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1.95 miod 18: <h2><font color="#e00000">OpenBSD/alpha</font></h2>
19:
1.83 horacio 20: <hr>
1.3 fn 21:
1.50 nate 22: <p>
1.95 miod 23: OpenBSD/alpha runs on a large set of the alpha computers manufactured by
24: <a href="http://www.digital.com">Digital</a> (then Compaq, now Hewlett-Packard).
25:
26: <p>
27: A mailing list dedicated to the OpenBSD/alpha port is available at
28: <u><font color="#23238e">alpha@openbsd.org</font></u>.
29: To join the OpenBSD/alpha mailing list, send a message body of <b>"subscribe
30: alpha"</b> to <a href="mailto:majordomo@openbsd.org">majordomo@openbsd.org</a>.
31: Please be sure to check our <a href="mail.html">mailing list policy</a> before
32: subscribing.
1.45 niklas 33:
1.95 miod 34: <p>
35: There is currently no maintainer for the alpha port.
36: Technical discussion about the alpha port should be directed to the
37: <u><font color="#23238e">alpha@openbsd.org</font></u> mailing list.
38: If you are interested in the job of alpha port maintainer, help out the project
39: for a while and step up to the job.
40:
1.161 nick 41: <a name="toc"></a>
1.95 miod 42: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><i>Table of contents</i></font></h3>
1.116 krw 43:
1.95 miod 44: <ul>
1.100 jufi 45: <li><a href="#history">History of the port</a>
1.95 miod 46: <li><a href="#status">Current status</a>
47: <li><a href="#projects">Project list</a>
1.120 nick 48: <li><a href="#hardware">Supported hardware</a>
1.95 miod 49: <li><a href="#install">Getting and installing OpenBSD/alpha</a>
50: </ul>
51:
52: <hr>
53: <a name="history"></a>
54: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>History:</strong></font></h3>
55:
56: <p>
57: The OpenBSD/alpha port was started in the summer of 1996 by using code
58: from the NetBSD/alpha port which was started by
59: <a href="mailto:cgd@netbsd.org">Chris Demetriou</a> in 1994.
60: After the original OpenBSD port, some
1.45 niklas 61: copyright issues prevented OpenBSD from tracking the NetBSD code.
62: Regardless, work on the alpha port continued and many fixes were made.
1.95 miod 63: Meanwhile, NetBSD continued to make improvements to the
1.83 horacio 64: alpha port which we were unfortunately unable to use. Over time,
1.45 niklas 65: because of a lack of programmer resources and the inability to use
66: NetBSD code, hardware and software support became very outdated. This
67: caused the 2.5 and 2.6 releases of alpha to have few kernel
1.95 miod 68: enhancements. As a result of its becoming so stale, there was no
69: OpenBSD/alpha port included in the 2.7 and 2.8 releases.
1.45 niklas 70:
1.95 miod 71: <p>
72: Shortly after OpenBSD 2.8 was released, there has been a great deal of
73: interest in bringing the port up to date. This, coupled with the fact
74: that NetBSD changed the license on its alpha code so that there were no
1.50 nate 75: longer copyright issues has lead to an effort to bring the alpha port
76: back up. (For details on why we were not able to keep tracking the
1.95 miod 77: NetBSD code, check our <a href="policy.html">policy</a> page.)
1.50 nate 78:
1.95 miod 79: <p>
80: Nathan Binkert, Art Grabowski, Niklas Hallqvist and Eric Jackson, with
1.83 horacio 81: the help of a few others, eventually brought the port in good shape
1.95 miod 82: again, and starting with the 2.9 release OpenBSD/alpha is a supported
83: OpenBSD port again.
84:
85: <hr>
86: <a name="status"></a>
87: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Current status:</strong></font></h3>
88:
89: <p>
90: Currently, all the hardware listed in the
1.120 nick 91: <a href="#hardware">supported hardware</a> section below boots
1.95 miod 92: multi-user, and supports enough of the on-board devices to be generally
1.119 pedro 93: usable, unless specified otherwise.
1.95 miod 94: A large set of PCI cards also work reliably, while ISA devices support has
95: limitations.
96:
97: <p>
1.140 martin 98: X11 is supported on TGA cards, as well as a few regular PCI
1.138 jsg 99: cards on newer (BWX enabled) machines, of which the following have been tested:
1.116 krw 100:
1.95 miod 101: <ul>
1.116 krw 102: <li>3DFX Interactive Banshee
103: <li>3DLabs Permedia 2 (8, 15, 16 and 24 bits depth)
104: <li>ATI Rage Pro (works with 'Option "NoAccel"')
105: <li>ATI Rage 128
106: <li>Cirrus Logic CL5430 (works with 'Option "NoAccel"')
107: <li>Cirrus Logic GD5446 (8, 16 and 24 bits depth)
1.140 martin 108: <li>Matrox MGA 2064 (8, 16 and 24 bits depth, works with 'Option "NoInt10"')
1.95 miod 109: </ul>
1.116 krw 110: <p>
1.95 miod 111: More cards will be supported as time and resources permits.
112:
113: <hr>
114: <a name="projects"></a>
115: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Projects (in no particular order):
116: </strong></font></h3>
117:
118: <ul>
119: <li>Testing more platforms and peripherals, to find what issues are
120: remaining and improve overall stability
121: <li>Improve port-specific documentation
122: <li>Support recent OSF/1 binaries and shared libraries in compatibility mode
123: <li>Support DMA for ISA devices
1.97 naddy 124: <li>Floppy support (requires working ISA DMA first)
1.95 miod 125: <li>Fix 64-bit issues in the non-working PCI drivers
126: <li>Improve X11 support
1.138 jsg 127: <li>Make X11 work on PCI VGA cards for machines without BWX
1.95 miod 128: </ul>
129:
130: <hr>
131: <a name="hardware"></a>
132: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Supported hardware:</strong></font></h3>
1.45 niklas 133:
1.95 miod 134: <p>
135: To the best of our knowledge, the following hardware is supported, but there
136: might be occasional breakage on some models.
137: Since there are many models and combinations that have not been tested,
138: we would appreciate very much if you told us about things that work and
139: do not work.
140: To help us keep track of what hardware people use, please mail your dmesg to
141: <a href="mailto:dmesg@openbsd.org">dmesg@openbsd.org</a>.
142: If there are things that do not work, please file a bug report using
1.116 krw 143: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=sendbug&arch=alpha&sektion=1">
1.95 miod 144: sendbug(1)</a>.
145:
1.170 brad 146: <p>
147:
1.95 miod 148: <h4>Supported Machines:</h4>
1.229 jsg 149: <ul>
150: <li>264DP, CS20, DS10, DS20, XP900, XP1000, and other EV6 machines using the
151: Tsunami chipset<br>(Only one processor will be used on multiprocessor
152: models)
153: <li>API UP1000, UP2000, and UP2000+ and other EV6 machines using the Irongate
154: chipset
155: <li>Digital Personal Workstation (Miata)<br>
156: <li>EB164 based machines (including PC164, 164SX, 164LX, but NOT the
157: 164UX)<br>
158: <li>AlphaServer 800, 1000, 1000A, 1200 and 4100
159: <li>AlphaStation 500 and 600
160: <li>AlphaStation 200, 250, 255 and 400
161: <li>AXPpci based machines (including ``Noname'', UDB, Multia)
162: <li>DEC 3000 models 300{,L,X,LX}
163: <li>DEC 3000 models 400,500,500X,600,700,800,900
164: </ul>
1.116 krw 165:
1.229 jsg 166: <h4>Unsupported Machines</h4>
1.18 johns 167: <ul>
1.82 miod 168: <li>DECpc AXP150 (2000/300) systems (EISA-bus PC-like systems)
1.92 miod 169: <li>AlphaServer systems, other than model 400, which seem to
1.83 horacio 170: be disguised AlphaStation machines.
1.82 miod 171: <li>Alpha XL systems. (No SRM)
172: <li>DEC 4000, 7000, and 10000 systems (FutureBus+ and XMIBus based).
173: <li>EB64+ based systems.
174: <li>Samsung 164BX/UX. (No SRM)
1.112 miod 175: <li>Multiprocessor Alpha systems (though they will run fine using one
176: processor only, if the model is listed as supported above).
1.82 miod 177: <li>VME Alpha systems.
1.4 niklas 178: </ul>
179:
1.229 jsg 180: <h4>Supported devices</h4>
1.50 nate 181: <ul>
1.230 jsg 182: <li>Host Controllers and Bridges, including:
183: <ul>
184: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=tcasic&arch=alpha&sektion=4">tcasic(4)</a>
185: TURBOchannel host bus,
186: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=lca&arch=alpha&sektion=4">lca(4)</a>
187: DECchip 21066 Core Logic,
188: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=apecs&arch=alpha&sektion=4">apecs(4)</a>
189: DECchip 21072/21071 Core Logic,
190: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=cia&arch=alpha&sektion=4">cia(4)</a>
191: DECchip 2117x Core Logic,
192: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=tsc&arch=alpha&sektion=4">tsc(4)</a>
193: DECchip 21272 Core Logic,
194: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=irongate&arch=alpha&sektion=4">irongate(4)</a>
195: API UP1000 AMD751 Core Logic and AGP,
196: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=mcbus&arch=alpha&sektion=4">mcbus(4)</a>
197: MCBUS System Bus.
198: </ul>
1.231 ! jsg 199: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=com&arch=alpha&sektion=4">com(4)</a>
! 200: built-in serial.
! 201: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=lpt&arch=alpha&sektion=4">lpt(4)</a>
! 202: built-in parallel.
! 203: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=de&arch=alpha&sektion=4">de(4)</a>
! 204: built-in DEC Ethernet.
! 205: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=fxp&arch=alpha&sektion=4">fxp(4)</a>
! 206: built-in i8255x Ethernet.
! 207: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=le&arch=alpha&sektion=4">le(4)</a>
! 208: built-in LANCE Ethernet.
! 209: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=isp&arch=alpha&sektion=4">isp(4)</a>
! 210: built-in ISP SCSI controller.
! 211: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=ahc&arch=alpha&sektion=4">ahc(4)</a>
! 212: built-in Adaptec SCSI controller.
! 213: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=siop&arch=alpha&sektion=4">siop(4)</a>
! 214: built-in 53C810 SCSI controller.
! 215: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=asc&arch=alpha&sektion=4">asc(4)</a>
! 216: built-in 53C94/53CF94-2 SCSI controller.
! 217: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pciide&arch=alpha&sektion=4">pciide(4)</a>
! 218: built-in IDE controller.
! 219: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=usb&arch=alpha&sektion=4">usb(4)</a>
! 220: built-in USB supports most USB devices.
! 221: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pci&arch=alpha&sektion=4">pci(4)</a>
! 222: most PCI devices.
! 223: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=isa&arch=alpha&sektion=4">isa(4)</a>
! 224: some ISA devices.
! 225: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=eisa&arch=alpha&sektion=4">eisa(4)</a>
! 226: some EISA devices.
! 227: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=le&arch=alpha&sektion=4">le(4)</a>
! 228: TURBOchannel LANCE Ethernet cards (PMAD-A) on DEC 3000.
! 229: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=asc&arch=alpha&sektion=4">asc(4)</a>
! 230: TURBOchannel SCSI (53C94) (PMAZ-A) on DEC 3000.
! 231: <li><a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=fta&arch=alpha&sektion=4">fta(4)</a>
! 232: TURBOchannel DEFTA FDDI cards (PMAF-FA) on DEC 3000.
1.229 jsg 233: </ul>
234:
235: <h4>Unsupported devices</h4>
236: <ul>
237: <li>Floppy drive.
238: <li>ISA devices that require DMA operation.
239: <li>ISA IDE controller
240: (<a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=wdc&arch=alpha&sektion=4">wdc</a>)
241: on the EB164.
242: <li>Built-in ISDN/audio chip on DEC 3000.
243: <li>Built-in framebuffer on DEC 3000.
1.189 martin 244: </ul>
245:
1.3 fn 246: <hr>
1.98 miod 247: <a name="install"></a>
248: <h3><font color="#0000e0">
249: <strong>Getting and installing OpenBSD/alpha:</strong>
250: </font></h3>
251:
252: <p>
253: The latest supported OpenBSD/alpha release is
1.227 steven 254: <a href="43.html">OpenBSD 4.3</a>.
1.98 miod 255: Here are the
1.227 steven 256: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/4.3/alpha/INSTALL.alpha">
257: OpenBSD/alpha 4.3 installation instructions
1.98 miod 258: </a>.
259:
260: <p>
261: Snapshots are made available from time to time, in
262: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/alpha">this location</a>
263: as well as in a few
264: <a href="ftp.html">mirrors</a>.
265: Here are the
266: <a href="ftp://ftp.OpenBSD.org/pub/OpenBSD/snapshots/alpha/INSTALL.alpha">
267: OpenBSD/alpha snapshot installation instructions
268: </a> as well.
269:
270: <p>
271: There are several installation media provided:
1.116 krw 272:
1.98 miod 273: <ul>
274: <li><strong>CD boot</strong>
275: <p>
276: Booting off the OpenBSD CD provides an <i>El Torito</i> 2.88MB floppy image
277: that contains drivers for the most popular devices found in alpha
278: hardware.
279: This also includes minimal USB support (storage devices, keyboard and
1.231 ! jsg 280: some Ethernet adapters).<br>
1.98 miod 281: For the latest list of drivers available on this image, please take a
282: look at the
283: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/sys/arch/alpha/conf/RAMDISKBIG?rev=HEAD">RAMDISKBIG</a>
284: kernel configuration file.
1.227 steven 285: <li><strong>Floppy A</strong> (floppy43.fs)
1.98 miod 286: <p>
287: This 1.44MB floppy image supports the following alpha hardware:
288: <ul>
1.116 krw 289: <li>AlphaStation 200, 250, 255, 400
290: <!-- <li>AlphaStation 500, 600 -->
1.213 martin 291: <li>AlphaServer 800, 1000, 1000A, 1200, and 4100
1.116 krw 292: <li>AXPpci33 based machines, such as the ``Noname'', UDB, and Multia
293: <li>EB164 based machines, such as the PC164, 164SX and 164LX
294: <li>Personal Workstation (Miata)
1.98 miod 295: </ul>
1.116 krw 296: <p>
1.98 miod 297: It contains support for the on-board devices found on these machines,
298: however due to lack of place there are only few other drivers.
299: In particular, <i>this floppy lacks cdrom support</i> and will <i>not</i>
300: allow installation from cdrom media.<br>
301: For the latest list of drivers available on this image, please take a
302: look at the
303: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/sys/arch/alpha/conf/RAMDISK?rev=HEAD">RAMDISK</a>
304: kernel configuration file.
1.227 steven 305: <li><strong>Floppy B</strong> (floppyB43.fs)
1.98 miod 306: <p>
307: This 1.44MB floppy image supports the following alpha hardware:
308: <ul>
1.116 krw 309: <li>Alpha Processor, Inc. UP1000
310: <li>XP1000, 264DP, DS10, and DS20, CS20
311: <li>Alpha Processor, Inc. UP2000, UP2000+
1.98 miod 312: </ul>
1.116 krw 313: <p>
1.98 miod 314: It contains support for the on-board devices found on these machines,
315: however due to lack of place there are only few other drivers.
316: In particular, <i>this floppy lacks cdrom support</i> and will <i>not</i>
317: allow installation from cdrom media.<br>
318: For the latest list of drivers available on this image, please take a
319: look at the
320: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/sys/arch/alpha/conf/RAMDISKB?rev=HEAD">RAMDISKB</a>
321: kernel configuration file.
322: </ul>
323:
324: <hr>
1.95 miod 325: <a href="plat.html">
326: <img height="24" width="24" src="back.gif" border="0" alt="Supported platforms">
327: </a>
1.3 fn 328: <br>
1.95 miod 329: <small><a href="mailto:www@openbsd.org">www@openbsd.org</a></small>
330: <br>
1.231 ! jsg 331: <small>$OpenBSD: alpha.html,v 1.230 2008/06/11 23:08:18 jsg Exp $</small>
1.3 fn 332: </body>
333: </html>
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