4. What Systems Does Linux/Alpha Run On?
Contents of this section
The number of Alpha platforms that are supported by Linux is
quickly increasing. The following is a list of platforms that are
known to work with Linux. If you have any corrections to the list,
please send
us
mail.
-
AlphaPC164
(link may not be up yet).
-
Mikasa
(aka AlphaServer 1000).
-
Alcor
(aka AlphaStation 600 5/xxx).
-
EB164
. The Aspen Timberline and Summit machines are
similar to this machine.
-
Cabriolet
(aka AlphaPC64):
This is a PCI-bus based motherboards using the 21064 Alpha CPU.
It is more pricey than the low-end systems but it does make for a
real nice system and many third-party products are based on this
design. This board typically runs at 275MHz but some vendors sell
an (overclocked) 300MHz version.
-
Mikasa
(AlphaSever 1000) Note: Noritake (AlphaServer
1000a) is not supported. Also, the builtin Cirrus graphics card
is not (or very poorly) supported by X11.
-
Mustang
(AS200),
M3
(AS250)
???
(AS255)
Avanti
(AS400)
: Linux now runs on all of these AlphaStations.
In any case, since X11 is
currently supported only
for TGA, S3 and Mach64 based cards anyway, you might want to get one
of those
cards. There is Beta TGA X11 server that can be found at
DEC's ftp
site
The reason for clumping all these machines together is that they are
all very similar to program. In particular, they all can run one
and the same kernel when booted using the same firmware. Thus,
when configuring a kernel, simply pick "Avanti" as the system type
since that covers all of the above machines.
-
XL
The XL machine is also know as the "Windows NT Dream Machine."
Well, for what it's worth, (most of them) are perfectly happy
running Linux. When considering the purchase of an XL machine,
be aware that the Matrox Millenium graphics card is
unsupported by the X11 server and that this will remain so
unless Matrox changes its policy of releasing programming information
under non-disclosure only.
The regular XL is based on the 21064 CPU and runs either at 233
or 266MHz with 512KB or 2MB of second level cache,
respectively.
The newer XL Turbo is based on the 21164A CPU and runs either at
300 or 366MHz. The Turbo always comes with 2MB of
second-level cache. While the Linux kernel can be configured
to run on the Turbo, there is currently no known way to
boot Linux on this box. A fix for this is under way, so hopefully
Linux will both build and boot sometime soon.
-
Jensen
(aka DEC 2000 aka DECpc AXP 150):
This is the oldest of all Alpha PCs and comes with an EISA bus.
You probably don't want to buy such a machine new anymore since
you can now get faster machines for less money. However, it is
not uncommon to get really amazing deals for these machines and
a Jensen definitively would make a nice home box. The
firmware seems a little picky about what graphics card and SCSI
controllers
it wants, but if you're just looking for an affordable Alpha box,
it might be worthwhile to look into it.
-
Noname
(aka AXPpci33):
This is a PCI-bus based motherboard using the 21066 Alpha CPU
(Low-Cost Alpha). The core of the 21066 is the same as the 21064.
The only difference is that the 21066 also has a memory and I/O
controller integrated into the chip (which has the effect that the
external interface is much simpler and therefore much cheaper).
This board is available in a 166 and a 233MHz version.
-
UDB
:
Linux/Alpha also runs well on the Universal Desktop Box.
(That's the box that's called "Multia" when it's running Windows NT.)
The TGA graphics card and the builtin soundcard
are supported. The UDB is basically a Noname board with more
hardware builtin and wrapped into a neat little box. So when
configuring a kernel for it, simply select the "Noname" system
type. The UDB currently provides the lowest-cost entry point
into the Alpha world. There is lots of useful information and
pointers to resellers available at this
UDB InfoCenter
.
-
EB*
:
Digital sells Alpha evaluation boards (e.g., EB66, EB64+, etc.).
Reportedly, Linux/Alpha may run on some of these. But they are
relatively pricey and, given that they are evaluation boards,
they may have other baggage that a normal user would never want.
Linux/Alpha is unlikely to support the TURBOchannel-based Alpha
systems in the near future (this is the DEC 3000 series of
workstations). The reason for this is two-fold: first, these machines
have an I/O system that is very different from PCI-based machines and
therefore do not look anything like PCs (e.g., pretty much all drivers
would have to be written from scratch). Second, with the advent of
PCI, the TURBOchannel is pretty much dead technology (for better or
worse) and it just isn't all that much fun to develop software for
dead technology (on the other hand, it may soon be possible to buy
such systems cheaply, which would make them more interesting to Linux
users, I suppose).
Next Chapter,
Previous Chapter
Table of contents of this chapter,
General table of contents
Top of the document,
Beginning of this Chapter