[BACK]Return to alpha.html CVS log [TXT][DIR] Up to [local] / www
File: [local] / www / alpha.html (download) (as text)

Revision 1.47, Tue Jan 23 18:55:32 2001 UTC (23 years, 4 months ago) by ericj
Branch: MAIN
Changes since 1.46: +3 -6 lines 

update projects list

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC  "-//IETF//DTD HTML Strict//EN//2.0">
<html>
<head>
<title>OpenBSD/alpha</title>
<link rev=made href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>
<meta name="resource-type" content="document">
<meta name="description" content="the OpenBSD/alpha page">
<meta name="keywords" content="openbsd,alpha">
<meta name="distribution" content="global">
<meta name="copyright" content="This document copyright 1996-2000 by OpenBSD.">
</head>

<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#23238E">

<h2>OpenBSD/alpha</h2>

<hr>
<h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>History and Status:</strong></font></h3>

<p>The OpenBSD/alpha port was begun in the summer of 1996 by using
code from the NetBSD/alpha port which was begun by Chris Demetriou
&lt;cgd@netbsd.org&gt; in 1994.  After the original OpenBSD port, some
copyright issues prevented OpenBSD from tracking the NetBSD code.
Regardless, work on the alpha port continued and many fixes were made.
While we were making fixes, NetBSD continued to make improvements to
the alpha port which we were unfortunately unable to use.  Over time,
because of a lack of programmer resources and the inability to use
NetBSD code, hardware and software support became very outdated.  This
caused the 2.5 and 2.6 releases of alpha to have few kernel
enhancements.  As a result of its becoming so stale, alpha was not
included in the 2.7 release.</p>

<p>Recently, there has been a great deal of interest in bringing the
port up to date.  This coupled with the fact that NetBSD changed the
license on its alpha code so that there are no longer copyright issues
has lead to an effort to bring the alpha port back up. (For details on
why we were not able to keep tracking the NetBSD code, check our <a
href=policy.html>policy</a> page.)</p>

<p>There is currently no maintainer for the alpha port.  Technical
discussion about the alpha port should be directed to <a
href="mailto:alpha@openbsd.org">&lt;alpha@openbsd.org&gt;</a>.  If you
are at all interested in development of the alpha port, please send
inquiries to this address.  If you are interested in the job of alpha
port maintainer, help out the project for a while and step up to the
job.</p>

<h3><font color=#0000e0><strong>Projects (in no particular order):
</strong></font></h3>

<ul>
<li>Bring the alpha kernel up to date with what NetBSD has.
<li>Shared Libs (gives shared libs)
<li>compat_osf1 shared libs.
<li>bus_dma (so far partially done for cia and tsc busses).
</ul>

<h3><font color=#0000e0><strong>Supported Hardware:</strong></font></h3>

<p>Because of the changes that are currently being made to alpha, the
currently supported hardware is in flux.  To the best of our
knowledge, the following hardware is still supported, but this could
change at any time.</p>

<ul>
<li><b>DEC 3000/[3456789]00 series with the following peripherals:</b>
  <ul> 
  <li> Supported hardware:
    <ul>
    <li> Built-in serial ports.
    <li> Built-in LANCE ethernet.
     <li> Built-in SCSI chips (53c[f]94), though both may not work at
    the same time.
     </ul>
  <li> Things that may work but haven't been tested:
    <ul>
    <li> TurboChannel option slot LANCE (PMAD-A).
    </ul>
   
  <li> Things are *not* supported at this time:
    <ul>
    <li> Frame buffers of any type.
    <li> Other TurboChannel option boards.
    <li> The ISDN/Audio chip.
    </ul>
  </ul>
  
<li><b> AlphaStation {200,250,255,400,500}, AXPpci,<br>
Multia (though many Multias have experienced infant mortality or
develop problems)<br>
Systems using the following peripherals:</b>

  <ul> 
  <li> Supported hardware:
    <ul>
    <li> NCR 53c810 SCSI (built-in or PCI board).
    <li> Built-in ns16550 serial ports.
    <li> DC21040-based ethernet (built-in or PCI board).
    <li> DC21140-based PCI ethernet boards.
    <li> DC21050-based PCI-PCI bridges (though other types of PCI-PCI
    bridges should work).
    <li> PCI VGA video boards.
    <li> ISA VGA boards.
    <li> DEC ZLXp-E1 (DC21030-based, "TGA") video boards.
    <li> PCI and ISA NE2000-compatible ethernet cards.
    <li> SMC/WD 8003, 8013, and the SMC "Elite16" ISA ethernet boards.
    <li> 3Com 3c503 ethernet cards.
    <li> 3Com 3c5xx/3c9xx ethernet cards.
    <li> Lite-On PNIC (82c168, 82c169) based ethernet cards.
    <li> Keyboard.
    <li> PS/2-style mice.
    <li> IDE controllers (including the built-in IDE controller on
    some machines).
    <li> Intel Etherexpress Pro/100B cards.
    <li> Cyclades ISA multiport serial cards.
    </ul>
   
  <li> Things that may work but haven't been tested:
    <ul>
    <li> Built-in parallel ports.
    <li> ISA ns16x50-family serial port boards.
    <li> ISA ns16x50 multi-port serial boards.
    <li> Other NCR 53c8xx SCSI boards.
    <li> The Adaptec 152* SCSI controller ISA boards.
    </ul>
   
  <li> Things that are *not* supported at this time:
    <ul>
    <li> Sound hardware (including Windows Sound System built-in on
    some machines).
    <li> DEC ZLXp-E2 and ZLXp-E3 PCI video boards.
    <li> The built-in scsi controller on the AlphaStation 600.
    <li> PCI and ISA boards not listed above.
    <li> The floppy drive.
    </ul>
  </ul>
  
 
<li><b>At this time none of the following systems are supported:</b>
  <ul>
  <li> DECpc AXP 150 systems (EISA-bus PC-like systems)
  <li> Alpha "server" systems (other than perhaps the AlphaServer 400,
  which might be an AlphaStation 400 in disguise).
  <li> Multiprocessor alpha systems
  <li> EB164, PC164, PC164[LSR]X
  <li> Digital Personal Workstation (Miata) systems
  <li> 21264 based systems
  <li> API (Alpha Processor, Inc.) systems
  </ul>
</ul>

<h3><font color=#0000e0><strong>Snapshots:</strong></font></h3>

<p>While we are bringing the alpha port back to life snapshots will be
unpredictable an sporadic at best.  If you are interested in helping
out, we encourage you to grab a snapshot, sync with -current and dig
in!</p>

<hr>
<a href=plat.html><img height=24 width=24 src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a> 
<a href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>www@openbsd.org</a>
<br>
<small>$OpenBSD: alpha.html,v 1.47 2001/01/23 18:55:32 ericj Exp $</small>

</body>
</html>