1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
|
OpenBSD/alpha requires the SRM console. Some alphas come with
the ARC firmware instead (this is what Windows NT uses). It is
fairly simple to replace the ARC firmware with the SRM version.
You can get replacement firmware either from a firmware update
CD or via ftp from ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware/.
AXPPCI33 Motherboard notes:
The 1994 version of the OEM guide has an incorrect pinout
for the serial ports. The newer version from
ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/Digital/axppci/design_guide.ps.Z
has a corrected pinout (as well as more information than
the 1994 edition). Note that there are two flavors
of PC serial connectors. If you have the wrong kind,
you won't get any output from the serial console.
Acquiring and updating firmware:
As of May, 1997, the latest firmware version available for
ftp is version 3.9. To update an alpha with an axppci33
motherboard from ARC firmware to SRM one would ftp to
ftp.digital.com and download
/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware/v3.9/decaxppci33/decaxppci33_v1_6.exe
then copy it to a FAT-formatted (ie: DOS) floppy with the name
FWUPDATE.EXE. Now that you have your new firmware on a floppy
you just need to insert it into your machine's floppy drive and
turn on the machine. To actually update the firmware you need to
choose the "Supplementary menu" from the ARC console and then
"Install new firmware". After fwupdate.exe is done loading from
the floppy, enter "update srm" at the prompt and hit return.
After the update is complete you may want to verify the update
(if this was not done automatically) by entering "verify srm" at
the prompt. Once this is done you can enter "exit" and cycle power
on your machine. When it reboots you should be in the SRM console.
Note that the procedure for updating SRM firmware from an
existing version of the SRM console is different. Please see
the README files that come with the firmware update for details.
Using the SRM console:
This is not intended to be an exhaustive guide on using the
SRM firmware console. It should, however, give you enough
information to boot OpenBSD/alpha.
To see a list of devices connected to your alpha, you can
use the "show device" command. For booting the devices you
are interested in are "dva0" (the floppy drive) and
"dka*" (the disk drives).
You can set ROM variables by saying "set VARIABLE VALUE".
Some variables you will want to set:
auto_action Determines what happens when you turn power
on, halt, or crash your machine. Valid
values {:-include-:} "halt", "boot", and "restart".
Most users will want to set this to "boot".
bootdef_dev Default boot device (or list of devices).
boot_file Name of the kernel to boot. If you don't set
this "bsd" will be loaded.
boot_osflags Flags to pass in to the kernel. For multiuser
boot this needs to be set to "-a".
booted_osflags Don't try to set this one directly. It will
contain whatever flags the OS was last booted
with. To set indirectly, boot with the -flags
option, eg: "b dka0 -flags a" will boot into
multi-user and set booted_osflags to "a".
To see a list of all variables on your machine use the "show"
command with no arguments.
Alpha-related URL's:
ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/Digital/Alpha/
Alpha related documents, software and firmware upgrades.
http://www.digital.com/info/semiconductor/alpha.htm
Alpha processor and support chip information.
http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/computers/udb-man.ps.gz
The Multia Service manual, in postscript form.
http://www.azstarnet.com/~axplinux/
Alpha linux notes with a good introduction to Alpha chips/systems.
http://www.redhat.com/support/mailing-lists/
The linux axp-list mailing list is probably the best source of
alpha hardware related info, there's a searchable archive too.
http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/alpha/
Pointers to documentation and supported systems.
|
