Annotation of www/alpha.html, Revision 1.46
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1.3 fn 2: <html>
1.1 deraadt 3: <head>
4: <title>OpenBSD/alpha</title>
1.3 fn 5: <link rev=made href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>
6: <meta name="resource-type" content="document">
7: <meta name="description" content="the OpenBSD/alpha page">
8: <meta name="keywords" content="openbsd,alpha">
9: <meta name="distribution" content="global">
1.45 niklas 10: <meta name="copyright" content="This document copyright 1996-2000 by OpenBSD.">
1.3 fn 11: </head>
12:
1.19 johns 13: <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#23238E">
1.3 fn 14:
1.1 deraadt 15: <h2>OpenBSD/alpha</h2>
16:
1.3 fn 17: <hr>
1.45 niklas 18: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>History and Status:</strong></font></h3>
19:
20: <p>The OpenBSD/alpha port was begun in the summer of 1996 by using
21: code from the NetBSD/alpha port which was begun by Chris Demetriou
22: <cgd@netbsd.org> in 1994. After the original OpenBSD port, some
23: copyright issues prevented OpenBSD from tracking the NetBSD code.
24: Regardless, work on the alpha port continued and many fixes were made.
25: While we were making fixes, NetBSD continued to make improvements to
26: the alpha port which we were unfortunately unable to use. Over time,
27: because of a lack of programmer resources and the inability to use
28: NetBSD code, hardware and software support became very outdated. This
29: caused the 2.5 and 2.6 releases of alpha to have few kernel
30: enhancements. As a result of its becoming so stale, alpha was not
31: included in the 2.7 release.</p>
32:
33: <p>Recently, there has been a great deal of interest in bringing the
34: port up to date. This coupled with the fact that NetBSD changed the
35: license on its alpha code so that there are no longer copyright issues
36: has lead to an effort to bring the alpha port back up. (For details on
37: why we were not able to keep tracking the NetBSD code, check our <a
38: href=policy.html>policy</a> page.)</p>
39:
40: <p>There is currently no maintainer for the alpha port. Technical
41: discussion about the alpha port should be directed to <a
42: href="mailto:alpha@openbsd.org"><alpha@openbsd.org></a>. If you
43: are at all interested in development of the alpha port, please send
44: inquiries to this address. If you are interested in the job of alpha
45: port maintainer, help out the project for a while and step up to the
46: job.</p>
47:
48: <h3><font color=#0000e0><strong>Projects (in no particular order):
49: </strong></font></h3>
1.1 deraadt 50:
1.24 niklas 51: <ul>
1.45 niklas 52: <li>Bring the alpha kernel up to date with what NetBSD has.
53: <li>New Binutils to support ELF object file format. (gives shared libs)
54: <li>New bootblocks to support ELF.
1.46 ! ericj 55: <li>compat_osf1 shared libs.
! 56: <li>convert to UVM.
! 57: <li>new pmap.
! 58: <li>bus_dma (which will give support for a whole slew of devices).
1.24 niklas 59: </ul>
1.1 deraadt 60:
1.35 deraadt 61: <h3><font color=#0000e0><strong>Supported Hardware:</strong></font></h3>
1.45 niklas 62:
63: <p>Because of the changes that are currently being made to alpha, the
64: currently supported hardware is in flux. To the best of our
65: knowledge, the following hardware is still supported, but this could
66: change at any time.</p>
67:
1.18 johns 68: <ul>
69: <li><b>DEC 3000/[3456789]00 series with the following peripherals:</b>
70: <ul>
71: <li> Supported hardware:
72: <ul>
73: <li> Built-in serial ports.
74: <li> Built-in LANCE ethernet.
1.45 niklas 75: <li> Built-in SCSI chips (53c[f]94), though both may not work at
76: the same time.
77: </ul>
1.18 johns 78: <li> Things that may work but haven't been tested:
79: <ul>
80: <li> TurboChannel option slot LANCE (PMAD-A).
81: </ul>
82:
83: <li> Things are *not* supported at this time:
84: <ul>
85: <li> Frame buffers of any type.
86: <li> Other TurboChannel option boards.
87: <li> The ISDN/Audio chip.
88: </ul>
89: </ul>
90:
1.36 deraadt 91: <li><b> AlphaStation {200,250,255,400,500}, AXPpci,<br>
1.45 niklas 92: Multia (though many Multias have experienced infant mortality or
93: develop problems)<br>
1.37 johns 94: Systems using the following peripherals:</b>
1.45 niklas 95:
1.18 johns 96: <ul>
97: <li> Supported hardware:
98: <ul>
99: <li> NCR 53c810 SCSI (built-in or PCI board).
100: <li> Built-in ns16550 serial ports.
101: <li> DC21040-based ethernet (built-in or PCI board).
102: <li> DC21140-based PCI ethernet boards.
1.45 niklas 103: <li> DC21050-based PCI-PCI bridges (though other types of PCI-PCI
104: bridges should work).
1.18 johns 105: <li> PCI VGA video boards.
1.33 deraadt 106: <li> ISA VGA boards.
1.18 johns 107: <li> DEC ZLXp-E1 (DC21030-based, "TGA") video boards.
108: <li> PCI and ISA NE2000-compatible ethernet cards.
1.25 niklas 109: <li> SMC/WD 8003, 8013, and the SMC "Elite16" ISA ethernet boards.
110: <li> 3Com 3c503 ethernet cards.
1.29 deraadt 111: <li> 3Com 3c5xx/3c9xx ethernet cards.
1.42 jason 112: <li> Lite-On PNIC (82c168, 82c169) based ethernet cards.
1.18 johns 113: <li> Keyboard.
114: <li> PS/2-style mice.
1.45 niklas 115: <li> IDE controllers (including the built-in IDE controller on
116: some machines).
1.28 deraadt 117: <li> Intel Etherexpress Pro/100B cards.
1.31 dgregor 118: <li> Cyclades ISA multiport serial cards.
1.18 johns 119: </ul>
120:
121: <li> Things that may work but haven't been tested:
122: <ul>
123: <li> Built-in parallel ports.
124: <li> ISA ns16x50-family serial port boards.
125: <li> ISA ns16x50 multi-port serial boards.
126: <li> Other NCR 53c8xx SCSI boards.
1.34 todd 127: <li> The Adaptec 152* SCSI controller ISA boards.
1.18 johns 128: </ul>
129:
130: <li> Things that are *not* supported at this time:
131: <ul>
1.45 niklas 132: <li> Sound hardware (including Windows Sound System built-in on
133: some machines).
1.18 johns 134: <li> DEC ZLXp-E2 and ZLXp-E3 PCI video boards.
135: <li> The built-in scsi controller on the AlphaStation 600.
1.32 deraadt 136: <li> PCI and ISA boards not listed above.
1.18 johns 137: <li> The floppy drive.
138: </ul>
139: </ul>
140:
141:
142: <li><b>At this time none of the following systems are supported:</b>
143: <ul>
144: <li> DECpc AXP 150 systems (EISA-bus PC-like systems)
1.45 niklas 145: <li> Alpha "server" systems (other than perhaps the AlphaServer 400,
146: which might be an AlphaStation 400 in disguise).
147: <li> Multiprocessor alpha systems
148: <li> EB164, PC164, PC164[LSR]X
149: <li> Digital Personal Workstation (Miata) systems
150: <li> 21264 based systems
151: <li> API (Alpha Processor, Inc.) systems
1.18 johns 152: </ul>
1.4 niklas 153: </ul>
154:
1.35 deraadt 155: <h3><font color=#0000e0><strong>Snapshots:</strong></font></h3>
1.45 niklas 156:
157: <p>While we are bringing the alpha port back to life snapshots will be
158: unpredictable an sporadic at best. If you are interested in helping
159: out, we encourage you to grab a snapshot, sync with -current and dig
160: in!</p>
1.9 graichen 161:
1.3 fn 162: <hr>
1.44 rohee 163: <a href=plat.html><img height=24 width=24 src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
1.1 deraadt 164: <a href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>www@openbsd.org</a>
1.3 fn 165: <br>
1.46 ! ericj 166: <small>$OpenBSD: alpha.html,v 1.45 2000/07/10 20:26:13 niklas Exp $</small>
1.3 fn 167:
168: </body>
169: </html>
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