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<!--
The contents of this file used to reside in
alpha/HARDWARE.TXT.
$FreeBSD$
-->
<sect1>
<title>Supported processors and motherboards</title>
<para>This section is maintained by &a.wilko;.</para>
<para>Additions, corrections and constructive criticism are invited. In
particular information on system quirks is more than welcome.</para>
<sect2>
<title>Overview</title>
<para>This document tries to provide a starting point for those
who want to start running &os; on an Alpha-based machine. It is
aimed at providing background information on the various hardware
designs. It is not a replacement for the systems manuals.</para>
<para>The information is structured as follows:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>general hardware requirements to run &os; on alpha.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>system specific information for each of the
systems/boards supported by &os;.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>information on expansion boards for &os;,
including things that differ from what is in the generic
supported hardware list.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<note>
<para>You will see references to DEC, Digital Equipment Corporation and
Compaq used more or less interchangeably. Now that Compaq has acquired
Digital Equipment it would be more correct to refer to Compaq only.</para>
</note>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>In general, what do you need to run &os; on an Alpha?</title>
<para>Obviously you will need an Alpha machine that &os;
knows about. Alpha machines are NOT like PCs. There are
considerable differences between the various chip sets and
mainboard designs. This means that a kernel needs to know the
intimate details of a particular machine before it can run on
it. Throwing some odd <filename>GENERIC</filename> kernel at
unknown hardware is almost guaranteed to fail miserably.</para>
<para>For a machine even to be considered for &os; use please
make sure it has the SRM console firmware installed. Or at least
make sure that SRM console firmware is available for this
particular machine type. If &os; does not currently support
your machine type, there is a good chance that this will change at
some point in time, assuming SRM is available.</para>
<para>Machines with the ARC or AlphaBIOS console firmware were
intended for WindowsNT. Some of them have SRM firmware available
in the system ROMs which you only have to select (via an ARC or
AlphaBIOS menu). In other cases you will have to re-flash the ROMs
with SRM code. Check on
http://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware to see what is
available for your particular system. In any case: no SRM means
<emphasis>no</emphasis>
&os; (or NetBSD, OpenBSD, Tru64 Unix or OpenVMS for that
matter). With the demise of WindowsNT/alpha a lot of former NT
boxes are sold on the second hand market. They have little or no
trade-in value when they are NT-only from the console
perspective. So, be suspicious if the price appears too good.</para>
<para>Known non-SRM machines are:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Digital XL series</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Digital XLT series</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Samsung PC164UX</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Samsung 164B</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>To complicate things a bit further: Digital used to have so
called <quote>white-box</quote> Alpha machines destined as NT-only
and <quote>blue-box</quote> Alpha machines destined for OpenVMS
and Digital Unix. These names are based on the color of the
cabinets, <quote>FrostWhite</quote> and <quote>TopGunBlue</quote>
respectively. Although you could put the SRM console on the
whitebox, OpenVMS and Digital Unix will refuse to boot on
them. &os; in post-4.0-RELEASE will run on both the white and the
blue-box variants. Before someone asks: the white ones had a
rather different (read: cheaper) price tag.</para>
<para>As part of the SRM you will get the so called OSF/1 PAL code
(OSF/1 being the initial name of Digital's UNIX offering on
Alpha). The PAL code can be thought of as a software abstraction
layer between the hardware and the operating system. It uses
normal CPU instruction plus a handful of privileged instructions
specific for PAL use. PAL is not microcode by the way. The ARC
firmware contains a different PAL code, geared towards WinNT and
in no way suitable for use by &os; (or more generic: Unix or
OpenVMS). Before someone asks: Linux/alpha brings its own PAL
code, allowing it to boot on ARC and AlphaBIOS. There are various
reasons why this is not a very good idea in the eyes of the *BSD
folks. I don't want to go into details here.</para>
<para>There is another pitfall ahead: you will need a disk adapter
that the SRM console recognizes in order to be able to boot from
your disk. What is acceptable to SRM as a boot adapter is
unfortunately system and SRM version dependent. For older PCI
based machines this means you will need either a NCR/Symbios
53C810 based adapter, or a Qlogic 1020/1040 based adapter. Some
machines come with a SCSI chip embedded on the mainboard. Newer
machine designs and SRM versions will be able to work with later
SCSI chips/adapters. Check out the machine specific info
below. Please note that the rest of this discussion only refers to
Symbios chips, this is meant to include the older chips that still
have NCR stamped on them. Symbios bought the NCR designs.</para>
<para>The problem might bite those who have machines that started
their lives as WinNT boxes. The ARC or AlphaBIOS knows about
<emphasis>other</emphasis> adapter types that it can boot from
than the SRM. For example you can boot from an Adaptec 2940UW with
ARC/AlphaBios but (generally) not with SRM. Some newer machine types have
introduced Adaptec boot support. Please consult the machine
specific section for details.</para>
<para>Some adapters that cannot be booted from work fine for
data-only disks. The differences between SRM and ARC could also
get you pre-packaged IDE CDROMs and hard drives in some (former
NT) systems. SRM versions exist (depends on the machine type)
that can boot from IDE disks and CDROMs. Check the machine
specific section for details.</para>
<para>&os; 4.0 and later can be booted from the
distribution CDROM. Earlier versions needed booting from a
2-floppy set.</para>
<para>If you don't have/want a local disk drive you can boot via
the Ethernet. This assumes a Ethernet adapter/chip that is
recognized by the SRM. Generally speaking this boils down to
either a 21040 or 21142 or 21143 based Ethernet interface. Older
machines / SRM versions may not recognize the 21142 / 21143 Fast
Ethernet chips, you are limited to using 10Mbit Ethernet for net
booting those machines. Non-DEC cards based on said chips will
generally (but are not guaranteed to) work. Note that Intel took
over the 21x4x chips when it bought Digital Semiconductor. So you
might see an Intel logo on them these days. Recent machine designs
have SRM support for Intel 8255x Ethernet chips.</para>
<para>Alpha machines can be run with SRM on a graphics console or
on a serial console. ARC can be run on a serial consoles if need
be. VT100 emulation with 8 bit controls should at least allow you
to switch from ARC/AlphaBIOS to SRM mode without having to install a
graphics card first.</para>
<para>If you want to run your Alpha without a monitor/graphics
card just don't connect a keyboard/mouse to the machine. Instead
hook up a serial terminal[emulator] to serial port #1. The SRM
will talk 9600N81 to you. This can be really practical for
debugging purposes. Beware: some/most (?) SRMs will also present
you with a console prompt at serial port #2. The booting kernel,
however, will display the boot messages on serial port #1 and will
also put the console there. This can be extremely confusing.</para>
<para>Most PCI based Alphas can use ordinary PC-type VGA
cards. The SRM contains enough smarts to make that work. It does
not, however, mean that each and every PCI VGA card out on the
street will work in an Alpha machine. Things like S3 Trio64,
Mach64, and Matrox Millennium generally work. Old ET4000 based ISA
cards have also worked for me. But ask around first before buying.
Please note that TGA cards are not currently supported as &os; console
display cards.</para>
<para>Most PCI devices from the PC-world will also work in
&os; PCI-based machines. Check the
<filename>/sys/alpha/conf/GENERIC</filename> file for the latest word
on this. Be careful to check the appropriate machine type's
discussion in case you want to use PCI cards that have PCI bridge
chips on them. In some cases you might encounter problems with
PCI cards not handling PCI parity correctly. This can lead to
panics. PCI parity checking can be disabled using the following
SRM command: <userinput>SET PCI_PARITY OFF</userinput>.
This is not a &os; problem, all operating systems running on
Alpha hardware will need this workaround.</para>
<para>If your system (also) contains EISA expansion slots you will
need to run the EISA Configuration Utility (ECU) after you have
installed EISA cards or have upgraded your console firmware.</para>
<para>Parallel ports that can be found on most Alpha machines are
supported.</para>
<para>For Alpha CPUs you will find multiple generations. The
original Alpha design is the 21064. It was produced in a chip
process called MOS4, chips made in this process are nicknamed
EV4. Newer CPUs are 21164, 21264 etc. You will see designations
like EV4S, EV45, EV5, EV56, EV6, EV67. The EVs with double digit
numbers are slightly improved versions. For example EV45 has an
improved FPU and 16 kByte on-chip separate I & D caches compared
to the EV4 on which it is based. Rule of thumb: the higher the
digit immediately following <quote>EV</quote> the more desirable
(read: faster / more modern).</para>
<para>For memory you want at least 32 Mbytes. I have had
&os; run on a 16 Mbyte system but you will not like
that. Kernel build times halved when going to 32 Mbytes. Note that
the SRM steals 2Mbyte from the total system memory (and keeps
it). For more serious use 64 Mbytes or more are recommended.</para>
<para>While on the subject of memory: pay close attention to the
type of memory your machine uses. There are very different memory
configurations and requirements for the various machines.</para>
<para>Final word: I expect the above to sound a bit daunting to
the first-time Alpha user. Don't be daunted too much. And do feel
free to ask questions.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>System-Specific information</title>
<para>Below is an overview of the hardware that &os; runs on. This list
will definitely grow, a look in
<filename>/sys/alpha/conf/GENERIC</filename> can be enlightening.</para>
<para>Alpha machines are often best known by their project code name.
Where known these are listed below in parentheses.</para>
<sect3>
<title>AXPpci33 (<quote>NoName</quote>)</title>
<para>The NoName is a baby-AT mainboard based on the 21066 LCA
(Low Cost Alpha) processor. It was originally designed for
OEM-use. The LCA chip includes almost all of the logic to drive
a PCI bus and the memory subsystem. All of this makes for a
low-priced design.</para>
<para>Due to the limited memory interface the system is not
particularly fast in case of cache misses. As long as you stay
inside the on-chip cache the CPU is comparable to a 21064 (first
generation Alpha). These boards should be very cheap to obtain
these days. It is a full-fledged 64 bit CPU, just don't expect
miracles as far as speed goes.</para>
<para>Features:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>21066 Alpha CPU at 166 MHz or 21066A CPU at 233MHz
(21068 CPUs are also possible, but are even slower. Never
seen/used one)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>on-board Bcache / L2 cache: 0, 256k or 1 Mbyte (uses
DIL chips)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>PS/2 mouse & keyboard port OR 5pin DIN keyboard (2
mainboard models)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>memory:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>bus width: 64 bits</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>PS/2 style 72 pin 36 bit Fast Page Mode SIMMs</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>70ns or better</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>installed in pairs of 2
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>4 SIMM sockets</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>uses ECC</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>512kB Flash ROM for the console code.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>2x 16550A serial ports</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>1x parallel port</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>floppy interface</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>1x embedded IDE interface</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>expansion:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>3 32 bit PCI slots (1 shared with ISA)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>5 ISA slots (1 shared with PCI)</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>embedded Fast SCSI using a Symbios 53C810
chip</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>NoNames can either have SRM <emphasis>or</emphasis> ARC console
firmware in their Flash ROM. The Flash ROM is not big enough to
hold both ARC and SRM at the same time and allow software
selection of alternate console code. But you need SRM-only
anyway.</para>
<para>Cache for the NoNames are 15 or 20 ns DIL chips. For a 256
kByte cache you want to check your junked 486 mainboard. Chips
for a 1 Mbyte cache are a rarer breed unfortunately. Getting at
least a 256kByte cache is recommended performance
wise. Cache-less they are really slow.</para>
<para>The NoName mainboard has a PC/AT-standard power
connector. It also has a power connector for 3.3 Volts. No need
to rush out to get a new power supply. The 3.3 Volts is only
needed in case you run 3.3 Volts PCI expansion boards.</para>
<para>The IDE interface is supported by &os; and requires a
line in the kernel configuration file as follows:</para>
<programlisting>device ata0 at isa? port IO_WD1 irq 14</programlisting>
<para>The SRM console unfortunately cannot <emphasis>boot</emphasis>
from IDE disks.</para>
<para>Make sure you use true 36 bit SIMMs, and only FPM (Fast
Page Mode). EDO RAM or SIMMs with fake parity <emphasis>will not
work</emphasis> (the board uses the 4 extra bits for ECC!). 33
bit FPM SIMMs will for the same reason not work either.</para>
<para>Given the choice, get the PS/2-variant mainboard. Apart
from giving you a mouse port as bonus it is directly supported
by Tru64 Unix in case you ever want/need to run it. The
<quote>DIN-plug</quote>-variant should work OK for &os;.</para>
<para>The <ulink
url="ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/axppci/design_guide.ps">
OEM manual</ulink> is recommended reading.</para>
<para>The kernel configuration file for a NoName kernel must
contain:</para>
<programlisting>
options DEC_AXPPCI_33
cpu EV4
</programlisting>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Universal Desktop Box (UDB or <quote>Multia</quote>)</title>
<para>Note: Multia can be either Intel or Alpha CPU based. We
assume Alpha based ones here for obvious reasons.</para>
<para>Multia is a small desktop box intended as a sort of
personal workstation. They come in a considerable number of
variations, check closely what you get.</para>
<para>Features:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>21066 Alpha CPU at 166 MHz or 21066A CPU at
233MHz</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>on-board Bcache / L2 cache: COAST-like 256 kByte
cache module; 233MHz models have 512kByte of cache;
166MHz models have soldered-on 256kB caches</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>PS/2 mouse & keyboard port</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>memory:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>bus width: 64 bits</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>PS/2 style 72 pin 36 bit Fast Page Mode SIMMs</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>70ns or better</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>installed in pairs of 2
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>4 SIMM sockets</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>uses ECC</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>2x 16550A serial ports, 1x parallel port,
floppy interface</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Intel 82378ZB PCI to ISA bridge</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>1x embedded 21040 based 10Mbit Ethernet, AUI and
10base2 connector</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>expansion: 1 32 bit PCI slot, 2 PCMCIA slots</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>on-board Crystal CS4231 or AD1848 sound chip</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>embedded Fast SCSI using a Symbios 53C810 chip on the
PCI riser card</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>Multia has enough Flash ROM to store both SRM and ARC code
at the same time and allow software selection of one of them.</para>
<para>Multia has only one 32 bit PCI slot for expansion, and it
is only suitable for a small form factor PCI card too. In
sacrificing the PCI slot space you can mount a 3.5" hard disk
drive. Mounting stuff may have come with your Multia. Adding a
3.5" disk is not a recommended upgrade due to the limited power
rating of the power supply and the extremely marginal cooling of
the system box. <emphasis>Don't!</emphasis></para>
<para>Multia also has 2 PCMCIA expansion slots. These are
currently unsupported by &os;.</para>
<para>The CPU might or might not be socketed, check before
considering CPU upgrade hacks. The low-end Multias have a
soldered-in CPU.</para>
<para>It comes with a TGA based graphics on-board. TGA is not
currently suitable for console use with &os;. This means you will have
to run Multia using a serial console. Note that the boot of the
installation disk will appear to work fine using the TGA
console, but then switches to using the serial port. This is
even mentioned during by installer (but never read by the human
doing the install). Your keyboard appears dead from that point
on.</para>
<para>Multia has 2 serial ports but routes both of them to the
outside world on a single 25 pin sub-D connector. The Multia FAQ
explains how to build your own Y-cable to allow both ports to be
used.</para>
<para>Although the Multia SRM supports booting from floppy this
can be problematic. Typically the errors look like:
<screen>
*** Soft Error - Error #10 - FDC: Data overrun or underrun
</screen>
This is not a &os; problem, it is a SRM problem. The best available
workaround to install &os; is to boot from a SCSI CDROM.</para>
<para>Sound works fine using &man.pcm.4; driver and a line in the
kernel configuration file as follows for the Crystal CS4231
chip:</para>
<programlisting>
device pcm0 at isa? port 0x530 irq 9 drq 3 flags 0x15
</programlisting>
<para>I have not yet been successful in getting my Multia with
the AD1848 to play any sound.</para>
<para>While verifying playback I was reminded of the lack of CPU
power of the 166MHz CPU. MP3 only plays acceptable using 22kHz
down-sampling.</para>
<para>Multias are somewhat notorious for dying of heat
strokes. The very compact box does not really allow cooling air
access very well. Please use the Multia on its vertical stand,
don't put it horizontally (<quote>pizza style</quote>). Replacing the
fan with something which pushes around more air is
recommended. Beware of PCI cards with high power consumption.
If your system has died you might want to check on the
Multia-Heat-Death pages at the
<ulink url="http://www.netbsd.org/">NetBSD Web site</ulink>.</para>
<para>The Intel 82378ZB PCI to ISA bridge enables the use of an
IDE disk. This requires a line in the kernel configuration file
as follows:</para>
<programlisting>device ata0 at isa? port IO_WD1 irq 14</programlisting>
<para>The IDE connector pin spacing is thought for 2.5" laptop
disks. A 3.5" IDE disk would not fit in the case anyway. At
least not without sacrificing your only PCI slot.</para>
<para>The SRM console does not know how to boot from IDE
disks unfortunately.</para>
<para>In case you want to change the internal hard drive: the
internal flat cable running from the PCI riser board to the
<emphasis>2.5"</emphasis>
hard drive has a finer pitch than the standard SCSI flat
cables. Otherwise it would not fit on the 2.5" drives. There are
also riser cards that have a standard-pitch SCSI cable attached
to it, which will fit an ordinary SCSI disk.</para>
<para>Again, I recommend against trying to cram a replacement
hard disk inside. Use the external SCSI connector and put your
disk in an external enclosure. Multias run hot enough as-is. In
most cases you will have the external high density 50-pin SCSI
connector but some Multia models came without disk and may lack
the connector. Something to check before buying one.</para>
<para>The kernel configuration file for a Multia kernel must
contain:</para>
<programlisting>
options DEC_AXPPCI_33
cpu EV4
</programlisting>
<para>Recommended reading on Multia can be found at
<ulink url="http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/alpha/multiafaq.html">
http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/alpha/multiafaq.html</ulink>
or <ulink url="http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/computers/udb.html">
http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/computers/udb.html</ulink>.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Personal Workstation (<quote>Miata</quote>)</title>
<para>The Miata is a small tower machine intended to be put
under a desk. There are multiple Miata variants. The original
Miata is the MX5 model. Because it suffers from a number of
hardware design flaws a redesign was done, yielding the
MiataGL. Unfortunately the variants are not easily distinguishable
from the outside of the case.
An easy check is to see if the back of the machine sports two
USB connectors. If yes, it is a MiataGL.</para>
<para>System designations look like <quote>Personal Workstation
433a</quote>. Personal Workstation, being a bit of a mouthful,
is often abbreviated to PWS. This means it has a 433 MHz CPU,
and started life as a WinNT workstation (the trailing
<quote>a</quote>). Systems designated from day 1 to run Tru64
Unix or OpenVMS will sport <quote>433au</quote>. WinNT-Miatas
are likely to come pre-configured with an IDE CDROM drive. So,
in general systems are named like PWS[433,500,600]a[u].
<para>There was also a Miata model with a special CPU cooling
system by Kryotech. The Kryotech has a special cooling system in a
different enclosure.</para>
<para>Features:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>21164A EV56 Alpha CPU at 433, 500 or 600MHz</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>21174 Core Logic (<quote>Pyxis</quote>) chip set</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>on-board Bcache / L3 cache: 0, 2 or 4 Mbytes (uses a
cache module)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>memory:</para>
<para><itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>bus width: 128 bits wide, ECC protected</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>unbuffered SDRAMs DIMMs, installed in pairs of 2
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>6 DIMM sockets</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>maximum memory 1.5 Gbytes</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>on-board Fast Ethernet:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>MX5 uses a 21142 or 21143 Ethernet chip
dependent on the version of the PCI riser card</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>MiataGL has a 21143 chip</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>the bulkhead can be 10/100 UTP, or 10
UTP/BNC</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>2x on-board [E]IDE based on the CMD646 (MX5) or the
Cypress 82C693 (MiataGL)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>1x Ultra-Wide SCSI Qlogic 1040 [MiataGL only]</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>2 64-bit PCI slots</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>3 32-bit PCI slots (behind a DEC PCI-PCI bridge chip)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>3 ISA slots (physically shared with the 32 bit PCI slots,
via an Intel 82378IB PCI to ISA bridge chip)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>2x 16550A serial port</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>1x parallel port</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>PS/2 keyboard & mouse port</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>USB interface [MiataGL only]</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>embedded sound based on an ESS1888 chip</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>The Miata logic is divided into two printed circuit
boards. The lower board in the bottom of the machine has the
PCI and ISA slots and things like the sound chip etc. The top
board has the CPU, the Pyxis chip, memory etc. Note that MX5
and the MiataGL use a different PCI riser board. This means
that you cannot just upgrade to a MiataGL CPU board (with the
newer Pyxis chip) but that you will also need a different
riser board. Apparently an MX5 riser with a MiataGL CPU board
will work but it is definitely not a supported or tested
configuration. Everything else (cabinet, wiring, etc.) is
identical for MX5 and MiataGL.</para>
<para>MX5 has problems with DMA via the 2 64-bit PCI slots
when this DMA crosses a page boundary. The 32 bit slots don't
have this problem because the PCI-PCI bridge chip does not
allow the offending transfers. The SRM code knows about the
problem and refuses to start the system if there is a PCI card
in one of the 64bit slots that it does not know about. Cards
that are <quote>known good</quote> to the SRM are allowed to
be used in the 64bit slots.</para>
<para>If you want to fool the SRM you can type <userinput>set
pci_device_override</userinput> at the SRM prompt. Just don't
complain if your data mysteriously gets mangled.</para>
<para>The complete command is:
<screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>set pci_device_override <replaceable><vendor_id></replaceable><replaceable><device_id></replaceable></userinput></screen>
</para>
<para>For example:</para>
<screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>set pci_device_override 88c15333</userinput></screen>
<para>The most radical approach is to use:</para>
<screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>set pci_device_override -1</userinput></screen>
<para>This disables PCI ID checking altogether, so that you
can install any PCI card without its ID getting
checked. For this to work you need a reasonable current SRM version.
<caution><para>Do this on your own risk.</para></caution></para>
<para>The kernel reports it when it sees a buggy Pyxis chip:
<screen>Sep 16 18:39:43 miata /kernel: cia0: Pyxis, pass 1
Sep 16 18:39:43 miata /kernel: cia0: extended capabilities: 1<BWEN>
Sep 16 18:39:43 miata /kernel: cia0: WARNING: Pyxis pass 1 DMA bug; no bets...</screen>
</para>
<para>A MiataGL probes as:
A
<screen>Jan 3 12:22:32 miata /kernel: cia0: Pyxis, pass 1
Jan 3 12:22:32 miata /kernel: cia0: extended capabilities: 1<BWEN>
Jan 3 12:22:32 miata /kernel: pcib0: <2117x PCI host bus adapter> on cia0</screen>
</para>
<para>MiataGL does not have the DMA problems of the MX5. PCI
cards that make the MX5 SRM choke when installed in the 64bit
slots are accepted without problems by the MiataGL SRM.</para>
<para>The latest mainboard revisions of MX5 contain a hardware
workaround for the bug. The SRM does not know about the ECO
and will complain about unknown cards as before. So does the
&os; kernel by the way.</para>
<para>The Miata SRM can boot from IDE CDROM drives. Hard disk
boot is known to work for both MiataGL and MX5 disks, so you
can root &os; from an IDE disk. Speeds on MX5 are around 14
Mbytes/sec assuming a suitable drive. Miata's CMD646 chip will
support up to WDMA2 mode as the chip is too buggy for use
with UDMA.</para>
<para>The MiataGL has a faster PCI-PCI bridge chip on the PCI
riser card than some of the MX5 riser card versions. Some of
the MX5 risers have the <emphasis>same</emphasis> chip as the
MiataGL. All in all there is a lot of variation.</para>
<para>Not all VGA cards will work behind the PCI-PCI
bridge. This manifests itself as no video at all. Workaround
is to put the VGA card <quote>before</quote> the bridge, in
one of the 64 bit PCI slots.</para>
<para>Both MX5 and MiataGL have an on-board sound chip, an
ESS1888. It emulates a SoundBlaster and can be enabled by
putting
<programlisting>
device pcm0
device sbc0
</programlisting>
in your kernel configuration file.</para>
<para>in case your Miata has the optional cache board
installed make sure it is firmly seated. A slightly loose
cache has been observed to cause weird crashes (not surprising
obviously, but maybe not so obvious when troubleshooting). The
cache module is identical between MX5 and MiataGL.</para>
<para>Installing a 2Mb cache module achieves, apart from a
10-15% speed increase (based on buildworld elapsed time), a
<emphasis>decrease</emphasis> for PCI DMA read bandwidth from
64bit PCI cards. A benchmark on a 64-bit Myrinet card resulted
in a decrease from 149 Mbytes/sec to 115 Mbytes/sec. Something
to keep in mind when doing really high speed things with 64
bit PCI adapters.</para>
<para>If you experience SRM errors like
<screen>ERROR: scancode 0xa3 not supported on PCXAL</screen>
after halting &os; you should update your SRM firmware to V7.2-1 or
later. This SRM version is first available on the Firmware
Update CD V5.7, or on <ulink
url="http://www.compaq.com/">http://www.compaq.com/</ulink> The
problem is fixed on both Miata MX5 and Miata GL.</para>
<para>USB is supported by &os; 4.1 and later.</para>
<para>Disconnect the power cord before dismantling the
machine, the soft-power switch keeps part of the logic powered
even when the machine is switched off.</para>
<para>The kernel configuration file for a Miata kernel must
contain:
<programlisting>
options DEC_ST550
cpu EV5
</programlisting></para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>DEC3000 family (the <quote>Bird</quote> machines)</title>
<para>The DEC3000 series were among the first Alpha machines
ever produced. They are based on an I/O bus called the
TurboChannel (TC) bus. These machines are built like tanks
(watch your back).</para>
<para>DEC3000 can be subdivided in DEC3000/500-class and
DEC3000/300-class. The DEC3000/500-class is the early high-end
workstation/server Alpha family. Servers use serial consoles,
workstations have graphics tubes. DEC3000/300-class is the
lower-cost workstation class.</para>
<para>DEC3000/500-class are quite fast (considering their age)
thanks to the good memory design. DEC3000/300 is crippled
compared to DEC3000/500 because of its much narrower memory
bus.</para>
<para>They are called <quote>Birds</quote> because their
internal DEC code names were bird names:
<informaltable>
<tgroup cols=3 align=left>
<colspec colwidth="*">
<colspec colwidth="*">
<colspec colwidth="2*">
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>DEC3000/400</entry>
<entry>Sandpiper</entry>
<entry>133MHz CPU, desktop</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>DEC3000/500</entry>
<entry>Flamingo</entry>
<entry>150MHz CPU, floor standing</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>DEC3000/500X</entry>
<entry>Hot Pink</entry>
<entry>200MHz CPU, floor standing</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>DEC3000/600</entry>
<entry>Sandpiper+</entry>
<entry>175MHz CPU, desktop</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>DEC3000/700</entry>
<entry>Sandpiper45</entry>
<entry>225MHz CPU, floor standing</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>DEC3000/800</entry>
<entry>Flamingo Ultra</entry>
<entry>200MHz CPU, floor standing</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>DEC3000/900</entry>
<entry>Flamingo45</entry>
<entry>275MHz CPU, floor standing</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>DEC3000/300</entry>
<entry>Pelican</entry>
<entry>150MHz CPU, desktop, 2 TC slots</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>DEC3000/300X</entry>
<entry>Pelican+</entry>
<entry>175MHz CPU, desktop, 2 TC slots</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>DEC3000/300LX</entry>
<entry>Pelican+</entry>
<entry>125MHz CPU, desktop, 2 TC slots</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>DEC3000/300L</entry>
<entry></entry>
<entry>100MHz CPU, desktop, no TC slots</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
</para>
<para>Features:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>21064 CPU (100 to 200 MHz) or 21064A CPU (225 to 275
MHz)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>memory:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>bus width: 256 bit, with ECC</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>proprietary 100pin SIMMs</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>installed in sets of 8 [DEC3000/500-class]</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis>or</emphasis></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>bus width: 64 bit, with ECC</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>PS/2 style 72pin 36 bit FPM SIMMs 70ns or better</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>used in pairs of 2 [DEC3000/300-class]</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Bcache / L2 cache: varying sizes, 512 kB to 2 Mbyte</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>built-in 10Mbit Ethernet based on a Lance 7990 chip,
AUI and UTP</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>one or two SCSI buses based on a NCR53C94 or a
NCR53CF94-2 chip</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>2 serial ports based on Zilog 8530 (one usable as a
serial console)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>embedded ISDN interface</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>on-board 8 bit sound</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>8 bit graphics on-board or via a TC card (depending
on model)</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>Currently DEC3000 machines can only be used diskless on
&os;. The reason for this is that the SCSI drivers needed
for the TC SCSI adapters were not brought into CAM that the
recent &os; versions use. TC option cards for single (PMAZ-A) or
dual fast SCSI (PMAZC-AA) are also available. These cards currently
have no drivers on &os; either.<para>
<para>DEC3000/300 has 5 MBytes/sec SCSI on-board. This bus is
used for both internal and external devices. DEC3000/500 has 2
SCSI buses. One is for internal devices only, the other one is
for external devices only.<para>
<para>Floppy devices found in the DEC3000s are attached to the
SCSI bus (via a bridge card). This makes it possible to boot from them
using the same device names as ordinary SCSI hard-disks, for example:
<screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>BOOT DKA300</userinput></screen>
</para>
<para>The 3000/300 series has a half-speed TurboChannel compared
to the other 3000 machines. Some TC expansion cards have
troubles with the half-speed bus. Caveat emptor.</para>
<para>ISDN does not work on &os;.</para>
<para>DEC3000/300-class uses standard 36 bit, 72 pin Fast Page
Mode SIMMs. EDO SIMMs, 32 or 33 bit SIMMs all will not work in
Pelicans. For 32Mbyte SIMMs to work on the DEC3000/300-class
the presence detect bits/pins of the SIMM must correspond to
what the machine expects. If they don't, the SIMM is
<quote>seen</quote> as a 8 Mbyte SIMM. 8 Mbyte and 32 Mbyte
SIMMs can be mixed, as long as the pairs themselves are
identical.</para>
<para>When you find yourself in need of fixing 32Mbyte SIMMs
that lack correct presence bits the following info might be of
use:</para>
<para>There are four presence detection bits on PS/2 SIMMs. Two
of the bits indicate the access time. The other two indicate
the memory size.</para>
<para>At one end of the SIMM there are two rows of four solder
pads. One row is connected to Vss (GND) and the other is
connected to pins 67 (PRD1), 68 (PRD2), 69 (PRD3), 70
(PRD4).</para>
<para>If you bridge a pair of pads with a small resistor or a
drop of solder you ground that particular bit.
<informaltable>
<tgroup cols=3 align=left>
<colspec colwidth="*">
<colspec colwidth="*">
<colspec colwidth="2*">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>PRD1</entry>
<entry>PRD2</entry>
<entry>Memory Size</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>GND</entry>
<entry>GND</entry>
<entry>4 or 64 Mbyte</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Open</entry>
<entry>GND</entry>
<entry>2 or 32 Mbyte</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>GND</entry>
<entry>Open</entry>
<entry>1 or 16 Mbyte</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Open</entry>
<entry>Open</entry>
<entry>8 Mbyte</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
<informaltable>
<tgroup cols=3 align=left>
<colspec colwidth="*">
<colspec colwidth="*">
<colspec colwidth="2*">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>PRD3</entry>
<entry>PRD4</entry>
<entry>Access Time</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody>
<row>
<entry>GND</entry>
<entry>GND</entry>
<entry>50 or 100 nsec</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Open</entry>
<entry>GND</entry>
<entry>80 nsec</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>GND</entry>
<entry>Open</entry>
<entry>70 nsec</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Open</entry>
<entry>Open</entry>
<entry>60 nsec</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
</para>
<para>DEC3000/500-class can use 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32 Mbyte 100pin
SIMMs. Note that the maximum memory size varies from system to
system, desktop machines have sacrificed box size for less
memory SIMM sockets. Given enough sockets and enough SIMMs you
can get to 512 Mbytes maximum. This is one of the main
differences between floor standing and desktop machines, the
latter have far less SIMM sockets.</para>
<para>The sound hardware is not supported on any of the Birds.</para>
<para>There is no X-Windows version available for the TC
machines. DEC3000/300 needs a serial console. DEC3000/500-class
might work with a graphical console. I ran mine with a serial
console so I cannot verify this.</para>
<para>Birds can be obtained from surplus sales etc. As they are
not PCI based they are no longer actively maintained. TC
expansion boards can be difficult to obtain these days and
support for them is not too good unless you write/debug the code
yourself. Programming information for TC boards is hard to
find. Birds are recommended only if a. you can get them cheap
and b. if you prepared to work on the code to support them
better.</para>
<para>For the DEC3000/[4-9]00 series machines the kernel config
file must contain:
<programlisting>
options DEC_3000_500
cpu EV4
</programlisting>
</para>
<para>For the DEC3000/300 (<quote>Pelican</quote>) machines the
kernel config file must contain:
<programlisting>
options DEC_3000_300
cpu EV4
</programlisting>
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Evaluation Board 64plus (<quote>EB64+</quote>), Aspen Alpine</title>
<para>In its attempts to popularize the Alpha CPU DEC produced a number
of so called Evaluation Boards. The EB64+ family boards have the
following feature set:</para>
<para><itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>21064 or 21064A CPU, 150 to 275 MHz</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>memory:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>memory buswidth: 128 bit</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>PS/2 style 72 pin 33 bit Fast Page Mode SIMMs</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>70ns or better</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>installed in sets of 4</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>8 SIMM sockets</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>uses parity memory</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Bcache / L2 cache: 512 kByte, 1 Mbyte or 2 Mbytes</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>21072 (<quote>APECS</quote>) chip set</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Intel 82378ZB PCI to ISA bridge chip (<quote>Saturn</quote>)
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>dual 16550A serial ports</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Symbios 53C810 Fast-SCSI</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>embedded 10 Mbit Ethernet</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>2 PCI slots</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>3 ISA slots</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
<para>Aspen Alpine is slightly different, but is close enough to the
EB64+ to run an EB64+ SRM EPROM (mine did..). The Aspen Alpine does
not have an embedded Ethernet, has 3 instead of 2 PCI slots. It comes
with 2 Mbytes of cache already soldered onto the mainboard. It has
jumpers to select the use of 60, 70 or 80ns SIMM speeds.</para>
<para>36 bits SIMMs work fine, 3 bits simply remain unused.</para>
<para>The SRM console code is housed in an UV-erasable EPROM. No
easy flash SRM upgrades for the EB64+ The latest SRM version available
for EB64+ is quite ancient anyway.</para>
<para>The EB64+ SRM can boot both 53C810 and Qlogic1040 SCSI adapters.
Pitfall for the Qlogic is that the firmware that is down-loaded by
the SRM onto the Qlogic chip is very old. There are no updates for the
EB64+ SRM available. So you are stuck with old Qlogic bits too.
I have had quite some problems when I wanted to use Ultra-SCSI drives
on the Alpine with Qlogic. The &os; kernel can be compiled to include
a much newer Qlogic firmware revision. This is not the default because
it adds hundreds of kBytes worth of bloat to the kernel. In &os; 4.1
and later the isp firmware is contained in a kernel loadable module.
All of this might mean that you need to use a non-Qlogic adapter to
boot from.</para>
<para>For the EB64+ class machines the kernel config file must contain:
<programlisting>
options DEC_EB64PLUS
cpu EV4
</programlisting></para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Evaluation Board 164 (<quote>EB164, PC164, PC164LX,
PC164SX</quote>) family</title>
<para>EB164 is a newer design evaluation board, based on the 21164A
CPU. This design has been used to 'spin off' multiple variations,
some of which are used by OEM manufacturers/assembly shops. Samsung
did its own PC164LX which has only 32 bit PCI, whereas the Digital
variant has 64 bit PCI.</para>
<para><itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>21164A, multiple speed variants [EB164, PC164, PC164LX]</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>21164PC [only on PC164SX]</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>21174 (Alcor) chip set</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Bcache / L3 cache: EB164 uses special cache-SIMMs</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>memory bus: 128 bit / 256 bit</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>memory: PS/2 style SIMMs in sets of 4 or 8</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>36 bit, Fast Page Mode, uses ECC, [EB164 / PC164]</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>SDRAM DIMMs in sets of 2, uses ECC [PC164SX / PC164LX]</para>
</listitem></itemizedlist>
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>dual 16550A serial ports</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>PS/2 style keyboard & mouse</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>floppy controller</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>parallel port</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>32 bits PCI</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>64 bits PCI [some models]</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>ISA slots via an Intel 82378ZB PCI to ISA bridge chip</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
<para>Using 8 SIMMs for a 256bit wide memory can yield interesting
speedups over a 4 SIMM/128bit wide memory. Obviously all 8 SIMMs must
be of the same type to make this work. The system must be explicitly
setup to use the 8 SIMM memory arrangement. You must have 8 SIMMs,
4 SIMMs distributed over 2 banks does not work.</para>
<para>The SRM can boot from Qlogic 10xx boards or the Symbios 53C810[A].
Newer Symbios 810 revisions like the Symbios 810AE are not recognized by
the SRM on PC164. PC164 SRM does not appear to recognize a Symbios 53C895
based host adapter (tested with a Tekram DC-390U2W). On the other hand
some no-name Symbios 53C985 board has been reported to work.
Cards like the Tekram DC-390F (Symbios875 based) have been confirmed to
work fine on the PC164. Unfortunately this seems to be dependent on the
actual version of the chip/board.</para>
<para>Symbios 53C825[a] will also work as boot adapter. Diamond
FirePort, although based on Symbios chips, is not bootable by the
PC164SX SRM. PC164SX is reported to boot fine with Symbios825,
Symbios875 and Symbios876 based cards. In addition, Adaptec
2940U and 2940UW are reported to work for booting (verified on
SRM V5.7-1). Adaptec 2930U2 and 2940U2[W] do not work.</para>
<para>164LX and 164SX with SRM firmware version 5.8 or later can boot
from Adaptec 2940-series adapters.</para>
<para>In summary: this family of machines is 'blessed' with a
challenging compatibility as far as SCSI adapters go.</para>
<para>On PC164 the SRM sometimes seems to loose its variable settings.
"For PC164, current superstition says that, to avoid losing settings,
you want to first downgrade to SRM 4.x and then upgrade to a 5.x"
One sample error that was observed was: "ERROR: ISA table corrupt!".
A sequence of a downgrade to SRM4.9, an 'isacfg -init' and an 'init'
made the problem go away. Some PC164 owners report they have never seen
the problem. </para>
<para>On PC164SX the AlphaBIOS allows you a selection to select 'SRM' to
be used as console on the next power up. This selection does
not appear to have any effect. In other words, you will get the
AlphaBIOS regardless of what you select. The fix is to reflash the
console ROM with the SRM code for PC164SX. This will overwrite the
AlphaBIOS and will get you the SRM console you desire. The SRM code
can be found on the Compaq Web site.</para>
<para>PC164 can boot from IDE disks assuming your SRM version is
recent enough.</para>
<para>EB164 needs a power supply that supplies 3.3 Volts. PC164 does
not implement the PS_ON signal that ATX power supplies need to switch on.
A simple switch pulling this signal to ground fixes this problem.</para>
<para>For the EB164 class machines the kernel config file must
contain:
<programlisting>
options DEC_EB164
cpu EV5
</programlisting></para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>AlphaStation 200 (<quote>Mustang</quote>) and 400
(<quote>Avanti</quote>) series</title>
<para>The Digital AlphaStation 200 and 400 series systems are early
low end PCI based workstations. The 200 and 250 series are
desktop boxes, the 400 series is a desk-side mini-tower.</para>
<para>Features:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>21064 or 21064A CPU at speeds of 166 up to 333 MHz</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>DECchip 21071-AA (core logic chip-set) consisting of:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Cache/memory controller (one 21071-CA chip)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>PCI interface (one 21071-DA chip)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Data path (two 21071-BA chips)</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Bcache / L2 cache: 512 Kbytes (200 and 400 series) or 2048KBytes (250 series)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>memory:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>64 bit bus width</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>8 to 384 MBytes of RAM</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>70 ns or better Fast Page DRAM</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>in three pairs (200 and 400 series)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>in two quads, so banks of four. (250 series)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>memory subsystem uses parity</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>PS/2 keyboard and mouse port</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>two 16550 serial ports</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>parallel port</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>floppy disk interface</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>32 bit PCI expansion slots (3 for 400 series, 2 for 200 & 250 series)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>ISA expansion slots (4 for 400 series, 2 for 200 & 250 series)
(some ISA/PCI slots are physically shared)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>embedded 21040-based Ethernet (200 & 250 series)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>embedded Symbios 53c810 Fast SCSI-2 chip</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Intel 82378IB ("Saturn") PCI-ISA bridge chip</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>graphics is embedded TGA or PCI VGA (model dependent)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>16 bit sound (on 200 & 250 series)</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
<para>The systems use parity memory SIMMs, but these do not need 36 bit
wide SIMMs. 33 bit wide SIMMs are sufficient, 36 bit SIMMs are
acceptable too. EDO or 32 bit SIMMs will not work. 4, 8, 16, 32 and
64 Mbyte SIMMs are supported.</para>
<para>The AS200 & AS250 sound hardware is reported to work OK assuming
you have the following line in your kernel config file:
<programlisting>
device pcm0 at isa? port 0x530 irq 9 drq 0 flags 0x10011
</programlisting></para>
<para>AlphaStation 200 & 250 series have an automatic SCSI terminator.
This means that as soon as you plug a cable onto the external SCSI
connector the internal terminator of the system is disabled. It also
means that you should not leave unterminated cables plugged into
the machine.</para>
<para>AlphaStation 400 series have an SRM variable that controls
termination. In case you have external SCSI devices connected you
must set this SRM variable using >>>
<userinput> set control_scsi_term external
</userinput>. If only internal SCSI devices are present use:
>>><userinput> set control_scsi_term internal</userinput></para>
<para>For the AlphaStation-[24][05]00 machines the kernel config file
must contain:
<programlisting>
options DEC_2100_A50
cpu EV4
</programlisting></para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>AlphaStation 500 and 600 (<quote>Alcor</quote> &
<quote>Maverick</quote> for EV5, <quote>Bret</quote> for EV56)</title>
<para>AS500 and 600 were the high-end EV5 / PCI based workstations.
EV6 based machines have in the meantime taken their place as front
runners. AS500 is a desktop in a dark blue case (TopGun blue),
AS600 is a sturdy desk-side box. AS600 has a nice LCD panel to observe
the early stages of SRM startup.</para>
<para>Features:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>21164 EV5 CPU at 266, 300, 333, 366, 400, 433, 466, or
500 MHz (AS500) or at 266, 300 or 333 MHz (AS600)<para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>21171 or 21172 (Alcor) core logic chip-set</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>cache: 2 or 4 Mb L3 / Bcache (AS600 at 266 MHz)
4 Mb L3 / Bcache (AS600 at 300 MHz)
2 or 8 Mb L3 / Bcache (8 Mb on 500 MHz version only)
2 to 16 Mb L3 / Bcache (AS600; 3 cache-SIMM slots)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>memory bus: 256 bits
</listitem>
<listitem><para>AS500 memory:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>industry standard 8 byte wide buffered DIMMs</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>8 DIMM slots</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>installed in sets of 4</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>maximum memory is 1 Gb (512 Mb max on 333 MHz CPUs)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>uses ECC </para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
<listitem><para>AS600 memory:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>industry standard 36 bit Fast Page Mode SIMMs</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>32 SIMM slots</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>installed in sets of 8</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>maximum memory is 1 Gb</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>uses ECC</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Qlogic 1020 based wide SCSI bus (1 bus/chip for AS500,
2 buses/chip for AS600)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>21040 based 10 Mbit Ethernet adapter, both Thinwire
and UTP connectors</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>expansion: AS500: 3 32-bit PCI slots
1 64-bit PCI slot
AS600: 2 32-bit PCI slot
3 64-bit PCI slots
1 PCI/EISA physically shared slot
3 EISA slots
1 PCI and 1 EISA slot are occupied by default
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>21050 PCI-to-PCI bridge chip</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Intel 82375EB PCI-EISA bridge (AS600 only)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>2 16550A serial ports</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>1 parallel port</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>16 bit audio Windows Sound System, in a dedicated slot (AS500)
in EISA slot (AS600, this is an ISA card)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>PS/2 keyboard and mouse port</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist></para>
<para>Early machines had Fast SCSI interfaces, later ones are Ultra
SCSI capable. AS500 shares its single SCSI bus with internal and external
devices. For a Fast SCSI bus you are limited to 1.8 meters bus
length external to the box. +++ This is what some DEC docs suggest.
Did they ever go UltraSCSI?</para>
<para>AS600 has one Qlogic SCSI chip dedicated to the internal devices
whereas the other Qlogic SCSI chip is dedicated to external SCSI devices.
</para>
<para>In AS500 DIMMs are installed in sets of 4, in 'physically
interleaved' layout. So, a bank of 4 DIMMs is *not* 4 physically
adjacent DIMMs!</para>
<para>In AS600 the memory SIMMs are placed onto two memory daughter
cards. SIMMs are installed in sets of 8. Both memory daughter cards must
be populated identically.</para>
<para>AS600 has a peculiarity for its PCI slots. AS600 (or rather the
PCI expansion card containing the SCSI adapters) does not allow I/O port
mapping, therefore all devices behind it must use memory mapping. If you
have problems getting the Qlogic SCSI adapters to work, add the following
option to /boot/loader.rc:
<programlisting>set isp_mem_map=0xff</programlisting>
This may need to be typed at the boot loader prompt before booting the
installation kernel.</para>
<para>For the AlphaStation-[56]00 machines the kernel config file
must contain:
<programlisting>
options DEC_KN20AA
cpu EV5
</programlisting></para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>AlphaServer 1000 (<quote>Mikasa</quote>), 1000A (<quote>Noritake</quote>) and 800</title>
<programlisting>
The AlphaServer 1000 and 800 range of machines is aimed as departmental servers.
They come in quite some variations in packaging and mainboard/cpu. Generally
speaking there are 21064 (EV4) CPU based machines and 21164 (EV5) based
ones. The CPU is on a daughter card, and the type of CPU (EV4 or EV5) must
match the mainboard in use. AlphaServer 800 is a much smaller mini tower
case, it lacks the StorageWorks SCSI hot-plug chassis. The main difference
between AS1000 and AS1000A is that AS1000A has 7 PCI slots whereas AS1000
only has 3 PCI slots and has EISA slots instead. AS800 with an EV5/400 MHz
CPU was later re-branded as a DIGITAL Server 3300[R], AS800 with an EV5/500 MHz
CPU was later re-branded as a DIGITAL Server 3305[R].
Features:
- 21064 EV4[5] CPU at 200, 233 or 266 MHz
21164 EV5[6] CPU at 300, 333 or 400 MHz (or 500 MHz for AS800 only)
- cache:
- memory bus: 128 bit with ECC
- memory:
AS1000[A]-systems:
Use 72pin 36 bit Fast Page Mode SIMMs, 70ns or better
16 or 20 SIMM slots
max memory is 1 Gb
uses ECC
AS800:
Uses SDRAM DIMMs.
- embedded VGA (on some mainboard models)
- expansion:
3 PCI, 2 EISA, 1 64-bit PCI/EISA combo (AS800)
7 PCI, 2 EISA (AS1000A)
2 PCI, 1 EISA/PCI, 7 EISA (AS1000)
- embedded SCSI based on Symbios 810 [AS1000] or Qlogic 1020 [AS1000A]
Box:
AS1000 based machines come in multiple boxes. Floor standing, rack-mount,
with or without StorageWorks SCSI chassis etc. The electronics are the
same.
Memory:
AS1000-systems:
All EV4 based machines use standard PS/2 style 36 bit 72pin SIMMs in sets
of 5. The fifth SIMM is used for ECC.
All EV5 based machines use standard PS/2 style 36 bit 72pin SIMMs in sets
of 4. The ECC is done based on the 4 extra bits per SIMM (4 bits out of 36).
The EV5 mainboards have 16 SIMM slots, the EV4 mainboards have 20 slots.
AS800:
Uses DIMMs in sets of 4. DIMM installation must start in slots marked
bank 0. A bank is four physically adjacent slots. The biggest size DIMMs
must be installed in bank 0 in case 2 banks of different DIMM sizes are
used. Max memory size is 2Gb.
Console:
The AS1000/800 are somewhat stubborn when it comes to serial
consoles. They need >>> SET CONSOLE SERIAL before they go for
a serial console. Pulling the keyboard from the machine is not sufficient,
like it is on most other Alpha models. Going back to a graphical console
needs >>> SET CONSOLE GRAPHICS at the serial console.
SCSI:
For AS800 you want to check if your Ultra-Wide SCSI is indeed in Ultra mode.
This can be done using the EEROMCFG.EXE utility that is on the Firmware
Upgrade CDROM.
For the AlphaServer1000/1000A/800 machines the kernel config file must contain:
options DEC_1000A
cpu EV4 # depends on the CPU model installed
cpu EV5 # depends on the CPU model installed
</programlisting>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>DS10/VS10/XP900 (<quote>Webbrick</quote>) / XP1000 (<quote>Monet</quote>) / DS10L
(<quote>Slate</quote>)</title>
<programlisting>
Webbrick and Monet are high performance workstations/servers based on the
EV6 CPU and the Tsunami chipset. Tsunami is also used in much higher-end
systems and as such has plenty of performance to offer. DS10, VS10 and XP900
are different names for essentially the same system. The difference are the
software and options that are supported. DS10L is a DS10 based machine in a 1U
high rackmount enclosure. DS10L is intended for ISPs and for HPTC clusters
(e.g. Beowulf).
Monet has, by 1999 standards, *stunning* (the words of a satisfied
user) memory and I/O system bandwidth.
** Webbrick / Slate
Features:
- 21264 EV6 CPU at 466 MHz
- L2 / Bcache: 2MB, ECC protected
- memory bus: 128 bit via crossbar, 1.3GB/sec to memory
- memory: industry standard 200 pin 83 MHz buffered ECC SDRAM DIMMs
4 DIMM slots (2 for DS10L)
installed in pairs of 2
max memory is 2 Gb (1Gb for DS10L)
- 21271 Core Logic chipset ("Tsunami")
- 2 on-board 21143 Fast Ethernet controllers
- AcerLabs M5237 (Aladdin-V) USB controller
- AcerLabs M1533 PCI-ISA bridge
- AcerLabs Aladdin ATA-33 controller
- embedded dual EIDE
- expansion: 3 64-bit PCI slots
1 32-bit PCI slots
DS10L has a single 64bit PCI slot
- 2x 16550A serial ports
- 1x parallel port
- 2x USB
- PS/2 keyboard & mouse port
Power:
The system has a smart power controller. This means that parts of the system
remain powered when it is switched off (like an ATX-style PC power supply).
Before servicing the machine remove the power cord.
Case:
Webbrick is shipped in a desktop-style case similar to the older 21164
"Maverick" workstations but which offers much better access to
components. If you intend to build a farm you can rackmount them in a
19-inch rack; they are 3U high. Slate is 1U high but has only one PCI slot.
Memory:
DS10 has 4 DIMM slots. DIMMs are installed as pairs. Please note that
DIMM pairs are not installed in adjacent DIMM sockets but rather physically
interleaved. DIMM sizes of 32, 64, 128, 256 and 512 Mbytes are supported.
When 2 pairs of identical-sized DIMMs are installed DS10 will use memory
interleaving for higher performance. DS10L, which has only 2 DIMM slots cannot
do interleaving.
SCSI:
Starting with SRM firmware version 5.9 you can boot from Adaptec 2940-series
adapters in addition to the usual set of Qlogic and Symbios/NCR adapters.
EIDE:
The base model comes with a FUJITSU 9.5GB ATA disk as its boot device.
&os; works just fine using EIDE disks on Webbrick. DS10 has 2 IDE
interfaces on the mainboard.
Expansion:
On the PCI bus 32 and 64 bit cards are supported, in 3.3V and 5V variants.
USB:
Is supported in &os; 4.1 and later.
The kernel config file must contain:
options DEC_ST6600
cpu EV5
Contrary to expectation there is no 'cpu EV6' defined for inclusion in the
kernel config file. The 'cpu EV5' is mandatory to keep config(8) happy.
</programlisting>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title><quote>Monet</quote></title>
<programlisting>
Features:
- 21264 EV6 at 500 MHz
21264 EV67 at 500 or 667 MHz (XP1000G, codenamed Brisbane)
CPU is mounted on a daughter-card which is field-upgradable
- L2 / Bcache: 4MB, ECC protected
- memory bus: 256 bit
- memory: 128 or 256 Mbytes 100 MHz (PC100) 168 pin JEDEC standard,
registered ECC SDRAM DIMMs
- 21271 Core Logic chip-set ("Tsunami")
- 1 on-board 21143 Ethernet controller
- Cypress 82C693 USB controller
- Cypress 82C693 PCI-ISA bridge
- Cypress 82C693 controller
- expansion: 2 independent PCI buses, driven by high-speed I/O
channels called 'hoses':
hose 0: (the upper 3 slots)
2 64-bit PCI slots
1 32-bit PCI slot
hose 1: (the bottom 2 slots)
2 32-bit PCI slots (behind a 21154 PCI-PCI bridge)
2 of the 64-bit PCI slots are for full-length cards
all of the 32-bit PCI slots are for short cards
1 of the 32-bit PCI slots is physically shared with an ISA slot
all PCI slots run at 33MHz
- 1x Ultra-Wide SCSI port based on a Qlogic 1040 chip
- 2x 16550A serial port
- 1x parallel port
- PS/2 keyboard & mouse port
- embedded 16-bit ESS ES1888 sound chip
- 2x USB
- graphics options: ELSA Gloria Synergy or DEC/Compaq PowerStorm 3D
accelerator cards
Case:
Monet is housed in a mini-tower like enclosure quite similar to the Miata
box.
SCSI:
The on-board Qlogic UW-SCSI chip supports up to 4 internal devices. There is
no external connector for the on-board SCSI.
Memory:
For 500 MHz CPUs 83 MHz DIMMs will do. Compaq specifies PC100 DIMMs for
all CPU speeds. DIMMs are installed in sets of 4, starting with the
DIMM slots marked '0'. Memory capacity is max 4 Gb.
DIMMs are installed 'physically interleaved', note the markings of the
slots. Memory bandwidth of Monet is twice that of Webbrick. The DIMMs live
on the CPU daughter-card. Note that the system uses ECC RAM so you need DIMMs
with 72 bits (not the PC-class 64 bit DIMMs)
EIDE:
Is usable / bootable for system disk so &os; can be rooted on an EIDE
disk. Although the Cypress chip has potential for 2 EIDE channels Monet uses
only one of them.
USB:
If you experience problems trying to use the USB interface please check if
the SRM variable "usb_enable" is set to "on". You can change this by
performing: "set usb_enable on" at the SRM >>> prompt.
Expansion caveats:
- Don't try to use Symbios-chip based SCSI adapters in the PCI slots
connected to hose 1. There is a not-yet-found &os; bug that prevents this
from working correctly.
- Not all VGA cards will work behind the PCI-PCI bridge (so in slots 4 & 5).
Only cards that implement VGA-legacy addressing correctly will work. Workaround
is to put the VGA card 'before' the bridge.
Sound:
The sound chip is not currently supported with &os;. There is work in
progress in this area.
The kernel config file must contain:
options DEC_ST6600
cpu EV5
Contrary to expectation there is no 'cpu EV6' defined for inclusion in the
kernel config file. The 'cpu EV5' is mandatory to keep config(8) happy.
</programlisting>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>DS20/DS20E (<quote>Goldrush</quote>)</title>
<para>Features:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>21264 EV6 CPU at 500 or 670 MHz</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>dual CPU capable machine</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>L2 / Bcache: 4 Mbytes per CPU</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>memory bus: dual 256 bit wide with crossbar switch</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>memory: SDRAM DIMMs, installed in sets of 4, uses
ECC, 16 DIMM slots, max. 4Gb</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>21271 Core Logic chip-set
(<quote>Tsunami</quote>)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>embedded Adaptec ? Wide Ultra SCSI</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>expansion: 2 independent PCI buses, driven by high-speed I/O
channels called <quote>hoses</quote>, 6 64-bit PCI slots
(3 per hose), 1 ISA slot</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>DS20 needs <userinput>SET CONSOLE SERIAL</userinput>
before it goes for a serial console. Pulling the keyboard from
the machine is not sufficient. Going back to a graphical console
needs <userinput>SET CONSOLE GRAPHICS</userinput> at the serial
console. Confusing is the fact that you will get SRM console
output on the graphics console with the console set to serial,
but when &os; boots it honors the <literal>CONSOLE</literal>
variable setting and all the boot messages as well as the login
prompt will go to the serial port.</para>
<para>The DS20 is housed in a fat cube-like enclosure. The
enclosure also contains a StorageWorks SCSI hot-swap shelf for a
maximum of 7 3.5" SCSI devices. The DS20E is in a sleeker
case, without the StorageWorks shelf.</para>
<para>The embedded Adaptec SCSI chip on the DS20 is disabled and
is therefore not usable under &os;.</para>
<para>Starting with SRM firmware version 5.9 you can boot from
Adaptec 2940-series adapters in addition to the usual set of
Qlogic and Symbios/NCR adapters. This unfortunately does not
include the embedded Adaptec SCSI chips.</para>
<para>If you are using banks of DIMMs of different sizes the
biggest DIMMs should be installed in the DIMM slots marked
<literal>0</literal> on the mainboard. The DIMM slots should be
filled <quote>in order</quote> so after bank 0 install in bank 1
and so on.</para>
<para>Don't try to use Symbios-chip based SCSI adapters in the
PCI slots connected to hose 1. There is a not-yet-found &os; bug
that prevents this from working correctly. DS20 ships by default
with a Symbios on hose 1 so you have to move this card before
you can install/boot &os; on it.</para>
<para>The kernel config file must contain:
<programlisting>options DEC_ST6600
cpu EV5</programlisting>
</para>
<para>Contrary to expectation there is no <literal>cpu
EV6</literal> defined for inclusion in the kernel config
file. The <literal>cpu EV5</literal> is mandatory to keep
&man.config.8; happy.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>AlphaPC 264DP / UP2000</title>
<para>Features:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>21264 EV6 CPU at 670 MHz</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>dual CPU capable</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>L2 / Bcache: 4 Mbytes per CPU</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>memory bus: 256 bit</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>memory: SDRAM DIMMs installed in sets of 4, uses
ECC, 16 DIMM slots, max. 4Gb</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>21272 Core Logic chip-set (<quote>Tsunami</quote>)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>embedded Adaptec AIC7890/91 Wide Ultra SCSI</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>2x embedded IDE based on Cypress 82C693 chips</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>embedded USB via Cypress 82C693</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>expansion: 2 independent PCI buses driven by high-speed I/O
channels called <quote>hoses</quote>, 6 64-bit PCI slots
(3 per hose), 1 ISA slot</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>A maximum of 2Gb memory is supported by &os;.</para>
<para>The on-board Adaptec is not bootable but works with &os;
4.0 and later as a datadisk-only SCSI bus.</para>
<para>Busmaster DMA is supported on the first IDE interface
only.</para>
<para>The kernel config file must contain:
<programlisting>options DEC_ST6600
cpu EV5</programlisting>
</para>
<para>Contrary to expectation there is no <literal>cpu
EV6</literal> defined for inclusion in the kernel config
file. The <literal>cpu EV5</literal> is mandatory to keep
&man.config.8; happy.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>AlphaServer 2000 (<quote>DemiSable</quote>), 2100
(<quote>Sable</quote>), 2100A (<quote>Lynx</quote>)</title>
<programlisting>
The AlphaServer 2[01]00 machines are aimed as departmental servers.
This is medium iron, not a hobbyist system. These are multi-CPU machines,
up to 2 CPUs (AS2000) or 4 CPUs (2100[A]) can be installed.
Both floor-standing and 19" rackmount boxes exist. Rackmount variations have
different numbers of I/O expansion slots, different max number of CPUs and
different maximum memory size. Some of the boxes come with an integral
StorageWorks shelf to house hot-swap SCSI disks. There was an upgrade program
available to convert your Sable machine into a Lynx by swapping the
I/O backplane (the C-bus backplane remains). CPU upgrades were available
as well.
Features:
- 21064 EV4[5] CPU[s] at 200, 233, 275 MHz
- 21164 EV5[6] CPU[s]s at 250, 300, 375, 400 MHz
- cache: varies in size with the CPU model; 1, 4 or 8Mbyte per CPU
- embedded floppy controller driving a 2.88 Mbytes drive
- embedded 10Mbit 21040 Ethernet [AS2100 only]
- 2 serial ports
- 1 parallel port
- PS/2 style keyboard & mouse port
NOTE: Lynx support is currently flagged as experimental due to lack of
testing / test hardware.
CPU:
The CPUs spec-ed as 200 MHz are in reality running at 190 MHz. Maximum
number of CPUs is 4. All CPUs must be of the same type/speed.
If any of the processors are ever marked as failed, they will
remain marked as failed even after they have been replaced (or reseated)
until you issue the command 'clear_error all' on the SRM console and
power-cycle the machine. This may be true for other modules (IO and memory)
as well, but it has not been verified.
Memory:
The machines use dedicated memory boards. These boards live on a 128 bit
C-bus shared with the CPU boards. DemiSable supports up to 1Gb, Sable up
to 2Gb. One of the memory bus slots can either hold a CPU or a memory card.
A 4 CPU machine can have a maximum of 2 memory boards.
Some memory board modules house SIMMs. These are called SIMM carriers.
There are also memory modules that have soldered-on memory chips
instead of SIMMs. These are called 'flat memory modules'.
SIMM boards are used in sets of eight 72-pin 36 bit FPM memory of 70ns
or faster. SIMM types supported are 1Mb x36 bit (4 Mbyte) and 4Mb x36
bit (16 Mbyte). Each memory board can house 4 banks of SIMMs. SIMM
sizes can not be mixed on a single memory board. The first memory
module must be filled with SIMMs before starting to fill the next
memory module. Note that the spacing between the slots is not that
big, so make sure your SIMMs fit physically (before buying them..)
Console:
Both Lynx and Sable are somewhat stubborn when it comes to serial
consoles. They need >>> SET CONSOLE SERIAL before they go for
a serial console. Pulling the keyboard from the machine is not sufficient,
like it is on most other Alpha models. Going back to a graphical console
needs >>> SET CONSOLE GRAPHICS at the serial console. On Lynx keep the
VGA card in one of the primary PCI slots.
The machines are equipped with a small OCP (Operator Control Panel) LCD
screen. On this screen the self-test messages are displayed during system
initialization. You can put your own little text there by using the SRM:
>>> SET OCP_TEXT "FreeBSD"
The SRM >>> SHOW FRU command produces an overview of your configuration
with module serial numbers, hardware revisions and error log counts.
Embedded SCSI:
Both Sable, DemiSable and Lynx have Symbios 810 based Fast SCSI on-board.
Check if it is set to Fast SCSI speed by >>> SHOW PKA0_FAST. If set to
1 it is negotiating for Fast speeds. >>> SET PKA0_FAST 1 enables Fast
speeds.
Internal disk storage:
AS2100[A] come equipped with a StorageWorks 7 slot SCSI cage. A second cage
can be added inside the cabinet. AS2000 has a single 7 slot SCSI cage,
which cannot be expanded with an additional one. Note that the slot
locations in these cages map differently to SCSI IDs compared to the
standard StorageWorks shelves. Slot IDs from top to bottom
are 0, 4, 1, 5, 2, 6, 3 when using a single bus configuration. The cage
can also be set to provide two independent SCSI buses. This is used for
embedded RAID controllers like the KZPSC (Mylex DAC960). Slot ID assignments
for split bus are, from top to bottom: 0A, 0B, 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B.
Where A and B signify a SCSI bus. In a single bus configuration the
terminator module on the back of the SCSI cage is on the TOP. The jumper
module is on the BOTTOM. For split bus operation these two modules are
reversed. The terminator can be distinguished from the jumper by noting the
chips on the terminator. The jumper does not have any active components on
it.
Expansion:
DemiSable has 7 EISA slots and 3 PCI slots. Sable has 8 EISA and 3 PCI
slots. Lynx, being newer, has 8 PCI and 3 EISA slots. The Lynx PCI slots
are grouped in sets of 4. The 4 PCI slots closest to the CPU/memory
slots are the primary slots, so logically before the PCI bridge chip.
Note that contrary to expectation the primary PCI slots are the highest
numbered ones (PCI4 - PCI7).
Make sure you run the EISA Configuration Utility (from floppy) when
adding/change expansion cards in EISA slots or after upgrading your
console firmware. This is done by inserting the ECU floppy and typing
RUNECU at the SRM >>> prompt.
NOTE: EISA slots are currently unsupported, but the Compaq Qvision
EISA VGA adapter is treated as an ISA device. It therefore
works OK as a console.
A special Extended I/O module for use on the C-bus was planned-for.
Whether they ever saw daylight is unknown. In any case &os; has never
been verified with an ExtIO module.
Power:
The machines can be equipped with redundant power supplies. Note that
the enclosure is equipped with interlock switches that switch off power
when the enclosure is opened. The system's cooling fans are speed
controlled. When the machine has more than 2 CPUs and more than 1 memory
board dual power supplies are mandatory.
The kernel config file must contain:
options DEC_2100_A500
cpu EV4
cpu EV5
</programlisting>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>AlphaServer 4100 (<quote>Rawhide</quote>)</title>
<programlisting>
The AlphaServer 4100 machine is aimed as an enterprise server.
Expect a 30" high pedestal cabinet or alternatively the same system box in a
19" rack. This is medium iron, not a hobbyist system.
These are multi-CPU machines, up to 4 CPUs can be in a single
machine. Basic disk storage is housed in one or two StorageWorks shelves
at the bottom of the pedestal. The Rawhides intended for the NT market are
designated DIGITAL Server 7300 (5/400 CPU), DIGITAL Server 7305 (5/533 CPU).
A trailing R on the part-number means a rackmount variant.
Features:
- 21164 EV5 CPUs at 266, 300 MHz
21164A EV56 CPUs at 400, 466, 533, 600 and 666 Mhz
- cache: 4 Mbytes per CPU (EV5 300 MHz was also available cache-less)
8 Mbytes (EV5 600Mhz only)
- memory bus: 128 bit with ECC
- embedded floppy controller
- 2 serial ports
- 1 parallel port
- PS/2 style keyboard & mouse port
Memory:
Rawhide uses a maximum of 8 RAM modules. These modules are used in pairs
and supply 72 bits to the bus (this includes ECC bits). Memory can be EDO
RAM or synchronous DRAM. A fully populated Rawhide has 4 pairs of memory
modules. Given the choice use SDRAM for best performance. The highest
capacity memory board must be in memory slot 0. A mix of memory board sizes
is allowed. A mix of EDO and SDRAM is also reported as working (assuming you
don't try to mix EDO and SDRAM in one module pair).
Embedded SCSI:
Rawhide has an embedded Symbios 810 Fast SCSI bus.
Expansion:
Rawhides are available with a 8 64-bit PCI / 3 EISA slot expansion backplanes
(called 'Saddle' modules). There are 2 separate PCI buses, PCI0 and PCI1.
PCI0 has 1 dedicated PCI slot and (shared) 3 PCI/EISA slots. PCI0 also has a
PCI/EISA bridge that drives things like the serial and parallel ports,
keyboard/mouse etc. PCI1 has 4 PCI slots and an Symbios 810 SCSI chip. VGA
console cards must be installed in a slot connected to PCI0.
The current implementation has problems in handling PCI bridges. There is
currently a limited fix in place which allows for single level, single device
PCI bridges. The fix allows for the Digital supplied Qlogic SCSI card which
sits behind a 21054 PCI bridge chip.
NOTE: EISA slots are currently unsupported, but the Compaq Qvision
EISA VGA adapter is treated as an ISA device. It therefore
works OK as a console.
Power:
The system employs an I2C based power controller system. If you want to be
sure all power is removed from the system pull the mains cables from the
system.
The kernel config file must contain:
options DEC_KN300
cpu EV5
</programlisting>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>AlphaServer 1200 (<quote>Tincup</quote>) and AlphaStation
1200 (<quote>DaVinci</quote>)</title>
<programlisting>
The AlphaServer 1200 machine is the successor to the AlphaServer 1000A.
It uses the same enclosure the 1000A uses, but the logic is based on the
AlphaServer 4000 design. These are multi-CPU machines, up to 2 CPUs can
be in a single machine. Basic disk storage is housed in a StorageWorks shelves
The AS1200 intended for the NT market are designated DIGITAL Server 5300
(5/400 CPU) and DIGITAL Server 5305 (5/533 CPU).
Features:
- 21164A EV56 CPUs at 400 or 533 Mhz
- cache: 4 Mbytes per CPU
- memory bus: 128 bit with ECC
DIMM memory on two memory daughter boards
- embedded floppy controller
- 2 serial ports
- 1 parallel port
- PS/2 style keyboard & mouse port
Memory:
AS1200 uses 2 memory daughter cards. On each of these cards are 8 DIMM slots.
DIMMs must be installed in pairs. The maximum memory size is 4 Gbytes.
Slots must be filled in order and slot 0 must contain the largest size
DIMM if different sized DIMMs are used. AS1200 employs fixed starting
addresses for DIMMs, each DIMM pair starts at a 512 Mbyte boundary.
This means that if DIMMs smaller than 256 Mbyte are used the system's
physical memory map will contain 'holes'. Supported DIMM sizes are 64 Mbytes
and 256 Mbytes. The DIMMs are 72 bit SDRAM based, as the system employs ECC.
Embedded SCSI:
AS1200 has an embedded Symbios 810 Fast SCSI bus.
Expansion:
AS1200 has 5 64-bit PCI slots, one 1 32-bit PCI slot and one EISA slot
(which is physically shared with one of the 64-bit PCI slots).
There are 2 separate PCI buses, PCI0 and PCI1. PCI0 has the 32-bit PCI
slot and the 2 top-most 64-bit PCI slots. PCI0 also has an Intel 82375EB
PCI/EISA bridge that drives things like the serial and parallel ports,
keyboard/mouse etc. PCI1 has 4 64-bit PCI slots and an Symbios 810 SCSI chip.
VGA console cards must be installed in a slot connected to PCI0.
Power:
The system employs an I2C based power controller system. If you want to be
sure all power is removed from the system pull the mains cables from the
system. Tincup uses dual power supplies in load-sharing mode and not
as a redundancy pair.
The kernel config file must contain:
options DEC_KN300
cpu EV5
</programlisting>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>AlphaServer 8200 and 8400 (<quote>TurboLaser</quote>)</title>
<programlisting>
The AlphaServer 8200 and 8400 machines are aimed as enterprise servers.
Expect a tall 19" cabinet (8200) or fat (8400) 19" rack. This is big iron,
not a hobbyist system. These are multi-CPU machines, up to 12 CPUs can be in
a single machine. The TurboLaser System Bus (TLSB) allows 9 nodes on the
AS8400 and 5 nodes on the AS8200. TLSB is 256 bit data, 40 bit address
allowing 2.1 Gbytes/sec. Nodes on the TLSB can be CPUs, memory or I/O. A
maximum of 3 I/O ports are supported on a TLSB. Basic disk storage is housed
in a StorageWorks shelf.
Features:
- 21164 EV5 CPUs at up to 467 MHz
21264 EV67 CPUs at up to 625 MHz
one or two CPUs per CPU module
- cache: 4Mbytes per CPU
- memory bus: 256 bit with ECC
- memory:
uses big memory modules that plug into the TLSB, which in turn
hold special SIMM modules.
memory modules come in varying sizes, up to 2 Gbytes a piece.
uses ECC (8 bites per 64 bits of data)
7 modules max for AS8400, 3 modules max for AS8200
maximum memory is 14 Gbytes
- expansion:
3 system 'I/O ports' that allow up to 12 I/O channels
each I/O channel can connect to XMI, Futurebus+ or PCI boxes
Memory:
&os; supports (and has been tested with) up to 2 Gbytes of memory on
TurboLaser.
Expansion:
Only PCI expansion is supported on &os;. XMI or Futurebus+ (which
are AS8400 only) are both unsupported.
The I/O port modules are designated KFTIA or KFTHA. The I/O port modules
supply so called 'hoses' that connect to up to 4 (KFTHA) PCI buses or 1
PCI bus (KFTIA). KFTIA has embedded dual 10baseT Ethernet, single FDDI,
3 SCSI Fast Wide Differential SCSI buses and a single Fast Wide Single Ended
SCSI bus. The FWSE SCSI is intended for the systems CDROM.
KFTHA can drive via each of its 4 hoses a DWLPA or DWLPB box. The DWLPx
house a 12 slots 32 bit PCI backplane. Physically the 12 slots are 3 4-slot
buses but to the software it appears as a single 12 slots PCI bus. A fully
expanded AS8x00 can have 3 (I/O ports) times 4 (hoses) times 12 (PCI
slots/DWLPx) = 144 PCI slots. The maximum bandwidth per KFTHA is 500
Mbytes/second. DWLPA can also house 8 EISA cards, 2 slots are PCI-only, 2
slots are EISA only. Of the 12 slots 2 are always occupied by an I/O and
connector module.
For best performance distribute high bandwidth (FibreChannel, Gigabit Ethernet)
over multiple hoses and/or multiple KFTHA/KFTIA.
Currently PCI expansion cards containing PCI bridges are not usable. Don't
use them at this time.
Embedded SCSI:
The single ended SCSI bus on the KFTIA will turn up as the fourth (!)
SCSI bus. The 3 differential SCSI buses of the KFTIA precede it.
Console:
AS8x00 are generally run with serial consoles. Some newer machines might
have a graphical console of some sorts but &os; has only been tested on
a serial console.
For serial console usage either change /etc/ttys to have:
console "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600" unknown on secure
as the console entry, or add
zs0 "/usr/libexec/getty std.9600" unknown on secure
and make the zs node:
mknod /dev/zs0 c 135 0
For the AlphaServer 8x00 machines the kernel config file must
contain:
options DEC_KN8AE # Alpha 8200/8400 (Turbolaser)
cpu EV5
</programlisting>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Alpha Processor Inc. UP1000</title>
<programlisting>
The UP1000 is an ATX mainboard based on the 21264a CPU which itself lives in
a Slot B module. It is normally housed in a ATX [mini]tower enclosure.
Features:
- 21264a Alpha CPU at 600 or 700 MHz in a Slot B module (includes cooling fans)
- memory bus: 128 bits to the L2 cache, 64 bits from Slot B to the AMD-751
- on-board Bcache / L2 cache: 2Mb (600Mhz) or 4Mb (700Mhz) cache
- AMD AMD-751 ('Irongate') system controller chip
- Acer Labs M1543C PCI-ISA bridge controller / super-IO chip
- PS/2 mouse & keyboard port
- memory: 168-pin PC100 unbuffered SDRAM DIMMS
3 DIMM slots
DIMM sizes supported are 64, 128 or 256 Mb in size
- 2x 16550A serial port
- 1x ECP/EPP parallel port
- floppy interface
- 2x embedded Ultra DMA33 IDE interface
- 2x USB port
- expansion: 4 32 bit PCI slots
2 ISA slots
1 AGP slot
Slot B:
Slot B is a box-like enclosure that houses a daughter-board for the CPU and
cache. It has 2 small fans for cooling. Loud ones too..
Memory:
The machine needs ECC capable DIMMs, so 72 bit ones. This does not appear to
be documented in the UP1000 docs. The system accesses the serial EEPROM on
the DIMMs via the SM bus. Note that if only a single DIMM is used it must be
installed in slot *2*. This is a bit counter-intuitive.
Power
The UP1000 needs a 400Watt ATX power supply according to the manufacturer.
This might be a bit overly conservative/pessimistic judging from the power
consumption of the board & cpu. But as always you will have to take your
expansion cards and peripherals into account. The M1543C chip contains power
management functionality & temperature monitoring (via I2C / SM bus).
Console
Chances are that your UP1000 comes by default with AlphaBios only. The SRM
console firmware is available from the Alpha Processor Inc. website. It is
currently available in a beta version which was successfully used during the
port of &os; to the UP1000.
EIDE:
The embedded Ultra DMA EIDE ports are bootable by the SRM console.
SCSI:
UP1000 SRM can boot off an Adaptec 294x adapter. Under high I/O load conditions
machine lockups have been observed using the Adaptec 294x. A Symbios 875
based card works just fine, using either the ncr or sym driver. The sym driver
is the newest and most actively maintained one. Most likely other cards
based on the Symbios chips that the sym driver supports will work as well.
USB:
Is disabled by the SRM console and has not (yet) been tested with &os;.
For the UP1000 the kernel config file must contain:
cpu EV5
options API_UP1000 # UP1000, UP1100 (Nautilus)
</programlisting>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Alpha Processor Inc. UP1100</title>
<programlisting>
The UP1100 is an ATX mainboard based on the 21264a CPU running at 600 MHz.
It is normally housed in a ATX [mini]tower enclosure.
Features:
- 21264a Alpha EV6 CPU at 600 or 700 MHz
- memory bus: 100MHz 64-bit (PC-100 SDRAM)
800 MB/s memory bandwidth
- on-board Bcache / L2 cache: 2Mb
- AMD AMD-751 ('Irongate') system controller chip
- Acer Labs M1535D PCI-ISA bridge controller / super-IO chip
- PS/2 mouse & keyboard port
- memory: 168-pin PC100 unbuffered SDRAM DIMMS
3 DIMM slots
DIMM sizes supported are 64, 128 or 256 Mb in size
- 2x 16550A serial port
- 1x ECP/EPP parallel port
- floppy interface
- 2x embedded Ultra DMA66 IDE interface
- 2x USB port
- expansion: 3 32 bit PCI slots
1 AGP2x slot
Console:
SRM console code comes standard with the UP1100. The SRM lives in 2Mbytes of
flash ROM.
Memory:
The machine needs ECC capable DIMMs, so 72 bit ones. This does not appear to
be documented in the UP1100 docs. The system accesses the serial EEPROM on
the DIMMs via the SM bus. Note that if only a single DIMM is used it must be
installed in slot *2*. This is a bit counter-intuitive.
Power
The UP1100 needs a 400Watt ATX power supply according to the manufacturer.
This might be a bit overly conservative/pessimistic judging from the power
consumption of the board & cpu. But as always you will have to take your
expansion cards and peripherals into account. The M1535D chip contains power
management functionality & temperature monitoring (via I2C / SM bus using
a LM75 thermal sensor).
Network:
The UP1100 has an on-board 21143 10/100Mbit Ethernet interface.
Sound:
The UP1100 is equipped with a SoundBlaster compatible audio interface.
Whether this works with &os; is as of yet unknown.
EIDE:
The embedded Ultra DMA EIDE ports are bootable by the SRM console.
USB:
The UP1100 has 3 USB ports, 2 going external and one connected to the
AGP port.
For the UP1100 the kernel config file must contain:
cpu EV5
options API_UP1000 # UP1000, UP1100 (Nautilus)
</programlisting>
</sect3>
<sect3>
<title>Alpha Processor Inc. CS20</title>
<programlisting>
The CS20 is a 19", 1U high rackmount server based on the 21264[ab] CPU. It can
have a maximum of 2 CPUs.
Features:
- 21264a Alpha CPU at 667 MHz or 21264b 833 MHz (max. 2 CPUs)
- memory bus: 100MHz 256-bit wide
- 21271 Core Logic chipset ("Tsunami")
- Acer Labs M1533 PCI-ISA bridge controller / super-IO chip
- PS/2 mouse & keyboard port
- memory: 168-pin PC100 PLL buffered/registered SDRAM DIMMS
8 DIMM slots
uses ECC memory
min 256 Mbytes / max 2 Gbytes of memory
- 2x 16550A serial port
- 1x ECP/EPP parallel port
- ALI M1543C Ultra DMA66 IDE interface
- embedded dual Intel 82559 10/100Mbit Ethernet
- embedded Symbios 53C1000 Ultra160 SCSI controller
- expansion: 2 64 bit PCI slots (2/3 length)
Console:
SRM console code comes standard with the CS20. The SRM lives in 2Mbytes of
flash ROM.
Memory:
The CS20 needs ECC capable DIMMs. Note that it uses *buffered* DIMMs.
Monitoring:
The CS20 has an I2C based internal monitoring system for things like
temperature, fans, voltages etc. The I2C also supports 'wake on LAN'.
Expansion:
Each PCI slot is connected to it's own independent PCI bus on the Tsunami.
EIDE:
The embedded Ultra DMA EIDE ports are bootable by the SRM console.
Disks:
The CS20 has an embedded slim-line IDE CD drive. There is a front-accessible
bay for a 1" high 3.5" SCSI hard-disk drive with SCA connector.
Note that there is no floppy disk drive (or a connector to add one).
The kernel config file must contain:
options DEC_ST6600
cpu EV5
Contrary to expectation there is no 'cpu EV6' defined for inclusion in the
kernel config file. The 'cpu EV5' is mandatory to keep config(8) happy.
</programlisting>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Supported Hardware Overview</title>
<para>A word of caution: the installed base for &os; is not
nearly as large as for &os;/Intel. This means that the enormous
variation of PCI/ISA expansion cards out there has much less
chance of having been tested on alpha than on Intel. This is not
to imply they are doomed to fail, just that the chance of running
into something never tested before is much greater.
<filename>GENERIC</filename>
contains things that are known to work on Alpha only.</para>
<para>The PCI and ISA expansion busses are fully supported. Turbo
Channel is not in <filename>GENERIC</filename> and has limited
support (see the relevant machine model info). The MCA bus is not
supported. The EISA bus is not supported for use with EISA
expansion cards as the EISA support code is lacking. ISA cards in
EISA slots are reported to work. The Compaq Qvision EISA VGA card
is driven in ISA mode and works OK as a console.</para>
<para>1.44 Mbyte and 1.2 Mbyte floppy drives are supported.
2.88 Mbyte drives sometimes found in Alpha machines are supported up to
1.44Mbyte.</para>
<para>ATA and ATAPI (IDE) devices are supported via the &man.ata.4;
driver framework. As most people run their Alphas with SCSI disks
it is not as well tested as SCSI. Be aware of boot-ability
restrictions for IDE disks. See the machine specific information.</para>
<para>There is full SCSI support via the CAM layer for Adaptec
2940x (AIC7xxx chip-based), Qlogic family and Symbios. Be aware of
the machine-specific boot-ability issues for the various adapter
types.</para>
<para>The Qlogic QL2x00 FibreChannel host adapters are fully
supported.</para>
<para>If you want to boot your Alpha over the Ethernet you will
obviously need an Ethernet card that the SRM console
recognizes. This generally means you need a board with an 21x4x
Ethernet chip as that is what Digital used. These chips are driven
by the &os; &man.de.4; (older driver) or &man.dc.4; (newer
driver). Some new SRM versions are known to recognize the Intel
8255x Ethernet chips as driven by the &os; &man.fxp.4; driver. But
beware: the &man.fxp.4; driver is reported not to work correctly
with &os; (although it works excellently on &os;/x86).</para>
<para>DEC DEFPA PCI FDDI network adapters are supported on alpha.</para>
<para>In general the SRM console emulates a VGA-compatibility mode
on PCI VGA cards. This is, however, not guaranteed to work by
Compaq/DEC for each and every card type out there. When the SRM
thinks the VGA is acceptable &os; will be able to use it. The
console driver works just like on a &os;/intel machine. The TGA
video graphics which is embedded on for example Multia does
<emphasis>not</emphasis>
work with &os;. TGA based PCI cards are also <emphasis>not</emphasis>
supported. Please note that VESA modes are not supported on Alpha,
so that leaves you with 80x25 consoles.</para>
<para>The <quote>PC standard</quote> serial ports found on most
Alphas are supported. For TurboChannel machines the serial ports
are also supported.</para>
<para>ISDN (i4b) is not supported on &os;/alpha.</para>
</sect2>
<sect2>
<title>Acknowledgments</title>
<para>In compiling this file I used multiple information sources,
but <ulink url="http://www.netbsd.org/">the NetBSD Web
site</ulink> proved to be an invaluable source of information. If
it wasn't for NetBSD/alpha there probably would not be a
&os;/alpha in the first place.</para>
<para>People who kindly helped me create this section:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Nick Maniscalco <email>nmanisca@vt.edu</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Andrew Gallatin <email>gallatin@cs.duke.edu</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Christian Weisgerber <email>naddy@mips.rhein-neckar.de</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>David O'Brien <email>obrien@NUXI.com</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Wim Lemmers, ex-Compaq</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Matthew Jacob <email>mjacob@feral.com</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Eric Schnoebelen <email>eric@cirr.com</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Chuck Robey <email>chuckr@picnic.mat.net</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>&a.msmith;</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Peter Jeremy <email>peter.jeremy@alcatel.com.au</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Dolf de Waal <email>l.j.de.waal@kader.hobby.nl</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Wouter Brackman, Compaq</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Kazutaka YOKOTA <email>yokota@zodiac.mech.utsunomiya-u.ac.jp</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Peter van Dijk <email>petervd@vuurwerk.nl</email></para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Lodewijk van den Berg, Compaq</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect2>
</sect1>
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