[CLUE-Tech] Alpha bios info.

[Sean LeBlanc]

On 12-14 09:10, Dave Anselmi wrote:
> Sean LeBlanc wrote:
> 
> > Hmmm. Seems you've had more success than me in this regard...I've copied
> > the as255_v8_1.exe to disk as fwupdate.exe, but update BIOS function in
> > AlphaBIOS doesn't seem to recognize it - it just says insert disk with
> > update utility on it. I have no idea what else I can try, other than maybe
> > a different floppy as maybe there is some issue with it.
> 
> You might try double checking the floppy cable and power connector.  You should
> also reformat the disk to make sure there aren't any bad sectors.  I used a win
> system to format and copy the file, which worked as far as I got.

Well, it was the floppy cable - it was pretty much dangling about a hair
above the motherboard. Thanks for the tip. I now have SRM on the box. I
attempted a FreeBSD install. I say "attempt" because I didn't get too far -
I was not able to boot from CD - it complained and said something about
first sector on CD not being right. So I booted from floppy. I was able to
boot kernel disk, then root disk. Then, when it went to retrieve from CD, it
complained that no CD/DVD devices found. So, trying to forge ahead, I
configured network, and tried to install from several different FTP sites.
No dice. So I decided to try out Redhat as it is usually so easy on x86
systems. I'm downloading the first ISO right now. I feel almost like I'm
cheating, but it will make me feel better to get *something* on this box. :)

Did you say you got a blue screen at one point? I think the FreeBSD
hardware.txt mentioned that in some instances, a Ctrl-Alt-Del is needed to
get the "attention" of SRM in cases like this.

> > BTW, the FreeBSD CD has two files at top level, one called hardware and one
> > called install. Both are in plain text or html. Hardware goes pretty deep
> > into all kinds of nuances of the hardware, why Linux can/does boot from
> > AlphaBIOS, and that FreeBSD is an SRM-only deal, among other things.
> 
> Since you can boot linux with Milo from both SRM and Alphabios, you might be
> able to hack together something with it that boots FreeBSD.

I'm not so sure. The hardware.txt may be outdated, but it says this:

	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. The ARC
	console firmware contains a different PAL code, geared towards WinNT and in
	no way suitable for use by FreeBSD (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. If you are interested in the gory details search the FreeBSD and
	NetBSD web sites.

Maybe Milo is what provides this PAL code, though, so maybe the above is a
moot point?  

-- 
Sean LeBlanc:seanleblanc at attbi.com Yahoo:seanleblancathome 
ICQ:138565743 MSN:seanleblancathome AIM:sleblancathome 
So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is 
the root of all money? 
-Ayn Rand 
Management QOTD:Specify the cost management!!