therefore works
2566 as a console. In case you use EISA options in your machine you
2567 must run the EISA Configuration Utility (ECU) from floppy. Do yourself
2568 a favor and use the Tru64/OpenVMS ECU, and not the WindowsNT ECU.
2571 <para>Rawhide employs an I2C based power controller system. If
2572 you want to be sure all power is removed from the system remove all
2573 mains cables from the system.</para>
2575 <para>Rawhide comes with RCM functionality, which means you can
2576 power it on/off remotely, reset it etc. See also the description for
2577 RMC in the DS10 section of this document. RCM versus RMC is not a typo,
2578 the various documentation I consulted used both acronyms
2579 interchangably.</para>
2581 <para>The kernel config file must contain:</para>
2582 <programlisting>options DEC_KN300
2583 cpu EV5</programlisting>
2588 <title>AlphaServer 1200 (<quote>Tincup</quote>) and AlphaStation
2589 1200 (<quote>DaVinci</quote>)</title>
2591 <para>The AlphaServer 1200 machine is the successor to the
2592 AlphaServer 1000A. It uses the same enclosure the 1000A uses,
2593 but the logic is based on the AlphaServer 4000 design. These
2594 are multi-CPU machines, up to 2 CPUs can be in a single machine.
2595 Basic disk storage is housed in a StorageWorks shelves
2596 The AS1200 intended for the NT market were designated DIGITAL
2597 Server 5300 (5/400 CPU) and DIGITAL Server 5305 (5/533 CPU).</para>
2599 <para>Features:</para>
2602 <para>21164A EV56 CPUs at 400 or 533 Mhz</para>
2605 <para>cache: 4 Mbytes per CPU</para>
2608 <para>memory bus: 128 bit with ECC, DIMM memory on two
2609 memory daughter boards</para>
2612 <para>embedded floppy controller</para>
2615 <para>2 serial ports</para>
2618 <para>1 parallel port</para>
2621 <para>PS/2 style keyboard & mouse port</para>
2625 <para>AS1200 uses 2 memory daughter cards. On each of these cards
2626 are 8 DIMM slots. DIMMs must be installed in pairs. The maximum
2627 memory size is 4 GBytes. Slots must be filled in order and slot
2628 0 must contain the largest size DIMM if different sized DIMMs are
2629 used. AS1200 employs fixed starting addresses for DIMMs, each
2630 DIMM pair starts at a 512 Mbyte boundary. This means that if
2631 DIMMs smaller than 256 Mbyte are used the system's physical memory
2632 map will contain <quote>holes</quote>. Supported DIMM sizes are 64 Mbytes
2633 and 256 Mbytes. The DIMMs are 72 bit SDRAM based, as the
2634 system employs ECC.</para>
2636 <note><para>&os; currently supports up to 2GBytes</para></note>
2638 <para>AS1200 has an embedded Symbios 810 drive Fast SCSI bus.</para>
2640 <para>Tincup has 5 64-bit PCI slots, one 1 32-bit PCI slot and one
2641 EISA slot (which is physically shared with one of the 64-bit PCI slots).
2642 There are 2 separate PCI buses, PCI0 and PCI1. PCI0 has the 32-bit PCI
2643 slot and the 2 top-most 64-bit PCI slots. PCI0 also has an Intel 82375EB
2644 PCI/EISA bridge that drives things like the serial and parallel ports,
2645 keyboard/mouse etc. PCI1 has 4 64-bit PCI slots and an Symbios 810
2646 SCSI chip. VGA console cards must be installed in a slot
2647 connected to PCI0.</para>
2649 <para>The system employs an I2C based power controller system.
2650 If you want to be sure all power is removed from the system remove
2651 the mains cables from the system. Tincup uses dual power supplies
2652 in load-sharing mode and not as a redundancy pair.</para>
2654 <para>The kernel config file must contain:</para>
2655 <programlisting>options DEC_KN300
2656 cpu EV5</programlisting>
2660 <title>AlphaServer 8200 and 8400 (<quote>TurboLaser</quote>)</title>
2662 <para>The AlphaServer 8200 and 8400 machines are enterprise servers.
2663 Expect a tall 19" cabinet (8200) or fat (8400) 19" rack.
2664 This is big iron, not a hobbyist system. TurboLasers are multi-CPU
2665 machines, up to 12 CPUs can be in a single machine. The TurboLaser
2666 System Bus (TLSB) allows 9 nodes on the AS8400 and 5 nodes on
2667 the AS8200. TLSB is 256 bit data, 40 bit address allowing 2.1
2668 GBytes/sec. Nodes on the TLSB can be CPUs, memory or I/O. A
2669 maximum of 3 I/O ports are supported on a TLSB.</para>
2671 <para>Basic disk storage is housed in a StorageWorks shelf.
2672 AS8400 uses 3 phase power, AS8200 uses single phase power.</para>
2674 <para>Features:</para>
2677 <para>21164 EV5/EV56 CPUs at up to 467 MHz or 21264 EV67 CPUs at
2678 up to 625 MHz</para>
2681 <para>one or two CPUs per CPU module</para>
2684 <para>cache: 4Mbytes B-cache per CPU</para>
2687 <para>memory bus: 256 bit with ECC</para>
2690 <para>memory: big memory modules that plug into the TLSB,
2691 which in turn hold special SIMM modules. Memory modules come
2692 in varying sizes, up to 4 GBytes a piece. Uses ECC (8 bits
2693 per 64 bits of data) 7 memory modules max for AS8400,
2694 3 modules max for AS8200. Maximum memory is 28 GBytes.</para>
2697 <para>expansion: 3 system <quote>I/O ports</quote> that allow up to
2698 12 I/O channels each I/O channel can connect to
2699 XMI, Futurebus+ or PCI boxes</para>
2703 <para>&os; supports (and has been tested with) up to 2 GBytes
2704 of memory on TurboLaser. There is a trade-off to be made between
2705 TLSB slots occupied by memory modules and TLSB slots occupied by
2706 CPU modules. For example you can have 28GBytes of memory but only
2707 2 CPUs (1 module) at the same time.</para>
2709 <para>Only PCI expansion is supported on &os;. XMI or
2710 Futurebus+ (which are AS8400 only) are both unsupported.</para>
2712 <para>The I/O port modules are designated KFTIA or KFTHA. The
2713 I/O port modules supply so called <quote>hoses</quote> that connect to
2714 up to 4 (KFTHA) PCI buses or 1 PCI bus (KFTIA). KFTIA has
2715 embedded dual 10baseT Ethernet, single FDDI, 3 SCSI Fast
2716 Wide Differential SCSI buses and a single Fast Wide Single Ended
2717 SCSI bus. The FWSE SCSI is intended for the CDROM.</para>
2719 <para>KFTHA can drive via each of its 4 hoses a DWLPA or DWLPB
2720 box. The DWLPx house a 12 slots 32 bit PCI backplane. Physically
2721 the 12 slots are 3 4-slot buses but to the software it appears
2722 as a single 12 slots PCI bus. A fully expanded AS8x00 can have
2723 3 (I/O ports) times 4 (hoses) times 12 (PCI slots/DWLPx) =
2724 144 PCI slots. The maximum bandwidth per KFTHA is 500
2725 Mbytes/second. DWLPA can also house 8 EISA cards, 2 slots
2726 are PCI-only, 2 slots are EISA only. Of the 12 slots 2
2727 are always occupied by an I/O and connector module. DWLPB are the
2728 prefered I/O boxes.</para>
2730 <para>For best performance distribute high bandwidth
2731 (FibreChannel, Gigabit Ethernet) over multiple hoses and/or
2732 multiple KFTHA/KFTIA.</para>
2734 <para>Currently PCI expansion cards containing PCI bridges are
2735 not usable with &os;. Don't use them at this time.</para>
2737 <para>The single ended narrow SCSI bus on the KFTIA will turn up as
2738 the <emphasis>fourth</emphasis> SCSI bus. The 3 fast-wide
2739 differential SCSI buses of the KFTIA precede it. </para>
2741 <para>AS8x00 are generally run with serial consoles. Some
2742 newer machines might have a graphical console of some sorts
2743 but &os; has only been tested on a serial console.</para>
2745 <para>For serial console usage either change
2746 <filename>/etc/ttys</filename> to have:</para>
2748 <programlisting>console "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600" unknown on secure</programlisting>
2750 <para>as the console entry, or add</para>
2752 <programlisting>zs0 "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600" unknown on secure</programlisting>
2754 <para>For the AlphaServer 8x00 machines the kernel config file
2755 must contain:</para>
2756 <programlisting>options DEC_KN8AE # Alpha 8200/8400 (Turbolaser)
2757 cpu EV5</programlisting>
2759 <para>Contrary to expectation there is no <literal>cpu
2760 EV6</literal> defined for inclusion in the kernel config
2761 file. The <literal>cpu EV5</literal> is mandatory to keep
2762 &man.config.8; happy.</para>
2766 <title>Alpha Processor Inc. UP1000</title>
2768 <para>The UP1000 is an ATX mainboard based on the 21264a
2769 CPU which itself lives in a Slot B module. It is normally housed
2770 in an ATX tower enclosure.</para>
2772 <para>Features:</para>
2775 <para>21264a Alpha CPU at 600 or 700 MHz in a Slot B
2776 module (includes cooling fans)</para>
2779 <para>memory bus: 128 bits to the L2 cache,
2780 64 bits from Slot B to the AMD-751</para>
2783 <para>on-board Bcache / L2 cache: 2MB (600Mhz) or
2787 <para>AMD AMD-751 (<quote>Irongate</quote>)
2788 system controller chip</para>
2791 <para>Acer Labs M1543C PCI-ISA bridge controller /
2792 super-IO chip</para>
2795 <para>PS/2 mouse & keyboard port</para>
2798 <para>memory: 168-pin PC100 unbuffered SDRAM DIMMS, 3 DIMM slots
2799 DIMM sizes supported are 64, 128 or 256 Mb in size</para>
2802 <para>2 16550A serial port</para>
2805 <para>1 ECP/EPP parallel port</para>
2808 <para>floppy interface</para>
2811 <para>2 embedded Ultra DMA33 IDE interface</para>
2814 <para>2 USB ports</para>
2817 <para>expansion:</para>
2820 <para>4 32 bit PCI slots</para>
2823 <para>2 ISA slots</para>
2826 <para>1 AGP slot</para>
2832 <para>Slot B is a box-like enclosure that houses a
2833 daughter-board for the CPU and cache. It has 2 small fans for
2834 cooling. Loud fans..</para>
2836 <para>The machine needs ECC capable DIMMs, so 72 bit ones.
2837 This does not appear to be documented in the UP1000 docs. The
2838 system accesses the serial EEPROM on the DIMMs via the SM bus.
2839 Note that if only a single DIMM is used it must be installed in
2840 slot <emphasis>2</emphasis>. This is a bit counter-intuitive.</para>
2842 <para>The UP1000 needs a 400Watt ATX power supply according
2843 to the manufacturer. This might be a bit overly
2844 conservative/pessimistic judging from the power consumption of
2845 the board & cpu. But as always you will have to take your
2846 expansion cards and peripherals into account. The M1543C chip
2847 contains power management functionality & temperature monitoring
2848 (via I2C / SM bus).</para>
2850 <para>Chances are that your UP1000 comes by default with
2851 AlphaBios only. The SRM console firmware is available from
2852 the Alpha Processor Inc. web site. It is currently available in
2853 a beta version which was successfully used during the port of &os;
2854 to the UP1000. </para>
2856 <para>The embedded Ultra DMA EIDE ports are bootable by the
2859 <para>UP1000 SRM can boot off an Adaptec 294x adapter. Under high
2860 I/O load conditions machine lockups have been observed using
2861 the Adaptec 294x. A Symbios 875 based card works just fine,
2862 using the sym driver. Most likely other cards based on the Symbios
2863 chips that the sym driver supports will work as well.</para>
2865 <para>The USB interfaces are disabled by the SRM console and
2866 have not (yet) been tested with &os;.</para>
2868 <para>For the UP1000 the kernel config file must contain:</para>
2869 <programlisting>options API_UP1000 # UP1000, UP1100 (Nautilus)
2870 cpu EV5</programlisting>
2875 <title>Alpha Processor Inc. UP1100</title>
2877 <para>The UP1100 is an ATX mainboard based on the 21264a CPU running
2878 at 600 MHz. It is normally housed in an ATX tower enclosure.</para>
2880 <para>Features:</para>
2883 <para>21264a Alpha EV6 CPU at 600 or 700 MHz</para>
2886 <para>memory bus: 100MHz 64-bit (PC-100 SDRAM), 800 MB/s memory
2890 <para>on-board Bcache / L2 cache: 2Mb</para>
2893 <para>AMD AMD-751 (<quote>Irongate</quote>) system controller
2897 <para>Acer Labs M1535D PCI-ISA bridge controller /
2898 super-IO chip</para>
2901 <para>PS/2 mouse & keyboard port</para>
2904 <para>memory: 168-pin PC100 unbuffered SDRAM DIMMS, 3 DIMM slots
2905 DIMM sizes supported are 64, 128 or 256 Mb in size</para>
2908 <para>2 16550A serial port</para>
2911 <para>1 ECP/EPP parallel port</para>
2914 <para>floppy interface</para>
2917 <para>2 embedded Ultra DMA66 IDE interface</para>
2920 <para>2 USB port</para>
2923 <para>expansion: 3 32 bit PCI slots and 1 AGP2x slot</para>
2927 <para>SRM console code comes standard with the UP1100. The SRM lives
2928 in 2Mbytes of flash ROM.</para>
2930 <para>The machine needs ECC capable DIMMs, so 72 bit ones.
2931 This does not appear to be documented in the UP1100 docs. The
2932 system accesses the serial EEPROM on the DIMMs via the SM bus.
2933 Note that if only a single DIMM is used it must be installed in
2934 slot <emphasis>2</emphasis>. This is a bit counter-intuitive.</para>
2936 <para>The UP1100 needs a 400Watt ATX power supply according to
2937 the manufacturer. This might be a bit overly conservative/pessimistic
2938 judging from the power consumption of the board & cpu. But as
2939 always you will have to take your expansion cards and
2940 peripherals into account. The M1535D chip contains power
2941 management functionality & temperature monitoring
2942 (via I2C / SM bus using a LM75 thermal sensor).</para>
2944 <para>The UP1100 has an on-board 21143 10/100Mbit Ethernet
2947 <para>The UP1100 is equipped with a SoundBlaster compatible audio
2948 interface. Whether it works with &os; is as of yet unknown.</para>
2950 <para>The embedded Ultra DMA EIDE ports are bootable by
2951 the SRM console.</para>
2953 <para>The UP1100 has 3 USB ports, 2 going external and one connected
2954 to the AGP port.</para>
2956 <para>For the UP1100 the kernel config file must contain:</para>
2957 <programlisting>options API_UP1000 # UP1000, UP1100 (Nautilus)
2958 cpu EV5</programlisting>
2960 <para>Contrary to expectation there is no <literal>cpu
2961 EV6</literal> defined for inclusion in the kernel config
2962 file. The <literal>cpu EV5</literal> is mandatory to keep
2963 &man.config.8; happy.</para>
2968 <title>Alpha Processor Inc. CS20, Compaq DS20L</title>
2970 <para>The CS20 is a 19", 1U high rackmount server based
2971 on the 21264[ab] CPU. It can have a maximum of 2 CPUs. Compaq
2972 sells the CS20 rebranded as the AlphaServer DS20L. DS20L has
2975 <para>Features:</para>
2978 <para>21264a Alpha CPU at 667 MHz or 21264b 833 MHz
2979 (max. 2 CPUs)</para>
2982 <para>memory bus: 100MHz 256-bit wide</para>
2985 <para>21271 Core Logic chipset (<quote>Tsunami</quote>)</para>
2988 <para>Acer Labs M1533 PCI-ISA bridge controller / super-IO chip
2992 <para>PS/2 mouse & keyboard port</para>
2995 <para>memory: 168-pin PC100 PLL buffered/registered SDRAM DIMMS,
2996 8 DIMM slots, uses ECC memory, min 256 Mbytes /
2997 max 2 GBytes of memory</para>
3000 <para>2 16550A serial port</para>
3003 <para>1 ECP/EPP parallel port</para>
3006 <para>ALI M1543C Ultra DMA66 IDE interface</para>
3009 <para>embedded dual Intel 82559 10/100Mbit Ethernet</para>
3012 <para>embedded Symbios 53C1000 Ultra160 SCSI controller</para>
3015 <para>expansion: 2 64 bit PCI slots (2/3 length)</para>
3019 <para>SRM console code comes standard with the CS20. The SRM
3020 lives in 2Mbytes of flash ROM.</para>
3022 <para>The CS20 needs ECC capable DIMMs. Note that it
3023 uses <emphasis>buffered</emphasis> DIMMs.</para>
3025 <para>The CS20 has an I2C based internal monitoring system for things
3026 like temperature, fans, voltages etc. The I2C also supports
3027 <quote>wake on LAN</quote>.</para>
3029 <para>Each PCI slot is connected to its own independent PCI bus
3030 on the Tsunami.</para>
3032 <para>The embedded Ultra DMA EIDE ports are bootable by the
3035 <para>The CS20 has an embedded slim-line IDE CD drive. There is
3036 a front-accessible bay for a 1" high 3.5" SCSI hard-disk
3037 drive with SCA connector.</para>
3039 <para>Note that there is no floppy disk drive (or a connector to
3042 <para>The kernel config file must contain:</para>
3043 <programlisting>options DEC_ST6600
3044 cpu EV5</programlisting>
3046 <para>Contrary to expectation there is no <literal>cpu
3047 EV6</literal> defined for inclusion in the kernel config
3048 file. The <literal>cpu EV5</literal> is mandatory to keep
3049 &man.config.8; happy.</para>
3053 <title>Compaq AlphaServer ES40 (<quote>Clipper</quote>)</title>
3055 <para>The ES40 is a SMP system that can have 1 - 4 21264 Alpha CPUs.
3056 With the maximum configuration of 32GB of memory these systems are
3057 often deployed as heavy database servers and are also found in HPTC
3058 compute farm environments.</para>
3060 <para>Features:</para>
3063 <para>21264 Alpha CPU at 500 (EV6), 667 (EV67) or 833 MHz (EV68)
3064 (max. 4 CPUs)</para>
3067 <para>memory bus: 256-bit wide</para>
3070 <para>21272 Core Logic chipset</para>
3073 <para>PS/2 mouse & keyboard port</para>
3076 <para>memory: 200-pin JEDEC standard SDRAM DIMMS,
3077 max 32 GBytes of memory</para>
3080 <para>2 16550A serial port</para>
3083 <para>1 ECP/EPP parallel port</para>
3086 <para>ALI M1543C Ultra DMA66 IDE interface</para>
3089 <para>expansion: 2 64 bit PCI buses
3093 <para>SRM console code comes standard with the ES40.</para>
3095 <para>ES40 comes with an ATA CDROM drive, but uses SCSI
3098 <para>Memory is divided in 4 memory arrays which each contain
3099 a set of 4 SDRAM DIMMs. Each DIMM is 72 bit wide and of the 100MHz
3100 speed variant. An array can contain 2 sets, so 8 DIMMs max per array.
3101 The DIMMs live on Memory Mother Boards (MMBs). There are 2 MMB models,
3102 with 4 and 8 DIMM sockets respectively. Each MMB provides half of the
3103 256 bit memory bus width to the CPUs.
3104 Given the myriad options for the memory configuration it is advisable
3105 to check the system documentation for the optimum memory
3106 configuration.</para>
3108 <para>Dependent on the model variation the ES40 has 6 or 10 64 bit PCI
3109 slots. This is basically just means the same backplane with less
3110 connectors mounted.</para>
3112 <para>ES40 has the same RMC remote power control as DS10 and DS20.
3113 See the description of the RMC in the DS10 section of this document.
3114 Most variations of ES40 have multiple power supplies, allowing
3115 for N+1 redundancy. When installing CPU cards you must unplug all
3116 power cords, the CPU cards receive standby power from the power
3117 supplies. Maximum memory configurations need more than the default
3118 number of powersupplies.</para>
3120 <para>The kernel config file must contain:</para>
3121 <programlisting>options DEC_ST6600
3122 cpu EV5</programlisting>
3124 <para>Contrary to expectation there is no <literal>cpu
3125 EV6</literal> defined for inclusion in the kernel config
3126 file. The <literal>cpu EV5</literal> is mandatory to keep
3127 &man.config.8; happy.</para>
3133 <title>Supported Hardware Overview</title>
3135 <para>A word of caution: the installed base for &os; is not
3136 nearly as large as for &os;/Intel. This means that the enormous
3137 variation of PCI/ISA expansion cards out there has much less
3138 chance of having been tested on alpha than on Intel. This is not
3139 to imply they are doomed to fail, just that the chance of running
3140 into something never tested before is much higher.
3141 <filename>GENERIC</filename>
3142 contains things that are known to work on Alpha only.</para>
3144 <para>The PCI and ISA expansion busses are fully supported. Turbo
3145 Channel is not in <filename>GENERIC</filename> and has limited
3146 support (see the relevant machine model info). The MCA bus is not
3147 supported. The EISA bus is not supported for use with EISA
3148 expansion cards as the EISA support code is lacking. ISA cards in
3149 EISA slots are reported to work. The Compaq Qvision EISA VGA card
3150 is driven in ISA mode and works OK as a console.</para>
3152 <para>1.44 Mbyte and 1.2 Mbyte floppy drives are supported.
3153 2.88 Mbyte drives sometimes found in Alpha machines are supported up to
3156 <para>ATA and ATAPI (IDE) devices are supported via the &man.ata.4;
3157 driver framework. As most people run their Alphas with SCSI disks
3158 it is not as well tested as SCSI. Be aware of boot-ability
3159 restrictions for IDE disks. See the machine specific information.</para>
3161 <para>There is full SCSI support via the CAM layer for Adaptec
3162 2940x (AIC7xxx chip-based), Qlogic family and Symbios. Be aware of
3163 the machine-specific boot-ability issues for the various adapter
3166 <para>The Qlogic QL2x00 FibreChannel host adapters are fully
3169 <para>If you want to boot your Alpha over the Ethernet you will
3170 obviously need an Ethernet card that the SRM console
3171 recognizes. This generally means you need a board with an 21x4x
3172 Ethernet chip as that is what Digital used. These chips are driven
3173 by the &os; &man.de.4; (older driver) or &man.dc.4; (newer
3174 driver). Some new SRM versions are known to recognize the Intel
3175 8255x Ethernet chips as driven by the &os; &man.fxp.4; driver. But
3176 beware: the &man.fxp.4; driver is reported not to work correctly
3177 with &os; (although it works excellently on &os;/x86).</para>
3179 <para>DEC DEFPA PCI FDDI network adapters are supported on alpha.</para>
3181 <para>In general the SRM console emulates a VGA-compatibility mode
3182 on PCI VGA cards. This is, however, not guaranteed to work by
3183 Compaq/DEC for each and every card type out there. When the SRM
3184 thinks the VGA is acceptable &os; will be able to use it. The
3185 console driver works just like on a &os;/intel machine.
3186 Please note that VESA modes are not supported on Alpha,
3187 so that leaves you with 80x25 consoles.</para>
3189 <para>In some Alpha machines you will find video adapters based
3190 on TGA chips. The plain TGA adapter does not emulate VGA and is
3191 therefore not usable for a &os; console. TGA2 cards have a basic
3192 VGA compatibility mode and work fine as &os; consoles.</para>
3194 <para>The <quote>PC standard</quote> serial ports found on most
3195 Alphas are supported. For TurboChannel machines the serial ports
3196 are also supported.</para>
3198 <para>ISDN (i4b) is not supported on &os;/alpha.</para>
3202 <title>Acknowledgments</title>
3204 <para>In compiling this file I used multiple information sources,
3205 but <ulink url="http://www.netbsd.org/">the NetBSD Web
3206 site</ulink> proved to be an invaluable source of information. If
3207 it wasn't for NetBSD/alpha there probably would not be a
3208 &os;/alpha in the first place.</para>
3210 <para>People who kindly helped me create this section:</para>
3213 <para>&a.gallatin;</para>
3216 <para>&a.chuckr;</para>
3219 <para>&a.mjacob;</para>
3222 <para>&a.msmith;</para>
3225 <para>&a.obrien;</para>
3228 <para>Christian Weisgerber</para>
3231 <para>Kazutaka YOKOTA</para>
3234 <para>Nick Maniscalco</para>
3237 <para>Eric Schnoebelen</para>
3240 <para>Peter van Dijk</para>
3243 <para>Peter Jeremy</para>
3246 <para>Dolf de Waal</para>
3249 <para>Wim Lemmers, ex-Compaq</para>
3252 <para>Wouter Brackman, Compaq</para>
3255 <para>Lodewijk van den Berg, Compaq</para>
projects / dragonfly.git / blob